A selection of English ESL main idea printables

This worksheet will require each student to read the paragraphs and write a main idea on the lines provided.

Main Idea

Students write the main idea and details of a given paragraph

Main idea

I designed this worksheet to help my students learn how to get the main idea from a paragraph. Sometimes for young learners is difficult to make a summery of a story so as to re tell it afterwards. This was the main reason I though it was a great idea to teach how to study. I hope you find it useful too

identifying main idea 

This is a worksheet that helps students to determine the main idea and supporting details of texts. Audio recordings are available through the following links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaLT2Z4cl7Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m8PH60ogfY

Listening for main idea

Read this fun paragraph about the T-rex and identify the main idea.

Main Idea and Supporting Details

Good reading tool for all levels. It helps students to dissect the main idea and details for any reading that you have. It can be paired with reading comprehensions, magazine or newspaper articles etc.

Main Idea and details Chart

Use this map to write in the main idea of a paragraph and then give details to support the main idea.

Bubble Map for Main Idea and details

2 pages of reading, 2 pages of questions. It may be a good idea to ask the students to highlight or underline facts that they think are important and refer back when they're answering the questions. Discuss why they think the things they highlighted were 'important'.

Destiny's Child biography; reading and comprehension, main idea

Reading comprehension

It´s a text in order to know the student´s level in english. This is a reading comprehension about different strategies like main idea, topic sentence, comics. Also, the students are asked how to read a text.

Diagnostic Test

Reading



Warm up:

Show sts the first slide of the ppt and ask them to read the title, look and the picture and tell you what topic they think it will be discussed that class.

If necessary, lead students into the topic by asking questions such as: Why do you think the planet needs to be saved? From what/whom? What is happening to the planet? 



Pre-teach vocabulary:

Draw two columns on the whiteboard, in one of them write the word “positive” and in the other “negative”.

Tell sts that you are going to show them some more slides in which they will see some things that are happening nowadays, some of them are positive for our environment and some of them are negative. They have to classify them orally. Use the word “recycling” to exemplify. 

Show sts each slide and make sure they understand the meaning of each word/phrase. 

Complete the table with sts answers.



Pre-reading:

Tell sts they are going to read a text. All the words and phrases on the board are in the text. Ask them to predict what the text is about. 





While reading:

Hand out the worksheets.

Activity 1: Ask sts to read the text quickly and check if their predictions were right. Check orally.



Activity 2: Read the instructions and then the  questions with the students. Explain to them that they do not have to answer the questions, they just have to match them with the correct paragraph from the text (the one in which they can find the answer to the questions).

When they finish the activity, ask them to compare their answers to their partners’.

Key: A-3; B-1; C-2 



Activity 3: Ask a st to read the instructions aloud. Explain sts that some of the sentences are false and they have to correct them. (They can cross out what is wrong and write the correct word above it).  

To check this activity tell sts that you are going to read the sentences and if they are false they have to stand up, if the sentences are true, they have to remain in their seats. If the sentence you read is false, ask a student to read the corrections he/she has made. 

Key: A-F (is) ; B-T ; C-F (animals); D-F (animals); E-F (killing)



Activity 4: Tell sts that they are going to play a game, but before playing, it is necessary to work in pairs and write 6 true or false sentences about the text using the present continuous. Aks sts if they can find in the text a sentence in present progressive, and write on the board (E.g. “Plants and animals are disappearing” ) use the sentence to revise the structure of the present continuous tense. Elicit some more examples from the students. Check if they remember what form of the verb to be they have to use with singular and plural nouns. 

Ask sts to start writing. Walk around the class and help them if necessary. 



When sts have finished writing, ask them to get in groups of four (join another pair). Each pair should read their sentences to the other pair, and they have to answer if the sentences are True or False (without reading the text). If they answer correctly, they get a point. The pair that gets more points wins. 

Post reading:

Activity 5: For this activity sts have to work in the same group than in the previous activity. Sts have to discuss the questions at the end of the text they read (And you? What are you doing to help animals and plants? Are you littering the beaches and the country or are you putting your rubbish in the correct place?). Then they have to come up with at least 3 simple things (things that all of us can do) that we can do to help nature. They can use dictionaries if necessary. 

Invite sts to share they ideas orally with the rest of the class.  



Environment Nature

Essay Writing - Pre-writing activity 

The internet is widely used by many of us today at work and in school. It is a great influence in our lives. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the internet?

This worksheet is to help students organize their thoughts through brain-storming. Students discuss in groups of 3 or 4 for the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet. List down and write in complete sentences their ideas. These ideas can then be the focus main points in the essay.



Internet - Advantages and Disadvantages

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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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

120 Main idea English ESL worksheets pdf & doc