A selection of English ESL hat printables

A writing exercise to set the imaginations of students free! Each student must randomly select an object, a theme and a character. Then, their task is simple. To write a short story involving each of the three cards (this results in some really funny and creative ideas!) This is an activity which has worked wonders with my students, both teens and adults, particularly ones that struggle to think creatively. I call it ´guided creativity´. Hope it proves useful! Enjoy! :)

Creative Writing – Story Cards #2

A simple worksheet to teach compaints in English. It includes:



A short dialogue that learner need to read and study then answer comprehension questions.

Classification of expressions used to make complaints/responding positively and negatively.

Matching task for further practice.

Three different situations where students will have to complain.

Making and responding to complaints

This is a role playing activity between tutors and students.  Students provided the actual situations where they did not know the English phrases for what they needed to communicate.  The Spanish is included so that the students can immediately understand the context that the tutor will be explaining.  

Conversation Situations for Medical Issues

This is a sheet of mini subjects that you can cut up and get students to randomly pick out three or four and chat to a partner or a small group about for a few mins. Can be used as a warmer, cooler, interrupter. Generates some good language and gives you a chance to help students formulate meaningful language about things that are real for them.

Small talking points

If you know my logic games, then you know what you will find here. In this 37th game you can find out which child belongs to which mum, what present they gave and what was on the card. Have a great day. Hugs, Zsuzsapszi 

Logic game (37th) - Mother´s Day *** for elementary ss *** with key *** fully editable *** B&W

In pairs or small groups students take the survey and discuss what household jobs they do / don't do at home. The purpose is to revise make /do and teach vocabulary related while talking about their daily routines (present simple). Extra topics: women work, sexism, future homes, robots, etc.

HOME SURVEY

In this document, you'll learn about Gandhi's life. Pupils will practice reading comprehension, filling in the blanks and they have a vocabulary list where they'll put the new words they've discovered. It's important to do the worksheet with the students so that they understand the document. Doing it together implies translating and giving bit a by bit the new vocabulary.

Biography of Gandhi (Simple)

An article appropriate for advanced learners about some of the cultural differences between the US and Britain. It's adapted from a 2013 BBC article.



Aside from Christmas vocabulary, the worksheet contains connectors such as "despite" and common phrases such as "you'd be forgiven for believing" - perfect to give their own writing that native English touch!

Christmas Traditions: Britain vs America

The students have to put the verbs into the past simple. You could then use this as a hot seat activity, with Jake or Kate in the hotseat. Or you could ask them to write about what happens next. 

How embarrassing!

This is a fun way to get students into pairs to practice reading, speaking, and listening, all while learning useful new vocabulary and common English questions.



It is aimed at Japanese high school level but could also work for Junior High School students.



I usually demonstrate this at the beginning by asking the whole class questions (majority rules), and don't reveal the personality types until the end.



Note: When students are in pairs, have one student read and the other simply listen. They can look at their vocabulary list or ask questions such as 'what is (word) in Japanese?'.

Personality Quiz! Reading, speaking, and listening activity.

In this musical activity, the students must listen to the music by nickelback "if today was your last day", they will have to complete the blanks with the words and verbs in the correct tenses, after they complete you can play again and tell them to sing together, also, you can ask the students to create sentences using the second conditional to talk about "what would you do if today was your last day"?

2nd conditional: Nickelback "if today was your last day"

Four children surprise their mothers with a bouquet of flower on Mother’s Day. What are the names of the children, how old are they and what kind of flowers do they have for their mothers? Read the clues and find out.

Logic Game - Mother's Day

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

15,300 Hat English ESL worksheets pdf & doc