A selection of English ESL open and close question printables

A text about the Holy Family from Nazareth with close and open questions :) Good for Christmas

the Holy Family

Nice tips to improve reading with several reading comprehension exercises such as true false statements, synonyms, opposites and open and close questions. I hope you find it useful.

Ten tips to improve reading

Tim Burton´s pieces of work are ideal to practice students skills of understanding and reading comprehension. 
Ideal to practice Past Simple, how to answer open and close questions.

Halloween Activity

This worksheet "How to write a postcard" explains step for step how to write a postcard, including the address, greeting, opening question, message, closing sentece, ending and name.

How to write a postcard

A handout showing the difference between 'open' information seeking questions and 'closed' questions which only require a one word answer. Can be used as a role-play to ask and answer questions with a parner.

open & closed questions

Speaking activity of open and closed quesions in the simple present. There's also a writing part at the end.  It focuses on question and answer structures.It can be used as a warmer if the topic has already been studied. One-to-one class.

Third Person-questions and answers

Speaking activity of open and closed quesions in the simple present. There's also a writing part at the end. It focuses on question and answer structures.It can be used as a warmer if the topic has already been studied. One-to-one class.

Questions that truly reveal someone's personality and capabilities. 



People are like onions.

We show our best selves on the skin, hoping to get people to like us. To accept us.



We put on makeup. We dress up semi-formally. We hand out our business cards with a beaming grin. We polish our car(s). It’s these kind of “desirable” qualities that we feel completely secure about opening up to others.



But when it comes to the things that truly make us who we are, like our dreams, beliefs, feelings, emotions, thoughts, wishes and fears, we close ourselves up like a clam.



It’s not like we’d planned to be a reticent person. In fact, we’d like to trust someone to share our deepest secrets and hear out our problems.



But after years of getting hurt and taken advantage of from being too open, we’ve naturally built a wall to prevent most people from getting too close to us.



So how can we ‘innocently’ break people out of this protective shell and get them to open up to us? So we can understand their true personality and capabilities?



Ask them personal, thought-provoking questions.

Personality conversation Questions

A fun exercise I do with my students to engage them in writing. I give them the worksheet and then I choose a suitable soundtrack. I ask them to close their eyes and listen to the music. While they are listening I tell them things like, you are at the beach. Who are you with, what's the weather like etc? Once all the questions on the handout are asked I ask them to open their eyes and answer the questions on the handout. They love the fact that music is involved and they aren't doing boring things. You can choose the soundtrack of "Jaws" or the "Castaway" etc.

A memorable day at the beach

In this game, students can practice questions, descriptions, and their Christmas vocabulary.



Begin by cutting out each of the images and placing them face up on a table. Make sure Rudolph (top left corner) is the smallest of all the shapes. While one person closes their eyes, the other student can place Rudolph beneath one of the images. From there, the student must guess which image hides Rudolph, based upon descriptive questions, “Is Rudolph hiding behind something red? Is he hiding behind a man? Is it an animal? Is it something cold? Can you open it?” until they have found the item hiding Rudolph.

Finding Rudolph - A Christmas guessing game

This worksheet accompanies the M&M's getting-to-know-you game, which is a good back-to-school activity. Students sit in groups, and each group has a cup of M&M's. In the group, one student closes their eyes and picks an M&M. The student opens their eyes and reads out the question corresponding to the color of the M&M, then answers the question aloud to the group. The students can go in a circle until all the M&M's are gone. Your students will love the reward of eating M&M's after they finish answering a question! The second page of the worksheet gives space for written answers.

The M&M's Game

Article Summary

Elizabeth Wagner's 2008 article, “Depressed Like You: The Myth of Teen Angst”, commences with Wagner's observation of the enormity of depression as a global concern, or certainly as a significant issue in American life. She then leads the way to what will be the focus of her article, which centers on the striking prevalence of depression in teens, and how this appears to carry through in adult statistics. This elicits the thrust of her interest; Wagner seeks to determine how much of what is typically considered ordinary, teenage angst is, in fact, serious depression, and how much of this is actually related to adolescence. Through better assessing of the teenage brain in this regard, Wagner asserts, must evolve a better understanding of depression in all men and women.



Turning substantially to studies conducted by the Oregon Research Institute, the author conveys this as evidence that teen and adult depression are more closely linked than has been suspected. Then, turning to work done at the University of Texas, Wagner further corroborates these findings, as the latter research demonstrates further similarities between teen and adult depression in regard to the efficacy of treatments. Contrary evidence is then presented, which suggests that teens do indeed suffer from periods of depression clearly linked to adolescence, as the depression often is not present when the teen years are left. This examination of various studies is followed by a discussion of how the teen brain evolves, citing research findings from the National Institute for Mental Health. Wagner concludes by affirming that, whether teen depression is driven by adolescent issues, or is more the onset of adult depression, this factor of it as the earliest indication of the disorder renders the extensive study of teen depression an urgent matter, reports Darren Barden, a writing coach who cooperates with writemyessayforme.co.uk.



The Article's Impact and Value



In terms of significant impact in the field of neuropsychology, Wagner's article does virtually nothing to contribute to existing knowledge. In the author's defense, no claims are made by her that such an undertaking is a part of her agenda; rather, she sets out to present, and consequently juxtapose, some of the latest research on the subject. This being her purpose, then, it is reasonable to evaluate how successful Wagner is in producing new insights and/or previously unexplored interpretations from the data employed. In this regard, Wagner's achievement appears to be, at best, modest, and this is at least partially due to the fact that her article is too brief to do justice to the ideas entertained within it.



It seems, in fact, that Wagner is exploring the possibilities within the field of teen depression as she goes along. This creates for the reader no clear sense of agenda or purpose within the article itself, Wagner's introduction notwithstanding. The initial emphasis, for example, appears to be on depression as a disorder that, ordinary conceptions aside, afflicts adults and teens at similar rates. This introduction does contain the caveat that there is evidence of specifically adolescent depression, but this is not stressed as particularly relevant. More crucially, Wagner concludes her opening in a self-contradictory way. That is, after noting that most adults suffering from depression begin to exhibit symptoms by age fourteen, she issues her rallying cry that efforts are needed to stop teenage depression before it starts. As the issue just identified is that of a depression not defined by age, it is confusing and unhelpful that Wagner chooses to assign this designation to the core problem.



Teen depression is, as the evidence, Wagner cites supports, a difficult and complex issue. It is inescapable that many teen problems, including depressive states, are mutually inclusive and exponentially fueled. As is common knowledge, the adolescent physicality is changing, and this induces various and sometimes confounding emotional states in even the most well-adjusted teens. Moreover, and not conveyed by Wagner in the citing of her selected research, methodologies of adolescent research itself are sometimes questionable. That is, adult depression is typically studied employing some form of the interview process; with teens, it is usually conducted more as a self-reported checklist. Given the scope of emotional, physical, and mental changes the adolescent undergoes, it is reasonable to anticipate a greatly subjective response. Such responses may properly serve in obtaining actual feelings about depression from teens, but they cannot relate how temporal these feelings may be, as hyperbole is a typical aspect of adolescent reaction. In other words, to the teen responding to a survey, the mild state of depression felt brief may be expressed as both extreme and ongoing. Wagner must acknowledge that, in assessing actual depression in teens, a far more strict methodology must be employed, or she must reveal this to have been the case in the studies she cites.



The ambiguity of Wagner's article may well be a result of a lack of professionalism in the writer. For example, the article opens with: “From a distance, depression can seem like no big deal. After all, who doesn't feel a little down in the dumps sometimes?” This is a very casual approach for any piece attempting to evince academic integrity, and it does not go far in instilling confidence in the reader as to the author's scholarship. It also, unfortunately, betrays the kind of careless structure abetting the ambiguity, or lack of real direction, in the article.

Depression is indeed an enormous and serious issue in the world, and an abundance of existing research by no means precludes the need for more. As Wagner somewhat indicates, there is an important correlation between adults and teens within the subject, but the focus should be directed toward the genuine roots of depression not associated with typical teen problems. In other words, if, as Wagner asserts, most adults suffering from depression begin to do so in adolescence, the wisest course would be to isolate these early depressive factors away from the “angst” concerns associated with teens, and often misinterpreted as clinical depression.



Teen Depression Article Summary

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

12 Open and close question English ESL worksheets pdf & doc