A selection of English ESL bridges printables

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

Top Ten Greatest Bridges has the video link, subtitles, vocabulary, vocabulary questions, and reading comprehension questions.  I use it with other worksheets on bridges.

Top 10 Greatest Bridges Class

Based on a video (link provided), this is mostly a listening activity (American English). Students need to fill the gaps and then answer comprehension questions. Can be used as a springboard for discussion on technology or travelling.

Listening: The Golden Gate Bridge

A vocabulary and listening worksheet dealing with idioms related to relationships featuring Adele\'s song Water Under the Bridge. Great for pre-intermediate and intermediate learners!

Water Under the Bridge - Adele

This worksheet is designed for B1 level students and focuses on the fascinating living root bridges of Meghalaya, India. It includes a reading passage that describes the unique engineering and cultural significance of these natural structures. The comprehension activities feature true/false questions, multiple-choice questions, and short answer prompts to test students' understanding and critical thinking skills. Additionally, pre-teaching vocabulary is provided to help students grasp key terms and concepts before engaging with the text. This worksheet is ideal for enhancing students' reading comprehension, vocabulary, and cultural awareness in an engaging and educational manner.

The Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya

This version of the game is tailored to pre-intermediate level ESL/EFL students. This version also includes a vocabulary list, and small role cards for the Derds.

In this game half the class will be Derds (a fictional people), the other half engineers who help the Derds build their first bridge. An actual bridge will be built from cardboard paper in English class. Hilarity will ensue after the two teams meet and start working on the bridge. :)



Derd role description:


You live in a country called ‘Derdia.’ There is a deep canyon between your village and the market of the nearby town. This is a huge inconvenience (=problem), because if you want to go grocery shopping there, you have to walk for 2 days to get around the canyon and reach the market. If there was a bridge over the canyon, the trip would take only 2 hours.Now the Derdian government hired (=paid) a construction company from the EU to visit you and teach you the science of building bridges. That means you are going to be the first engineers in Derdia with a license to construct bridges in your country.Also, you and the engineers will build the first bridge of Derdia together.

You will use cardboard paper, pens, scissors and glue to build the bridge. You are familiar with (=you know) the materials, but not with the construction methods (=how to build it).





Engineer role description:


You are engineers working for a construction company in the European Union. The Derdian government has recently hired your company teach a group of Derds how to construct (=build) bridges. You will visit their village and build the first bridge together. You have to keep the deadline (=finish in time) agreed upon, otherwise you will not get paid and will lose your jobs.Derdia is a mountainous country beyond the Operentsian Sea with deep canyons and valleys, but without any bridges. There is a deep canyon between the Derdian village you are visiting and the market of the nearby town. This is a huge inconvenience (=problem), because if they want to go grocery shopping there, they have to walk for 2 days to get around the canyon and reach the market. If there was a bridge over the canyon, the trip would take only 2 hours.It is important to not just build the first bridge, but also to train (=teach) the first Derdian engineers how to build bridges alone in Derdia.

Bridge for the Derds - Construction Game

A fascinating article about Golden Bridge in Vietnam lends itself to an Intermediate / Upper-Intermediate passive tense worksheet. Students need to read the article carefully to determine whether to use present, past, past perfect or future passive tenses.



Great resource for anyone teaching in Vietnam right now!

Answers on page 2

Passive tenses: Golden Bridge, Vietnam Reading

A reading comprehension activity on an article about the Devil's bridge in Kromlau Park, in Germany. It is a unique site because of its architecture and legend. Short vocabulary activity and comprehension questions about the text. 

The Devil's bridge in Kromlau Park 

1.	Listen to the song and complete the blanks with the words you hear.



2.	Go with the new words. Find the meaning of the words that are in red.



3.	Who would you like to dedicate this song to? Why?



4.	Sing it out loud. =)





Like a bridge over troubled waters

My students recently read a book on superstructures such as bridges, skyscrapers dams etc. As a way to review the vocabulary we learned I gave them this creative writing worksheet where they design their own superstructure.

Design your own building, bridge or superstructure

In this lesson, students will learn more about Black History Month and read the biography of Ruby Bridges, who was the first girl to integrate American public schools. 

Black History Month: Ruby Bridges and School Desegregation

This is a worksheet based on the painting by Norman Rockwell. Desegregation. The students must describe the picture at first, then after reading the background must ananylse and interpret certain aspects of the renowned painting. 

Can be used in conjuction with segregation or education rights. 



Hope it's useful. 

The Problem We All Live With - Ruby Bridges

A classic game to teach about cultural customs and intercultural communication. The scenario: a canyon cuts a Derdian village from the nearby market. So the Derds need a bridge to shorten the 2-day trip to a 5-hour one. They also want to learn the skill of constructing bridges. A group of European  engineers will teach them. However, the Derds have very strange social customs that the engineers have to figure out along the way. Bless up, Kisdobos

33 Bridges English ESL worksheets pdf & doc