A selection of English ESL human values printables

A conversation topic for Trinity GESE grade 8.  Talking points and useful vocabulary.  

Personal Values and Ideals

These conversations questions are related to the topic of manners, values and education.

Modern Manners

It seems that, nowadays, everyone is in a hurry and wants things to happen immediately. We want to do everything faster: communicate fast, move quickly, and talk faster!

But sometimes it's impossible. For example, we know that learning a language is supposed to take a long time. There are different rules and words you have to learn. You have to practice and remember many things.



 



However, you may ask yourself: how can I learn English fast?



On the Internet, you can find many tips and free essays samples(https://www.wowessays.com/free-samples/) on English language teaching. But what tips should you follow to learn English fast? You can choose the learning methods that work best for you. But that means you have to try different ways before you find your favorite. In other words, you have to waste time trying different methodologies that are useless until you find the perfect one.

If you are eager to learn English, then you should pay attention to what the science says!

The science of language learning

Language learning is a critical field of study for scientists. It is because the ability to learn complex languages is something that differentiates humans from animals.

Science knows how the human brain works (for the most part) and the logic behind oral language and learning.

Many scientific studies focus on how humans learn languages. Some research tries to understand how and why we learn words, while others study the benefits of speaking more than one language. Similarly, some studies focus exclusively on babies (who are excellent at learning languages), while others look at adults.

As you can see, there are many studies! What could you do with all this information?

By understanding how and why we learn languages, you can improve your English skills faster and easier.

Check out these scientific studies on how to learn English fast right now!



How to learn English fast with 7 scientific tips



1. Listen to a lot of English



What science says:

Scientists have special terms for one of the ways we learn languages: unconscious or implicit learning. In this kind of education, you don't have to sit at a desk and study grammar rules over and over again.

Implicit learning happens without you even trying. All you have to do is listen to a lot of English without paying attention. When you hear the sound of English in the background, your brain automatically absorbs the sounds, accents, words, and grammar, even if you're not paying attention or taking notes.

The best part is that you can learn without even understanding the meaning of the words. Several studies show that it is possible to learn any language this way. Through this method, several people have learned false languages that scientists invented for their research.

The explanation behind this phenomenon lies in the patterns of language. When you listen to a specific style, you determine patterns. That's the way children learn! Babies don't understand language, so all they can do is look. So they spend all their time listening carefully to the language around them until, in the end, they understand the meanings of the words.

What you can do:

Listen to as much English as you can. Whenever you get a chance, make sure your playback sounds in English, whether in your room or office.

Watch TV programs or listen to music or audiobooks in English. Visit places where you can hear native speakers of the language. You don't have to concentrate too much on listening. You can just walk around, enjoy the scenery, wash the dishes, read a book, exercise, finish your homework, or work while you listen.

It doesn't matter what you do. If you listen to sounds in English, you will soon improve your skills.



2. Know the similarities



What science says:

Luckily, we have some good news. According to this study, all human beings are born with the ability to distinguish sounds that make sense. Although all languages are different, they share some similarities.

For example, even though some English words begin with the letters "BL" (like "blink"), there is no term that starts with the letters "LB." Just try to pronounce that sound. It doesn't make sense! Some sounds don't make any sense, even to babies who can't speak.

What can you do:

Keep this in mind when you're learning English.

If you find a word or sound that doesn't make sense, chances are it doesn't exist in the language.

Also, knowing that some sounds don't exist in English, you can improve your spelling. For example, if you want to spell the word "ghost" correctly and you don't know if the "h" comes before the "g," say the word out loud. If you try to say "ghost," the "GH" sound is meaningless. Right? On the other hand, the "GH" sound is reasonable. Use it!



3. Learn new sounds separately



What science says:

English can change the way your brain works. Surprisingly, if you learn a new language, you can improve your mental abilities! One study found that language learning stimulates the growth of certain parts of the brain. And the higher the growth, the easier it is to learn a new language.

However, the most exciting thing the experiment found is that the brain reacts differently to every sound.

For example, the letters "L" and "R" can be challenging to learn for people whose languages do not have distinct sounds for each letter (like the Japanese). The study found that when native English speakers heard the letters "L" and "R," two parts of the brain were activated. But, in the case of the Japanese, only one part of the brain was activated.

What you can do:

Before you can speak and understand English as a native speaker, you have to learn the sounds. This publication is full of valuable information about English sounds and how they are pronounced.

Determine which sounds are most difficult for you and study them.

How to learn English fast? Some experiments show that you can learn the sounds in as little as an hour if you listen to them at a deficient speed - that's fast!

You don't need any special software to play the sounds slowly, because YouTube does it for you. Find some videos that show the sound (or sounds) you want to hear. For example, this is an excellent video with different words that use the letters "R" and "L."

4. Use word associations



What science says:

Word associations connect words, sounds, movements, ideas, or images. For example, if you hear the music "meow," you associate it with a cat. When you see a picture of the sun, you immediately associate it with the words "sun," "warm," and "hot. It is not something you should think about, as the words come to mind immediately.

Learning English words through association is not only fun but also quite useful. A group of scientists conducted a study on sign language, a form of communication that deaf people have that uses hand and finger movements instead of sounds.

The experiment found that it is much easier to remember signs that resemble the object they represent. For example, it's easy to remember the sign for "eat" because it looks like a person eating, while it's hard to remember signs that don't look like the word.

What you can do:

Learn new words in a group. Combine a name with a picture, a movement, or another word. With this connection in mind, you will be able to remember all the concepts more quickly.

Move your hands and body to show the meaning of the words (at least until you can remember them easily). You can also draw some pictures instead of writing down the definitions of the terms.

One fun activity is to draw the words so that they look like what they mean - look at this example in the Google picture search and follow it! This exercise will not only help you remember the meanings, but also the spelling.



5. Remember patterns, not rules



Can you repeat the pattern? The ability to remember and repeat patterns can be quite useful for learning a new language.

In this research, scientists showed a group of students a set of figures. Languages have patterns. And, if you find the designs, you can learn the language more easily.

What you can do:

Maybe you've already spent time studying the rules of English grammar and spellig. But instead of seeing them as rules, think of them as patterns.

Let's look at an example of regular past tense. The rule says, "To change a regular verb into a past tense, add 'ED' at the end if you can remember the rule verbatim, perfect! For most of us, it's hard to understand what these rules are about unless we see them in action.

To see this rule as a pattern, just pay attention to this group of regular verbs and their past tense conjugation.

Rain - Rained

Want - Wanted

Learn - Learned

See the pattern? Let's take the next step. The next group of words has some differences from the previous one.

Plan - Planned

Rot - Rotted

Stop - Stopped

See the difference? What's the pattern? For these last three verbs, there is a rule that says: "When a verb ends in a consonant or vowel-consonant, the last letter is repeated before adding "ED."

So, the next time you have trouble memorizing the rules, just pay attention to the patterns.



6. Learn Phrases, Not Words



What science says:

ome words have one meaning when they're alone, but a different sense when they're grouped with other words. When you hear or read a sentence in English, look for these groups of words.

For example, the sentence "I ran around" means that you are running around aimlessly. However, if you add two more words, their meaning changes completely. For example: "I ran around the park" = "I ran through the park. It will help you learn more about the sentence and the words in it.

You may not find this surprising, but until recently, linguists believed that humans hear the whole sentence and then break it down into parts. However, one study found that word order can be more important than the entire sentence.

What you can do:

Learning individual words can be difficult, as they may have several meanings. Don't think you can use a name only if you know its general purpose. Therefore, when you want to expand your vocabulary, look for words in sentences.

For example, the word "retrospect" means "to analyze the past state of something. However, you will probably never use this term without putting the word "in" first. For example: "In retrospect, I shouldn't have eaten the whole cake. Study the way words are grouped together, and you will be able to speak English more naturally.



7. Learn with music



What science says:

Remember those nursery rhymes you used to sing when you were a kid? Surely you can still sing them today, even if you learned them a long time ago. How can you remember them so well?

Music is an essential part of children's language learning. That's why there are children's rounds to learn numbers, letters, vowels, and words. Repetition of songs and music helps children remember essential parts of the language.

Adults can also learn more easily through music. Language is generally considered an essential skill, while music is not. However, one study states that the methods for determining music and poetry are very similar and that both skills are equally important. For example, we learn that "ba" and "da" are two different sounds in the same way that we recognize that a trumpet and a piano are two instruments with different sounds.



How to learn English fast 7 methods for learning English according to science

This is an activity in which it`s analyzed some vocabulary, idioms and expressions that the characters in the movie use. And a brief activity about the plot. Most of the owrds that are shown and analyzed are adjectives, verbs and some very  everyday sayings related to humanity, values and feelings. The 2 activities about vocabulary are matching activities.

Multipage Divergent Movie Review - Vocabulary and Grammar

This is a set of activities around Tolkien's work to mark the celebration of Tolkien Reading Day. Students get familiar with the life and works of this author through a short reading comprehension on the celebration and its background story, a True/False quiz with biographical facts and the analysis and discussion of two poems by the author. I also provide links with suggestions and educational resources which can be adapted for younger students.

Tolkien Reading Day (25th March)

a song worksheet with three stages:a warming up stage is a hidden word from a word puzzle search to write its definition

 the study phase is listening to a song dealing with freedom and various values through different tasks ranging from gap filling to table completion reaching pronunciation of different sounds

songs of freedom by santana

Lesson Plan: The Lion and the Saint



Lesson Overview

• Level: B1

• Duration: 60 minutes

• Materials: Worksheet provided



Objectives

• By the end of the lesson, students will have a deeper understanding of the life of Saint Gerasim through the story of Saint Gerasim and the Lion. Through this exploration, students will not only enhance their language skills but also be enriched in the Orthodox Way, strengthening their faith and spiritual journey with God.

• Students will practice speaking and reading skills.

• Students will expand their vocabulary related to the story.

• Students will discuss themes of kindness, gratitude, and responsibility.



Lesson Plan

Warm-Up (10 mins)

1. Discussion:

◦ Discuss the importance of helping others, animal kindness, and understanding human emotions.

◦ Encourage students to share their thoughts and experiences.



Speaking 1 (10 mins)

1. Trait Selection:

◦ Students select and explain the three most important traits for a good friend from the given options.

◦ Encourage discussion and justification of choices.



Reading (15 mins)

1. Comprehension Questions:

◦ Students read the story of Saint Gerasim and the Lion.

◦ Answer questions related to the story, encouraging critical thinking.



Speaking 2 (10 mins)

1. Discussion:

◦ Students discuss Saint Gerasim’s actions of kindness and compassion, lion Jordan’s gratitude, duty, and commitment, trust, and forgiveness.

◦ Encourage critical thinking and empathy in responses.



Speaking 3 (5 mins)

1. Taboo Game:

◦ Pair students and have one student explain highlighted words without using specific terms to their partner.

◦ The partner guesses the word based on the description.



Closing (5 mins)

1. Reflection:

◦ Ask students to reflect on the lesson, discussing what they learned and any insights gained.

◦ Encourage feedback and discussion on the themes explored.


Reading and Speaking - The Lion and the Saint

Vocabulary Exercise
Task: In this exercise, students will match a list of vocabulary words to their definitions. However, both the words and definitions are scrambled, requiring students to work carefully to find the correct pairings.
Goal: This task helps students develop their vocabulary and learn new terms in context, improving their understanding of key concepts in the video.

Comprehension Questions
Task: After watching the music video "Are You Lost In The World Like Me?" by Moby and the Void Pacific Choir, students will answer a series of questions that test their understanding of the video. The questions focus on key scenes, themes, and the video’s portrayal of technology and society.
Goal: This task evaluates students' ability to extract relevant details and comprehend the deeper meanings and social commentary presented in the video.

Discussion Questions
Task: Students will reflect on and discuss a series of questions related to the video. These questions are open-ended and designed to prompt students to think critically about the video's message and relate it to their own experiences.
Goal: This task encourages students to engage in meaningful discussion, express their opinions, and practice speaking skills in a group setting.

CLOZE Exercise
Task: Students will complete a paragraph by filling in the blanks with the correct vocabulary words from the lesson. The missing words are related to key concepts explored in the video.
Goal: This exercise reinforces understanding of vocabulary and its usage in context while also helping students recall important terms from the video.

Are You Lost in the World Like Me? ESL Worksheet

This worksheet compares Finland’s "Housing First" approach to homelessness with the Czech Republic’s conditional support model, highlighting key differences in strategy and values. Finland has nearly eradicated homelessness by prioritizing immediate housing without requiring individuals to meet conditions like employment or sobriety, believing that stable housing is essential for personal improvement. In contrast, the Czech Republic typically provides temporary shelters or transitional programs, where individuals are expected to show progress in areas such as job readiness or addiction recovery before gaining long-term housing support. This approach reflects a cultural emphasis on self-reliance and limited welfare funding. The worksheet includes conversation questions designed to encourage students to think critically about each country’s method, the cultural values behind them, and their own opinions on housing as a human right. By exploring these contrasting approaches, students can reflect on the impact of stable housing and discuss how societal values shape policies. This activity is intended to promote thoughtful dialogue on homelessness, social responsibility, and the balance between government support and individual responsibility.

Finland and the Czech Republic: Contrasting Approaches to Homelessness

This activity is based on the real-life story of a fisherman, Adem Amca, and a stork named Yaren. It integrates reading comprehension, grammar (Past Simple Tense), and vocabulary practice through engaging and meaningful tasks.

Students will:
✅ Read a true story with emotional and cultural value
✅ Answer comprehension questions (True/False/Not Mentioned & Wh- questions)
✅ Practice Past Simple Tense (positive, negative, and question forms)
✅ Learn and apply new vocabulary from the text in context
✅ Reflect on the story through personal response questions
✅ Strengthen their connection with nature and values like friendship and empathy


ADEM AMCA AND YAREN

This engaging worksheet is based on the dramatic 2026 Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game between the United States and Canada — a match that quickly became one of the most talked-about events of the tournament. While the final score suggests a close contest, the reading explores the deeper story behind the game, highlighting momentum shifts, sustained pressure, elite goaltending, and the contrast between dominance and efficiency. The text also touches on the emotional tribute to Johnny Gaudreau, adding a powerful human dimension that resonates strongly with students.

The activities focus on high-value lexical chunks and natural sports commentary language, helping learners develop vocabulary that extends far beyond hockey. Students work with expressions such as dictate the pace, sustained pressure, and defensive survival mode, reinforcing both meaning and usage through matching and gap-fill tasks. The worksheet then moves into comprehension questions designed to promote careful reading and interpretation rather than simple scanning.

The discussion and agree-or-disagree sections encourage meaningful classroom interaction, opinion building, and spontaneous language production. This material works particularly well with teenagers and conversational classes, as the topic naturally sparks debate about luck, performance, pressure, and what truly defines success in competitive situations.

Ideal for B1 learners, speaking-focused lessons, and classes that benefit from high-engagement, real-world topics.

The Game Everyone Was Talking About

Writing Task: Write a short paragraph about whether you believe technology should be used to enhance human abilities or not, using Noland Arbaugh's story as an example.

FOR OR AGAINST TECHNOLOGY

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

17 Human values English ESL worksheets pdf & doc