A selection of English ESL dilemma printables

Students play the board game and answer the questions in full sentences. All questions are about summer break and summer. Students use speaking skills vocabulary knowledge to create full sentences. Can also be used for a conversation starter. 

Before Summer Break /Holiday board game

Preference discussions. Extreme choices. Make your students choose between two options and ask them to explain their decision!

Suggested: Cut questions into cards and let students draw them during live lessons.
You can also use it online, no worries!

100 "WOULD YOU RATHER" QUESTIONS (SPEAKING CARDS)

12 dilemma cards for asking for and giving advice. Perfect for practicing modal verbs should and shouldn’t. This activity can be done in groups or as a class mingle activity.


If you have time, it’s worth laminating these cards so that you can use them over and over again.



Happy teaching! 



What Should I Do? Modal Verbs of Advice Card Activity

A reading passage with true or false, comprehension questions, two further tasks and I also include the passage as a cloze exercise. This could link to a topic on moral dilemmas. 

Elena and the Lost Ring

Lindy asks her friend a very big favour. They have to read it, then do the true or false section and then answer the questions. It is an interesting dilemma which they can discuss. Key included.

I helped my friend.

Discussion lesson where students are presented with a series of dilemmas.

choices

This thought-provoking worksheet, The Lifeboat Ultimatum, is ideal for B1–B2 level students and centers on a powerful ethical dilemma. After a shipwreck, six survivors must decide who should be left behind so the lifeboat won’t sink — prompting difficult choices and intense discussion. The worksheet includes a short reading to set the scene, vocabulary matching for key terms, and ranking tasks where students must justify their decisions. A set of discussion questions and twist scenarios encourage deeper moral reasoning, empathy, and debate. Perfect for conversation classes, critical thinking practice, or lessons exploring ethics in English.









The Lifeboat Ultimatum: Who would you leave behind?

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The Princess and the Dragon By Audrey wood

Who Stays, Who Goes? is an engaging, discussion-based ethical dilemma game designed for 4 to 16 players, ideal for upper-intermediate English learners or advanced speaking classes. Each player receives a unique character card that includes a public role and a secret trait, which they may choose to reveal at any point during the game. Players are then presented with a survival scenario—for example, limited space in a shelter, an oxygen shortage, or a rescue vehicle with too few seats—and must debate who should be allowed to stay and who must be voted out. An optional deck of extra secret trait cards adds a layer of unpredictability and strategic depth, offering players the chance to draw a bonus trait with either helpful or harmful consequences. The game promotes persuasive speaking, active listening, critical thinking, and moral reasoning. It works well as a speaking activity, warm-up for argumentative writing, or collaborative debate practice. The materials include a set of 30 reusable character cards, 30 optional secret traits, 12 scenario prompts, voting rules scaled for group size, a one-sheet rule summary, and a facilitator’s guide for running the activity smoothly. Ideal for teens or adults, this game is replayable and encourages students to use English in emotionally charged, real-world decision-making contexts.

Who Stays, Who Goes ?

This worksheet is based on real-life inspired stories from Reddit, particularly from the AITA and relationship advice forums. Each story presents a dilemma involving topics such as family tension, trust, boundaries, and emotional honesty. After reading each scenario, students are invited to engage with targeted discussion questions that help them express their opinions, give advice, and think critically about how they would respond in similar situations. The language is accessible for B1–B2+ learners, making it suitable for teens and adults in conversation classes or debate-based lessons. At the end of the worksheet, students reflect on which stories were the most surprising or difficult, encouraging deeper analysis and comparison. The activity helps students develop their speaking fluency while exploring modern, relatable topics that connect language learning with real-world thinking.

Reddit Stories: Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong?

This worksheet introduces students to a future where virtual reality games allow people to do anything they want—because they believe no one gets hurt. Inspired by the idea of catharsis and ethical gaming, the story explores what happens when players discover that the characters inside the game are not artificial intelligence, but real people trapped inside. Through an engaging reading text written at a B1–B2 level, students reflect on right and wrong, freedom and safety, and how people behave when they think there are no consequences. The lesson includes discussion questions, a simple choose-your-own-adventure activity with multiple outcomes, and a personal writing task. It is perfect for conversation classes, critical thinking practice, or moral dilemmas in English.

Virtual Violence – What If the Game Was Real?

This worksheet presents six imaginative dilemma-based scenarios designed to spark student conversation, decision-making, and critical thinking. Each situation places the reader in a difficult position—ranging from finding a mysterious briefcase full of money to receiving a phone call that offers one honest answer with a twist. Students must choose what they would do, explain their reasoning, and then explore deeper “what if” questions that challenge their assumptions. The format encourages ethical reflection, personal opinion, and discussion in pairs or small groups. Suitable for B1–B2 learners, this resource helps develop language around giving opinions, speculating, and weighing consequences—all while keeping students engaged with unique, suspenseful prompts.



Choices, Consequences & Conversations

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

44 Dilemma English ESL worksheets pdf & doc