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)

(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

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

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

ESL/EFL Picture dictionary of body parts, plus a related information gap exercise. There are two different worksheets for pairs of students. Each worksheet has some body part names missing and others provided. Students explain what missing information they need from their partner.

Body Parts (Picture Dictionary+ Information Gap Exercise)

Two tasks to practise feelings and emotions. 1) Sts match the words to the correct pictures and complete the crossword. Then find a secret message. 2) Find pairs of synonyms. Greyscale and KEY included. Hope you find it useful. Hugs mada :) 



Feeling and emotions

This worksheet contains 18 conversation cards and a matching exercise. The cards can be cut out if desired and be used as conversation questions. Can be used with both young learners and adults (pre-int to upper-intermediate). Suitable for (older) teens, university students and adults. I usually cut up the questions and put them in the middle of the table. Students take a question in turn and read it aloud, so the others need to listen carefully and the ´reader´ needs to pronounce well. For some questions, students can work in groups or pairs and then report to the class. Then I let students answer the question - either students volunteer or we pick one at random (make sure everyone gets involved).

Let's Talk about Finding Mr(s) Right

Vocabulary for 4 types of holiday. Ss match the phrases with the pictures. Other ideas how to use the cards: Play games. 1) Ss play in pairs or groups and guess what is on the partner's card. Each time they guess correctly they score a point.
2) Make a spelling contest-Ss reads out one word from his card and the other person needs to write it down or spell.

Holiday types

Students have to match the prepositions with the pictures: Where is the bunny?, answer the questions about Easter, make the craft and play in pairs. Happy Easter!

Cootie Catcher - Easter with Prepositions

Cut out the cards. Put the "endings cards" face up and "verbs cards" face down in front of the students. They work in pairs or groups of 3 and match the verbs with their correct endings.

Past Simple Tense - Regular verbs (matching activity)

This is a card game to review comparative and superlative adjectives. Ss play in small groups (4-6). Before starting the game, print 1 copy of all the pages per group, laminate them and cut them out.



Shuffle the picture cards and deal five cards out to each player. The object of this game is to get rid of all of your cards by collecting opposite pairs. The first player starts by either:

- placing down an opposite pair saying, for example, “I have got tall, taller, the tallest and short, shorter, the shortest”.

- or asking another player for a matching card. For example, if they have “tall, taller, the tallest”, they should ask to any player they choose:   Have you got “short, shorter, the shortest”? If the student asked has the card, he/she gives it to the first player who places the pair cards down on the table. If the student asked hasn’t got the card, he/she should say: “No, I haven’t. Go fish.” And the first player picks up a card from the draw pile (the sea). 



Players continue asking others for cards and drawing from the pile. The first player to make opposite pairs out of all their cards is the winner.



Another option would be that play continues until all the cards have been collected in pairs. The player with the most pairs is the winner.



Comparatives and superlatives go fish

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