A selection of English ESL chinese zodiac printables

This is an integrated skill worksheet. It joins listening (video) and speaking as well as reading and writing activities. Nice to introduce animals and / or personal traits (adjectives)

Chinese Zodiac

Here is a little video inspiration I found on youtube to teach during this period of winter holidays - the story of the Chinese zodiac. It fits well together into the topic Christmas, New Year and winter holidays. This story can be taught to children of all ages starting from 8 or 9 years old, and even adults. You students are supposed to know some basic grammar rules and some English.





Story of the Chinese Zodiac

The Story of the Chinese Zodiac - The Great Race. The video on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80jQkCpXbTY&t=2s

the audio https://english-portal.com.ua/worksheet/chinese-new-year-zodiac#topadv

This worksheet was created by https://english-portal.com.ua 

The Story of the Chinese Zodiac

This is a worksheet which uses the story of the Chinese Zodiac to present ordinal numbers to Elementary students. 



Tips:



Before you begin Ex.2, and read the story, you may wish to pre-teach: ride, reach, scare, shore, emperor, push and sleepy.



Depending on where you are teaching, your students may already be familiar with the order of the animals. If so, elicit the animal names and the order then ask them to find and underline the ordinal numbers. 



The ordinals have a lot of difficult sounds such as '-th' and consonant clusters. When you drill the words after Ex.2, break down the words i.e "SI" - "XTH" -  "SI-XTH" - "SIXTH".



As an optional extension task, you could get the students to quiz each other i.e "Which animal was fourth?", "Which place was the snake?", "Who was before the sheep?" etc.



Answer Key



1 (going clockwise) rat, dragon, pig, rooster, monkey, tiger, snake, horse, ox, rabbit, dog, sheep/ram.



2 B fifth D tenth E  ninth F third G sixth H seventh I second J fourth K eleventh L eighth 

Ordinal Numbers in the Chinese Zodiac

This is a set of flash cards ready to print and use. 

You can revise simple present, adjectives, and the verb to be using them. The topic is highly motivating for students because they can talk about themselves, friends and family. I hope you find it useful!

Chinese Horoscope

Practise reading comprehension with this worksheet! Mark the sentences as true or false and decide whether the adjectives have a positive or negative meaning. Suitable for upper intermediate learners. Enjoy! 

2015- The Year of the Goat

Learn about the traditions of the Chinese New Year and discover your zodiac sign. Analyse the personality traits and discuss whether your zodiac sign suits you. 

CHINESE NEW YEAR (Customs and Personality Traits)

This worksheet can be used as an extra resource when teaching the topic: Chinese New Year. Students find out some information about the 12 animals that make up the Chinese zodiac. Created by www.primaryleap.co.uk



Research Topic - Chinese New Year

This exciting Chinese New Year word search is perfect for ESL learners, helping them build vocabulary while exploring the traditions and symbols of this special celebration. Featuring words like "Dragon," "Lantern," "Fireworks," and "Zodiac," this activity supports language learning in an interactive and enjoyable way.

The word search is designed to engage students while introducing them to important cultural themes. Words can be found in all directions, making it both fun and challenging. It’s an excellent resource for classroom use, online teaching, or as a self-study activity.

This worksheet is ideal for Chinese New Year lessons, ESL cultural education, or as part of holiday-themed vocabulary practice. Download this resource today to celebrate Chinese New Year. Created by PrimaryLeap

Chinese New Year Word Search

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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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

9 Chinese zodiac English ESL worksheets pdf & doc