A selection of English ESL intermediate reading comprehension worksheet 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

- Students read a cute story about Cotton the bunny! This reading comprehension is an introduction to descriptive adjectives. It is not teaching what they are, but rather seeing them in the context of a story

- The second sheet offers 3 comprehension questions which can be asked individually, used for group discussion or pair work.

- At the bottom of page 2 there is an 'Adjective hunt', students use their list of adjectives from question 3 and find synonyms, antonyms or make sentences. Again, this can be used as individual work, pair work or group work! If there is not enough space provided students can write in their notebooks. 

- Teachers can use their discretion and decide on which activities the students will do on the bottom of page 2. They can do all or just 1. The last activity makes for a good class brainstorm session. 

==> Note from Emma: I am really proud of this worksheet. I love how it looks and the story. Please leave a comment or go to my buy a coffee to support my work 

Spring Reading Comprehension

Lesson based on current events in June 2023. The article is written for intermediate ESL students with 10 multiple choice questions that test higher-order thinking skills, such as understanding the nuances of English and making inferences. Also has prompts that can be used for speaking and writing. 

"Practicing for Alien Contact" - Intermediate Reading Comprehension

Easter Christian text. Good to work past simple and past perfect. With questions. Good to practice short reading, intermediate comprehension, speaking. Intermediate.

Easter

Worksheet about the tabernacle. Its story,  descriptions, meaning. Useful to know more about this sacred place, gain more vocabulary and  reading comprehension.

The tabernacle

This is the second of a series of three reading comprehension sheets (the first one being the most complex and the third one, the easiest), aimed for group work.



On the first lesson, students work in groups on different topics, and on the second lesson, I give them one photocopy per group of my handwritten answers - photocopies that I collect back at the end of the marking time; so they must mark their work themselves. 



After marking their work, they 1) get some sentences ready and 2) present their work to the class, who is taking notes.



During the presentation, as the class is taking notes, I tend to ask for only one person per group to speak, one to write difficult words on demand, and a third one to check the information being given. 

DISCOVER ICE HOCKEY (Reading comprehension sheets) 2 INTERMEDIATE

Ws about the holiest place in the world. The text shows its importance and information about it. Good to practice reading comprehension. Level Pre-intermediate.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

I made this worksheet to help the students with reading comprehension passages related to historical fiction and grammar drill - passive voice (introduction - present and past passive voice). This worksheet is based on Cambridge Curriculum for upper primary students. Hopefully, by doing this worksheet, students will be able to answer the questions using context clues, and their own schema to infer what the author is talking about - therefore making conclusions on what the passage is about. 

For passive voice practice, students will be able to know the difference between the present and past passive voice.

Lastly, I hope this worksheet will help. Please give me a credit if you are using my work in your classroom. :) Have a great day, teachers!

- Miss Venny-

Historical Fiction - Black Blizzard and Passive voice (Simple present and past tense) worksheet

This is a reading about World Water Day suitable for  Elementary, Pre-Intermediate students. It consists;

1. Warm up questions

2. Preparation exercise

3. Reading

4. Reading Comprehension Exercises



This worksheet also has a powerpoint version:

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-powerpoints/grammar/auxiliary-verbs/world-water-day/134242

World Water Day

This is an A2 pre-intermediate level English reading lesson about shopping and clothes. It includes the reading and reading comprehension exercises in 4 different formats together with the answer keys and explanations.

1) True/False questions
2) Multiple choice questions
3) Short answer questions
4) Multiple choice cloze exercise

Reading Lesson - Shopping to Feel Good - A2 Pre-Intermediate

Choose the correct items. There are six pages including vocabulary, adjectives, reading comprehension, word forms and so on. This would be a good end of the year review.

6 Page Grammar Revision for Intermediate Students

"Cleaning Up Florida's Underwater Tire Mess" intermediate reading comprehension

Test for intermediate students. This test uses disease. as subject  Reading comprehension, vocabulary, word order and writing about it. It all begins with a Garlfield comic strip. With solution.

37 Intermediate reading comprehension worksheet English ESL worksheets pdf & doc