A selection of English ESL reading games printables

Reading with three activities based on Playstation videogame, The Last of Us. Students will decipher some of the harder vocab, answer five questions on the text then write five questions of their own. 

The Last of Us

Paralympic Games

A four-stage guide to writing a short story, including grammar explanations and a few prompts to get students started with the use of a clear structure. Use it well!

Creative Writing Guide

A text about some great stories from the Winter Olympics. Even if the Games are over now, I hope this will inspire my students to never stop dreaming, never stop learning! A 3 pages worksheet, with a multiple choice while reading, some true/false sentences, a vocabulary matching, then a couple of exercises focused on verbs+prepositions, and phrasal verbs. There are also some open questions to discuss, and a writing based on information about another history-making athlete. I hope you like it!

"African Athletes break barriers at 2018 Winter Olympics" - reading, grammar, vocabulary, writing

This activity was addapted from the game "Scotland Yard". Players play Sherlock Holmes and must solve a crime by looking for clues in different places around town. The winner is the first to solve the crime.

Play Sherlock Holmes and Solve The Case of the Rewritten Death

This is a fun way to get students to read and practice whatever point you are working on.  Instead of the traditional Battleship game, which has guesses such as "A6, C5, etc." this one involves combining sentences, and the students must listen to get the right square.



On the left-hand side, put in the beginning of sentences, such as:

I am going

He is going

Sarah is riding the bus

Hassan is skateboarding 



On the top, but the second half of the sentences:

to the store.

to the zoo.

home.

to school.



To guess a square, instead of "A6," the student might say, "Hassan is skateboarding to the zoo."  "C5" might be, "I am going to school."



Print two copies of the grid for each student and put them on old file folders, so that one is flat on the table, and the other is vertical in front of the student. 



The students take a few minutes to put in their "ships" with X's in adjacent squares.  Once they are ready, they start playing.  They are trying to guess the location of their opponent's "ships".  Once they guess all the squares of a "ship," it is sunk.  The first person to "sink" all of the ships wins!  



Battleship! (on paper)

This worksheet contains the text with some interesting facts from the history of the game - basketball. The text is for reading, translating and doing some tasks afterwards. 

Basketball

Reading comprehension, especially for football fans, enjoy! :)

Fancy game of football?

Samantha´s First day at School is reading for beginner learners. Easy vocabulary about school, school subjects and free time activities. Questions for comprehension and NO GRAMMAR. You can make many word game and role play activities from the text!

Samantha's First Day at School

A text on screen violence, violence in computer games and possible effects on teenagers

Screen violence

This game worksheet is a very enjoyable way of introducing, revising or reinforcing vocabulary. Students are asked to read 10 statements and guess if they are correct or incorrect (true or false). They bet fictional money on every statement and try to get the highest score. Addictive yet very useful. (This is not an original idea. Quite some time ago I used a similar ws from a photocopiable resource pack. I don´t have it anymore nor do I remember the title so I made some wss of my own.) Enjoy.

Place Your Bets - Animal Collective Nouns (2)

The objective of this board game is to train the reading of single consonants, especially Gg and Cc + e,y,i, besides the revision of vowels is presented. So it's a good contunuation of the first part with a low level of complicac.y You should pay special attention to the reading of the letter u in the open syllable, at it is read as [u:] after the consonants r and j. 

The rules of reading (English single consonats + vowel revision) (part 2)

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

174 Reading games English ESL worksheets pdf & doc