A selection of English ESL modals must can can 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

This is a worksheet with different rephrasing sentences to practice modal verbs of deduction, ability, advice, obligation... 
 It includes perfect modal verbs.

Modal verbs rephrasing

Here you can see several sports with a list of actions accompanying each. If your students already master some modals, you can ask them to make sentences about each sport from this prompt. For instance: When you play football, you should play as a team. When you do taekwondo, you must wear a traditional uniform.

What should you do in these sports?

modal verbs worksheets examples and written exercises must can should could may might different situations to use modals, also have to has to affirmative negative questions communicative situations and different aspects of the most common modal verbs for high school students non native who speaks Spanish

modal verbs

Format got a little weird uploading! Modal verb MUST in the past tense, includes review of modal assumptions in the present tense and grammar explanations. Best for older students. Practices using various scaffolds until more independent practice. Can be used with as much teacher modeling as needed depending on ss familiarity with forms. 

Modal verb MUST in the past tense

This is a text on Helen Kellar.  I have focussed the text around modal verbs: can, could, be able to. 

It is followed by some comprehension exercises: reference words, equivalent matching, true or false, questions about the text and a section where the student must form sentences using modal verbs. 

Hope you find it useful. 

The story of Helen Kellar

Ten general rules to play any sport learnt while practising the use of modals can, must & should. Students think of the proper behaviour when they are playing a team game. This easy writing activity will prepare them to describe the way a game or sport is played in a writing or speaking further task.

Sports rules & modal Verbs

It is a worskheet of four exercises related to modal verbs. here, students can practice the sues of must/mustn't; have to/ don't have to/ should/ shouldn't. There is also an exercise on of vocabulary related to to world problems: natural disasters, homelessness... Then in the final exercise, students ahve to write sentences using the most appropriate modals and the words in exercise 5.

modals

A matching exercise to practice rules and regulations. Cut up the pictures and give them to Ss. Cut up the other cards with the words on them and tell Ss to match them. Then Ss form sentences about the pictures + the words using can, can't and have to, must, mustn't depending on which modals you are learning. With upper level Ss you may not have to use the cards. Thank you!

Restriction signs

BETTER USE THE PROJECTABLE only the first 9 pages were loaded.



(This was meant to be the handout to go with the eponymous Projectable for your students to take notes while listening, which is why I took out the French; but on the Projectable the explanations are all there, which doesn't change a thing: you can still comment the pictures your own way ). Can, Could, May  Must, May, Might, Will, Would, Shall, Should, they're all here along with Be Going To and a few others... Doesn't include the Semi-Modals, though. 

THE MODALS IN PICTURES (Can, Can't, Can't Have, Could, Couldn't, Could Have, Couldn't Have, May , May not, May have, May not have, Must, Must have, Mustn't, Might, Might Have, Will, Won't, Will have, Won't Have, Would, Would have, Shall)

I took this information from the following website http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/verbmodal.htm, I organized it to create a simple quiz of modal verbs, first you give the students the first page in order to study, you can read it togeter, create some examples etc. Then you pick it back and give them the second page. The must do a matching exercise and write down some examples. I hope you find this useful...

Modal verbs quiz 

This a fun way to do a reading and debate. If you can get a white fluffy cat for them to stroke while being the villains, even better! Tell the students they are all members of an evil but secret organisation that runs all the big industries of the world called SECTUM. The main source of income for this organisation is petroleum but it controls the majority of all the world´s energy production and services. Cut out the students´ personality cards below and tell them to read them to themselves and then assume the character of the personality they have been given. Hand out the story about fuel from air and get them to read it in a group (doing the vocabulary exercise first). Then tell them that they are going to have a meeting to talk about what to do about this threat to their businesses. They must discuss what to do according to their characters´ personality traits.

71 Modals must can can English ESL worksheets pdf & doc