A selection of English ESL pair matching printables

Students fist match the pairs of verbs (1 present tense, 1 past tense). Students then draw a line from each verb to either the past (left) or present (right) happy face. Students may then create their own sentences based on the examples, in spoken or written form. The teacher/group may check the answers by calling out the number associated with each verb, and eliciting the correct tense (either A or B) or (present/past). 

Preset and Past verb pair match and match to preset/past groups (with example sentences)

This is a pair activity for practising first conditionals. It is basically a matching exercise - students should find the ending for each sentence. Thus they will form ten sentences (dominoes) out of twenty cards. You can set up a time limit or simply reward the first pair to complete the task. The sentences are quite simple so they can be used soon after presentation.

First conditional dominoes

In the following activity students may work individually/ in pairs/groups.

They should read the Easter traditions cards and then match them with the countries. Hope it's useful!



EASTER traditions around the world

Students have four tasks that require them to label pictures, complete dialogues, and match and order conversations that they would typically encounter in an airport setting. After that, there is a listening test link that focusses on similar conversations. A youtube link is provided for the test.

At the Airport A2/B1 Vocabulary/Reading/Listening

Cut out the following cards. Divide students into pairs or they can work individually. Put the Do-Play-Go cards face up in front of the students and matching cards face down on the desk. Students' task is to match the correct words with "make", "go" or "do".

DO/PLAY/GO - Matching activity

This is a pair work activity. Prepare enough copies and laminate them. Students have to match the pictures to the descriptions. 

Ana.  :-))

GAME: WHO IS WHO?

This is a simple game and drill exercise to be played in pairs, to ask and answer 'where' questions. Each student receives one worksheet. There is a short simple dialog for the students to use as a model when they do the activity.

The student first has to ‘hide’ the eight objects listed on the top right of their worksheet (1-bag, 2-cat, 3-book, etc.) in their room (Room A). They can do this by writing the corresponding number or drawing a picture of the object on Room A. The students then work in pairs and alternate asking each other 'where' questions; "Where is your cat?", "Where is your TV?", and answering; "It's on the table", "It's under the bed", etc. When their friend answers, the student can then label Room B on their worksheet, by drawing a picture, or writing the number that corresponds to each of the eight objects. When they have asked each other about all eight objects, they can compare their worksheets to make sure that they match.



Interrogative - "Where is your~?"

Have students in pairs or together as a class match each phrasal verb with its definition! 



You may want to you use this with my other Phrasal Words internet memes powerpoint (all phrasal words in the memes are found in the matching!).

Phrasal Verbs Matching

Students study phrasal verbs connected to the environment in context and then match them to their definitions. Finally, they ask and answer questions related to the environment in pairs/small groups to further practise the phrasal verbs. Perfect for Earth Day (22/04/25).
 

Get the PDF with teacher notes and answer key here:
 

https://tefllessons.com/product/environment-phrasal-verbs/
 

You might also like:
 

https://tefllessons.com/product/100-common-phrasal-verbs/
 

https://tefllessons.com/product/love-and-relationships-phrasal-verbs/
 

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Environment Phrasal Verbs lesson

(with Answer Key) This worksheet is based on the song The Show Must Go On by British rock band Queen. Before listening, the students are given a number of words from the lyrics and are asked to rewrite them in rhyming pairs. Then they try to complete the lyrics using these rhyming pairs. They listen to the song and check their answers. Finally, they do a vocabulary matching exercise so that they can understand the lyrics better. I have also included a short factual text (adapted from Wikipedia), which will help Ss get a wider understanding of the song. 

(song) The Show Must Go On - Queen 

 In this worksheet students have to find the opposites of the adjectives given , then match the pairs to the pictures, beautiful/ugly, sad /happy, first /last, wrong/right

opposites of adjectives

Role play: there are 9 pairs of matching boarding passes (one for the check in assistant, one for the passenger) with dialogue prompts and missing information to fill in. There is also a sample dialogue on the last page :o)

P.S: I must give credit to Aylee for the Boarding Pass template (link: www.ayleebits.com)

At the Airport Role Play

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

290 Pair matching English ESL worksheets pdf & doc