A selection of English ESL dictation 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

There are some sentences that both students have to dictate to each other that contain words with 'sh' and 'ch' sounds. This exercise makes them to realise if their understanding is correct as well as their spelling. It is perfect to improve speaking and at the same time, listening.

DICTATION OF 'SH' AND 'CH' SOUNDS

This activity focuses on the /eə/ diphthong sound and helps students to identify the various spelling of /eə/, namely -air	-ear –are –ere. It is indended as an in-class activity because, as the name implies, students need to run & write :)

/eə/ - There Was A Bear - Running Dictation

This is for teachers who teach beginners. This activity could be used for pronunciation, listening, and other peer activities that will encourage and improve authentic and effective communication.

THE BENEFITS OF PEER DICTATION IN ESL

This exercise is a pair activity called shared dictation. I have chosen a fable: the Ant and the Dove. The students dictate the text to each other and afterwards they correct possible mistakes. IÂm also enclosing a second page for the teacher with the complete text and some questions to practice a bit of speaking in class. 



Shared dictation "The Ant and the Dove Fable"

My dictation exercise includes listening, writing, speaking and scanning and comprehension. There are four sheets to my dictation exercise. 

1.	An article sheet for you to read to the student. 

2.	A vocabulary sheet for the student, send this to the student. 

3.	A question-and-answer (Q&A) sheet for the student. This is also sent to the student. 

4.	A question sheet for you to read to the student. 

I suggest you copy and paste into four different documents. The question-and-answer sheet can be used for other dictations. 

I convert the vocabulary, and question and answer sheet to pdf format, as the student’s device doesn’t need MS Word installed for it to display. 

Send or give the vocabulary sheet and Q&A to the student. Dictate the questions to the student. Then check they’ve written them fully by asking them to read the questions they’ve written. Be aware some will attempt to write only a couple of key words! Next you read the article to the student, but not too fast. I usually read it twice, maybe emphasizing the answers. Finally, you ask the student the questions and check their answers.  Maybe re-read the relevant part so they can hear the answer. 



Be Prepared, a dictation exercise for Grade 7 students.

My dictation exercise includes listening, writing, speaking and scanning and comprehension. There are four sheets to my dictation exercise. 

1.	An article sheet for you to read to the student. 

2.	A vocabulary sheet for the student, send this to the student. 

3.	A question-and-answer (Q&A) sheet for the student. This is also sent to the student. 

4.	A question sheet for you to read to the student. 

I suggest you copy and paste into four different documents. The question-and-answer sheet can be used for other dictations. 

I convert the vocabulary, and question and answer sheet to pdf format, as the student’s device doesn’t need MS Word installed for it to display or print. 

Send or give the vocabulary sheet and Q&A to the student. Dictate the questions to the student. Then check they’ve written them fully by asking them to read the questions they’ve written. Be aware some will attempt to write only a couple of key words! Next you read the article to the student, but not too fast. I usually read it twice, maybe emphasizing the answers. Finally, you ask the student the questions and check their answers.  Maybe re-read the relevant part so they can hear the answer. 



The Nail. A dictation exercise for year 10 students.

My dictation exercise includes listening, writing, speaking and scanning and comprehension. There are four sheets to my dictation exercise.


1.	An article sheet for you to read to the student.
2.	A vocabulary sheet for the student, send this to the student.
3.	A question-and-answer (Q&A) sheet for the student. This is also sent to the student.
4.	A question sheet for you to read to the student.


I suggest you copy and paste into four different documents. The question-and-answer sheet can be used for other dictations.
I convert the vocabulary, and question and answer sheet to pdf format, as the student’s device doesn’t need MS Word installed for it to display.
Send or give the vocabulary sheet and Q&A to the student. Dictate the questions to the student. Then check they’ve written them fully by asking them to read the questions they’ve written. Be aware some will attempt write only a couple of key words! Next you read the article to the student, but not too fast. I usually read it twice, maybe emphasizing the answers. Finally, you ask the student the questions and check their answers. Maybe re-read the relevant part so they can hear the answer.


I use this dictation with Junior New Concept English Book 1A Unit 14.

Dictation for Junior New Concept English Book 1A Unit 14

My dictation exercise includes listening, writing, speaking and scanning and comprehension. There are four sheets to my dictation exercise.

1.	An article sheet for you to read to the student.
2.	A vocabulary sheet for the student, send this to the student.
3.	A question-and-answer (Q&A) sheet for the student. This is also sent to the student.
4.	A question sheet for you to read to the student.

I suggest you copy and paste into four different documents. The question-and-answer sheet can be used for other dictations.

I convert the vocabulary, and question and answer sheet to pdf format, as the student’s device doesn’t need MS Word installed for it to display.

Send or give the vocabulary sheet and Q&A to the student. Dictate the questions to the student. Then check they’ve written them fully by asking them to read the questions they’ve written. Be aware some will attempt write only a couple of key words! Next you read the article to the student, but not too fast. I usually read it twice, maybe emphasizing the answers. Finally, you ask the student the questions and check their answers. Maybe re-read the relevant part so they can hear the answer.

Claire's Clothes - A dictation for students using the JNCE 1A book.

A Very Clever Plumber, a dictation for year 7 and above.

This activity is modified for pre-intermediate to intermediate. Still, it can obviously be adapted for more advanced levels by requiring ‘that’ on all answer sheets to be replaced with ‘who’ ‘where’ or ‘when’ where appropriate (ex. It was three days ago when Alex bought his cards), and removing the template for the answers. Hence, they have to construct the grammar themselves by speaking. 
 Divide students into three teams/groups 
 Cut the running dictation sheet into 3 pieces and put each piece at the back of the room. Spread them out. 
 Have the students play running dictation to gather all their information (messenger). 
 When all teams have finished, give them the answers so they can check to see if it's all correct. 
 Cut up the questions sheet into three pieces and give one piece to each group (note) each group should have four questions to answer, and each group will already have one answer for one question. The other three answers will need to be collected from other groups in the final activity. 
 Now have the teams interview each other for the missing information. Make sure they aren't showing their answers. They must ask questions and provide answers by speaking. 
 Compare answers as a class and put all the information together to discover 'who, what, when, and where'.

Cleft sentences with the Trading Card Brothers (running dictation, puzzle, interview).

Famous People dictation, out of date but change people and places as necessary

This is a word search puzzles of words associated with Easter.  There are two versions of the puzzle: one with clues and a more challenging one without clues. The second puzzle could be done as a dictation first.  The answer key is provided.

146 Dictation English ESL worksheets pdf & doc