A selection of English ESL reading comprehension printables with upper-intermediate (b2)

Reading comprehension and writing activities about New Year's resolutions.

New Year's Resolutions are bad for you

Reading comprehension, including discussion and composition.



Ps. You can use the discussion as a warm-up.

Gender differences Reading

(2 pages + B&W copy + Answer Key) On the first page there is an article taken from CBBCnews followed by two comprehension exercises (True/False statements and Find Synonyms in the text) and an exercise on passive voice. On the second page there is the story that inspired the naming of the Cutty Sark. It is followed by two vocabulary exercises (students practise guessing meaning from context).

The Cutty Sark (reading + passive voice practice)

This Lesson is available for download with the audio for Free Access members of our website www.esllessonhandouts.com  Get a Free Access account and explore the Library.



The Audio file is available to download for Free Access members from the Handout page in the Library.



Handout and Listening Topic:

Your students learn about Coronavirus (COVID-19) and World Health Organization recommendations to prevent infection such as washing hands and maintaining social distance.



‘In the News’ is our popular and comprehensive ESL current events series that covers topics from around the world and includes audio. This current events topic is trending now and your adult and young adult ESL students want to learn how to talk about it. 



Engage and challenge your intermediate and advanced level students with learning based current event topics.  ‘In the News’ handouts offer reading, listening and a variety of English learning activities based on the topic.  Activities included are useful for students preparing for international English tests as well as a fun and engaging review for advanced students.

Coronavirus (COVID-19):  What should you do?

Page 1) A TV Chef talks about his point of view as regards recipes, diets and fast food (article from The Guardian).

Page 2) ACTIVITIES' page: useful vocab section, comprehension questions & speaking activity (4 questions to express opinion and share experiences).

Enjoy! ;)

TV Chef talks about recipes, diets and fast food!

This is a text on an articleabout how social media impacts on our mental health. A must-read !!

It is followed by some comprehension exercises: synonyms, definitions, a grammer exercise,  questions on the text, a section where the students must write a brief synopsis on picture description

Hope you find it useful.

Social Media and mental health

A reading comprehension task with a true/false activity, W/H questions, sentence completion, inferring word meaning from context and interpreting pronoun referents.

The text is great!

pages : 2

Man and the environment 2

These are worksheets I have made based on key vocabulary from an English textbook for Dutch learners. I will be making booklets for each unit & lesson from the book.



Page 1: Solution or could be used for role-play.



Page 2: Copy of dialogue for students.



Page 3: Vocabulary page. I use this page first. I cut up vocabulary and have students match the English and Dutch. Then I take away the Dutch and get pupils to complete the conversation. Then read it together.



Page 4: Comprehension.



Page 5: Using to be/finishing sentences/translationg sentence (English key provided on last page)



Page 6: Putting a conversation in order and crossword puzzle



Page 7: Solution



I accidentally deleted my last copy of this while trying to add updated version. Sorry.

On holiday/Visiting London: 7 pages

This test is all about human rights. The text is about 3 women that won the Nobel Peace Prize.

It includes the following tasks:

1 - reading comprehension (matching, sentence completion, reference task, finding synonyms, explaining meaning)

2 - vocabulary - gap filling task

3- grammar (3 tasks: gerund/infinitive; inversion of the subject and word formation)

4 - writing an exposition

Key is included.

HUMAN RIGHTS - B2/C1TEST (12th grade)

Reading Comprehension passage, questions, word meaning, word find

Can you trust the internet?

A reading comprehension activity about body language.

Body language

This is the first of a series of three texts about bullying. This one is about a victim of bullying. There are several reading comprehension tasks.

Bullying series - Part 1 - Bullying victim

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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Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License

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

715 Reading comprehension, Upper-intermediate (B2) English ESL worksheets pdf & doc