A selection of English ESL main idea 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

Lesson plan based on reading the Jungle Book. Focus on animals topic. Aim: The lesson is mostly based on conversations and discussing of own ideas. The main aim is to improve children’s speaking and expressive abilities, to improve their pronunciation and to learn new vocabulary about animals.   



The Jungle Book

Video listening from the Irish Independent about how the remains of St Valentine ended up in a local Church in Dublin. Ideal for learners living in Ireland. True/False correct the sentences and information check. 

St Valentine's Day in Ireland

Ss are given a text about measles, they have to read for getting  the main idea. You can use to work on past simple tense or just for developing reading comprehension skills in your ss.

READING COMPREHENSION ABOUT MEASLES

This worksheet is based on a video I found on YouTube. The main topic is STREET FOOD. If you need, you can change some items in tasks 3 and 4, so it suits your students' experience better. Also, you can come up with more questions and ideas for discussion. Your students can work in pairs, smaller groups etc. This is more of an inspiration rather than a finished worksheet. It can help your students to develop their LISTENING and SPEAKING skills.

What You Should Eat: Borough Market in London (speaking, listening)

Reading comprehension adapted from a newspaper article. Ideal for teaching St Valentine's day, the history behind the Saint and some of the mysteries surrounding his true identity. If you like this I also created a listening based on a News video which explains why St Valentine's remains are in Dublin, Ireland, 

Reading Comp - St Valenitne's Day 

read the myth of Europa and write a summary with the main ideas

The myth of Europa

I made this to use in class for students to have a basic outline to use as they make their presentations for the Midterm exam.  It is very basic.  A presentation needs a topic, main idea, hook and at least 3 details expanding on the main idea and a conclusion(which is a re-wording of the main idea and how they worked through the issue)

Brainstorming/Presentation Outline

This game can be used in many different ways, and it is all free to you develope you own usage of it. 



I made cards with :

All the personal pronouns

All verb tenses, diveded in> PRESENT, FUTURE, PAST, and CONTINUOUS, SIMPLE or PERFECT SIMPLE, PERFERCT CONTINUOUS

Some random verbs 



The main idea is that a person must pick the cards, like: a pronoun, a verb tense and a main verb. This student can either construct itself the sentences by following the cards words. He or she must say the sentences in positive, negative and question forms. Or, he/she can choose a classmate to formulate the sentences by his giving words, that he reads on the cards.



Anyway, that's just one of many possibilities, just use your imagination, and good classes!



Teacher Mariana Fonseca - Brazil

Verb Tenses Card Games - Constructing phrases

 read a story for pleasure.

look at the pictures and  guess: main idea and  characters.

check /answer the questions. 

  past progressive tense.

 the moral lesson.  Acting 

A Fun Mystery Part 1

Fill in the gaps with the given verbs in Past Simple according to the meaning before listening, try to complete the gaps with some missing words, plus try to guess the title of the song and disscuss the main idea afterwards, it's good for kids of elementary school, but the worksheet can be used in 5-7th forms as well to talk about pets, friendship... Enjoy the song with your kids!

Puppy Love Song

A handout to provoke discussion on the topic of hoarding. First, students watch the video (the link is given in the handout) for general understanding and answer the question. After that, they complete the script. The last stage is answering the questions on the main topic. The glossary of 'challenging words and phrases' is attached below the text.

Hoarding Disorder - Video Lesson

This rubric will help guide your students to create a simple poster about an animal. Provide at beginning of unit so that students recognize the facts they will need to include on their poster. 



 Main idea/thesis, habitat, food, reproduction, fun facts are the main categories.  Each is worth ten points, or you can change point system. Everyone gets 20 points, then you have eight categories to equal 100 points.  



Change up rubric to suit your needs. I used this for beginner level ESL students.  

118 Main idea English ESL worksheets pdf & doc