A selection of English ESL mind questions printables

 This table shows question tags as used in all verb forms.  Colour codes help children make associations with as little reading as possible.  This is just one of the many mind maps, tables and charts I create about verb constructions.

QUESTION TAGS - mind map

Please upvote if you like this.  This table summarises verb tenses up to the stage where PERFECT tenses are introduced.  An explanation of how I use this table is given on the second page.  It gives students a global vision of how verbs change when questions, affirmations and negatives are formed, and how they change in order to indicate past, present and future. 

3 x 3 VERB TENSE TABLE  + EXPLANATION

This chart shows the simple present in its three constructions.  A colour code helps students to identify the basic grammar structure at a glance.  The structure of short answers is also given.   If you find this useful, a hit on 'like' or a 'thank you' would be greatly appreciated.

PRESENT SIMPLE - REGULAR VERBS

Cut out the cards and divide them into “hotel cards” and “guest cards.”



On a board make a mind map of the kinds of questions guests and receptionists would ask each other.



Give a guest card to one student and a hotel card to another.



The student with the hotel card is the receptionist and must answer a ringing phone.



The student with the guest card must ask relevant questions while the receptionist must answer the questions while asking for the appropriate details.



Take notes of any structure, pronunciation, grammar and intonation problems and then address them when the exercise is over. 



Hotel Reservation

 Mind puzzles are great warmers, aren't they?  Why don't you try these ones with your students? Engage your mind! I'm sure you will have fun. Key included. Give the students to think in a new way.

Mind Puzzles - Brainteasers

We sometimes have to test the local emergency switchboard operators and I have some of the older role-plays left over. So, here they are. Cut out the cards and divide them into “operator cards” and “casualty cards.” On a board make a mind map of the kinds of questions emergency switchboard operators and accident victims would ask each other. Give an operator card to one student and a casualty card to another. The student with the operator card is on the emergency switchboard and must answer a ringing phone. The student with the casualty card must provide and answer relevant questions while the operator must ask for the appropriate details and decide on a course of action while giving suitable advice. The rest of the students must then vote on whether or not the operator acted for the best. Tell the operators to start with the phrase, “999 emergency. Can I help you?” (911 for our cousins across the pond) Take notes of any structure, pronunciation, grammar and intonation problems and then address them when the exercise is over.

Emergency Switchboard Role-Play

With this board game students will practice speaking about familiar topics (house, family, favourites etc). Although this board game was designed with lower-level learners in mind, it could be very useful for higher-level groups as well in order to consolidate vocabulary and improve fluency as most topics are vital for having a friendly chat with strangers. You could also set a minimum speaking time (say 30 seconds for Elementary students and 1 minute for Intermediate students) depending on your class. I also strongly suggest you encourage other students to ask follow-up questions in order to keep the conversation going.

Board Game - Let's Talk About (Elementary)

Five exercises on WH - QUESTIONS. I hope you like it :) 



WH - QUESTIONS

I created another version of the classic Guess Who boardgame for ESL learners with characters that I made using the avatar creator tool at http://avachara.com . You will find a bunch of sample questions and gameplaying phrases on the 2nd page of the printable. 



There is a related Guess who boardgame that you may also want to play for the sake of variety:

https://en.islcollective.com/resources/printables/worksheets_doc_docx/guess_who_boardgame_with_20_characters/present-continuous-progressive/89982



You can use this worksheet in your ESL/EFL classes to practice body parts, clothes, (garments and accessories), and asking closed (Yes/No) questions in a fun way. 



I recommend using this ESL printable worksheet up to pre-intermediate level, as the game centers around asking simple questions and giving short answers in the Present Simple tense using the auxiliary verb 'have', and the Present Continuous tense using the verb "wear".



Playing this game is a proven way of getting your students involved in speaking English.





GUESS WHO GAMEPLAYING GUIDE



1. Pair students up.



2. Ask who knows the game.



3. Explain the point of the game: they will have to guess each other's mystery person quicker than their partner. 



4. Explain the rules. 



A) They may only ask 'YES' or ‘NO’ questions during the game (and of course, answer 'YES' or 'NO'). 



B) If a certain detail is not clearly visible from the picture or leaves room for various interpretations, your pupils may respond by "I can't tell" or "It's not possible to tell". Next, it's the other pupils's turn.



c) Turn by turn, students narrow down their list of possible mystery persons until they feel ready to confidently make a guess. Usually this happens when one has been ruled out of the last 2 people that remain. If they get the person wrong, their partner wins.



5. Hand out the following to every pair:



A) One copy of the boardgame per pair. 



B) One magic marker per pair.



C) One transparent plastic foil per pair. Tell students that they are supposed to place the foil over the boardgame and use the foil to cross the characters who they have ruled out using an erasable magic marker. How does this work in practice? For example, "Is your person wearing a hat?" If the answer is 'Yes', then they cross out all the characters that are NOT wearing a hat. If the answer is 'No', they cross out all the characters that are wearing a hat.



6. Before (and throughout) the game remind students to use auxiliary verbs in their responses, not just a simple Yes or No, e.g. "Yes, he or she is/does", "No, he or she isn't/doesn't" (using the form "he or she" up to the point when the gender of the mystery character has been revealed in order to keep this info hidden). Once the gender is revealed, they can start using the specific gender in their responses, e.g. "Yes, he is", "Yes, he does", "No, he isn't", No, he doesn't". 



You can, however, also choose to make it a rule and not allow asking about the gender. This way the game will last longer and result in more questions.





Guess Who with 25 characters

This worksheet contains 18 conversation cards, a quotes box and a ´How to become a better teacher´ box. The cards can be cut out if desired and be used as conversation questions. It is primarily aimed at teachers or people who are training to be a teacher. Why not copy the sheet, have a relaxing afternoon with colleagues and talk about the way you teach, experience and what you think is important. Getting together with like-minded individuals can be a refreshing experience. Alternatively, use it in teacher-training sessions.

Let's talk about Teaching English

This is a worksheet based on TED Talk "Inside the Mind of Master Procrastinator". It focuses on Vocabulary and Listening skills (both for general idea and for detail). Tasks include gapfill, questions, looking for specific information. It is suitable for a longer class. Tasks are to be completed while watching the talk.

Lesson based on TED Talk "Inside the Mind of Master Procrastinator"

Remind your students how to make reported questions. Set the time limit. It is a good exercise to revise the reported speech on your own or in pairs. Check the exercise with your students.

Reported questions

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

122 Mind questions English ESL worksheets pdf & doc