A selection of English ESL games and activities printables

This engaging worksheet is based on the entertaining real-life race between Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt and comedian Kevin Hart, which took place on a beach as part of a promotional event. The worksheet is designed to enhance students' reading comprehension, vocabulary, and discussion skills while providing a fun and relatable context.

 
The worksheet begins with warm-up questions that activate students’ prior knowledge and encourage them to think about their own experiences with races and competitions. The vocabulary matching activity introduces seven key words from the text, helping students to better understand and use these terms in context.

 
Comprehension questions follow, ensuring students grasp the main ideas and details of the event, such as Kevin Hart's head start and Usain Bolt's good-natured response to losing. Finally, the discussion questions allow students to express their opinions and engage in meaningful conversations with their peers, fostering both language development and critical thinking.

 
This worksheet is ideal for teachers looking for a fun and educational resource that combines sports and humor in an engaging way. It is suitable for various classroom settings and will surely capture students' interest while enhancing their language skills.

The Epic Showdown: When Usain Bolt and Kevin Hart Raced on the Beach

To reinforce vocabulary related to business ethics. for 3as year according to Algerian curriculum. the worksheet can be used as introduction to the unit or at the end

Ethics in business vocabulary games

Everyday Conversation Starters: Fluency Tasks for Busy Teachers

- Conversation Starters Circle



This flexible, low-prep speaking activity helps learners build real-world communication skills and confidence.



Level: A2–B1

Skills: Speaking, Listening, Fluency

Time: 20–30 minutes



Includes:


Teacher Instructions


Sample Questions


Tips for Fluency


9-Question Bingo Card Variation


Printable Question Cards (solid and rounded corner versions)



Learners take turns asking and answering open-ended questions in pairs or small groups. Great for warm-ups, speaking practice, small group work, or task-based fluency projects.



Find more themed questions and classroom-ready activities in Fluency Through Conversation, available on Amazon.



Everyday Conversation Starters: Fluency Tasks for Busy Teachers - Conversation Starters Circle

Games for Young Learners

Games and activities for teaching speaking skills and listening to very young learners. Mostly played with flashcards

Kindergarten games and activities



Games for Young Learners

This is a  simple worksheet based on a fun 4 min video. Intended for beginners and younger kids, it features full transcript so the students can watch and read at the same time. There is a very basic true or false activity and a quick revision of basic words and their opposites. Text can be reduced to basic roleplay and acted out, that will appeal to younger students: e.g. one student is Boomerang and needs to run to "the castle" and back while the rest are cheering on and then scattering to avoid being hit

Listening or TPR: Angry Brids

This is a conversation-based EFL activity designed for preteens at an intermediate language level. It explores the future possibilities of Minecraft, encouraging students to imagine and discuss potential game updates, such as smarter mobs, virtual reality gameplay, infinite dimensions, and time travel features. The activity includes engaging discussion questions that prompt students to express their opinions, describe their ideal game updates, and debate different features. It helps improve speaking skills, creativity, and vocabulary related to gaming and technology. This lesson is ideal for fostering interactive and dynamic discussions in a fun and familiar context for young learners.

The Future of Minecraft

Another possible Halloween activity -The Halloween Puzzle. Cut pieces apart and do the puzzle. Laminte for stronger and longer hold.

Halloween Puzzle

Reading comprehension and Vocabulary activities based on an excerpt from the famous book. Comprehesion and vocabulary activities for Spanish speakers.

The Hunger Games Reading Comprehension Activity

It´s an activity to review the Halloween vocabulary and traditions. First kids cut the words and stick them under the pictures. Then, answer the questions, make the craft and finally play in pairs. Happy Halloween :)

Halloween cootie catcher

There are different activities: a wordsearch useful to improve the language for the festival, colouring activities about the Irish flag and the Irish hat,and label the picture in the map. I hope it can be useful and you like it! 

St Patrick's Day games 2

4 activities that I bring into the classroom. They help speaking and learning to relate to a topic, categorizing words, spelling and remembering words.

Vocabulary Activities

grid or puzzle. Clues or definitions are provided to guide them. For example, "A person who cooks in a restaurant" leads to finding the word "Chef" hidden in the grid. It's a fun way to boost word recognition and understanding!

Hidden Word: At the restaurant

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)

For personal or classroom use only. Uploading on other internet sharing platforms or any commercial use NOT PERMITTED. Share Alike.

Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License

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

153 Games and activities English ESL worksheets pdf & doc