A selection of English ESL beliefs printables

Myths and Beliefs

Students have to use verbs of belief to discuss these questions, such as  BE CERTAIN, BE POSITIVE, BE SURE, KNOW FOR A FACT or ASSUME, DOUBT, FIGURE, GUESS, SUSPECT, SUPPOSE, BET, HAVE A HUNCH...

verbs of belief

With this file you will get PROMPTCARDS with questions to provoke lively discussions NOT about trivia but about values, beliefs, life in general, love, generosity, death etc. Let the students find out more about themselves. Some questions might confront ethical dilemmas in a concrete rather than an abstract form. There are no correct or incorrect answers to these questions. For students to probe, discuss and explain their ideas about life using upper-intermediate and advanced language skills. Example questions: “If you new there would be a nuclear war in one week, what would you do?” “Given the ability to project yourself into the past but not return, would you do so? Where would you go and what would you try to accomplish if you knew you might change the course of history?” This activity is requested by my students once a semester! I hope you will enjoy it as much as they do! *** USE PAGE 3 AS BACK ***

ADVANCED Conversation Promptcards about VALUES, BELIEFS, ETHICS

An activity in which students must guess what traditional beliefs in various countries say you should or shouldn't do, if you want to preserve your good luck. Instead of guessing, it could also be given as a research activity, with students using the internet or other resources to find out what the beliefs are. Hope it's useful for your class!

My Lucky Day - Beliefs and Superstitions about Luck around the World

Objective: Talk about superstitons in your country and all over the world, learn about some strange beliefs and about conditional type 1. 



LESSON PLAN



First introduce the topic by asking students if they know what a superstition is - for example by asking them if they know what happens if they see a black cat (this is the most common one out there). 

Write down the sentence on the blackboard/piece of paper: 

If I see a black cat, I will have bad luck.

Ask them if they know the structure. Explain how to create sentences and when you use it, give several examples. Ask them to create their own examples.



Do the next exercises:

matching - please notice the changes according to the person (if girl DRINKS, but she WILL)

filling in the gaps

creating sentences - you need to make changes to create the sentences;



Ask your students to work in pairs and talk about their own experiences with superstitions, encourage them to tell what kinds of supersitions are popular in their homes and countries, and elicit conditional 1.



ADDITIONAL exercise for higher levels: TED-Ed talk

Superstitions and conditional type 1

A worksheet to practice using the first conditional tense.  Students guess what the sentences could be and then read the information on Christmas superstitions to find out.  This could also be done as a reading race.

Christmas superstitions

Some useful expressions to demonstrate the language functions in the Grade 10 Trinity GESE.    e.g. Expressing beliefs and tentative opinions, developing and defending an argument.   For use as a revision summary.

Trinity GESE Grade 10 Language Functions

Photos of 13 different superstitions for you to cut up and stick around the classroom for students to identify. Lots of fun!

13 Superstitions

This cartoon (created with www.makebeliefscomix.com) is an entertaining way to talk about how the corona virus changed our daily routines. Students are asked some questions (they practise present simple and times) and should then write a text themselves.

Corona Days - reading comprehension + writing prompt

A worksheet to help students practice First Conditional, I use this to get my charges thinking about their own superstitions and beliefs. It also works well if the students are paired together as they can speculate and guess the answers.

10 World Superstitions

This lesson discusses emerging technologies, cites examples and invites students to express their beliefs about them. We could go on to compare and contrast and see who is in favor or who is against them. This is basically for engineering students.

Emerging Technologies

There are three tasks with key for the teacher. 

1 A pie-chart task with information about the percentage of believers in the UK - can be a start-up for discfussing each religion and its origin in the UK).

2. A T/F quiz with interesting facts about religion in Britain (more facts included in the teacher's key - can be a start-up for discussion).

3. Wordsearch (can be used as a warm-up activity).

Religions in the UK - lesson activities

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

16 Beliefs English ESL worksheets pdf & doc