A selection of English ESL school life printables

This is a set of activities around Tolkien's work to mark the celebration of Tolkien Reading Day. Students get familiar with the life and works of this author through a short reading comprehension on the celebration and its background story, a True/False quiz with biographical facts and the analysis and discussion of two poems by the author. I also provide links with suggestions and educational resources which can be adapted for younger students.

Tolkien Reading Day (25th March)

Guiding students to be able to use the best solution in solving their problem.

And to develop their logic of thinking in learning mathematics so they can apply it in their daily life.

Solutions - Substitution - Elimination - Inequalities

An MTV Cribs episode where Teen stars Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, Lil Mama and Mark Indelicato take you through their Los Angeles and New York apartments. This worksheet includes listening comprehension tasks and in some of the tasks the students are expected to give their opinion about personality, lifestyle and music.The students read a short biography of Lil Mama and Soulja Boy and fill out their fact files. It also includes youtube clips showing an incident where Lil Mama crashes the stage during a the performance of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys at the VMA and the follow reactions of all three. Finally it includes lyrics of the best selling songs of Soulja Boy and Lil Mama.

MTV CRIBS - Soulja Boy & Lil Mama

This reading is taken from Shannon Thomas website (link included). Shannon Thomas is the best selling author of Healing from Hidden abuse, a book addressing psychological abuse and strategies to cope with it. It is a reading comprehension which can be used to stimulate a discussion about resilience and the best way to cope with bad events in life, about being thankful, and about solitude seen as a privilege and not as a curse.

Sunshine and rain

This lesson is designed for upper-intermediate learners (CEFR B2 level) who already have a solid foundation in English but are working on refining their grammatical accuracy and fluency, particularly with more advanced tenses like Present Perfect Simple and Present Perfect Continuous. At this level, students are familiar with English verb forms but may struggle to apply them correctly, especially when distinguishing between results and processes, or completed versus ongoing actions.


The vocabulary used in the lesson draws from both conversational English and more academic language (e.g., "cheat code," "minefield," "pronunciation"), making it suitable for learners who are comfortable with abstract concepts and complex sentence structures. Additionally, the article itself incorporates humor and a light, relatable tone to engage students and help them digest the grammar points more easily.


In terms of skills development, the lesson focuses primarily on reading comprehension, grammar accuracy, and writing, with opportunities for speaking practice through partner discussions. The inductive grammar approach aligns well with the language level, encouraging learners to analyze examples and figure out the rules themselves before confirming their understanding through explicit teaching. By combining both controlled and free practice exercises, students are able to gradually build confidence with these two tenses and use them more effectively in real-life situations.


This level of detail and structured learning is ideal for teenagers or young adults who are motivated to move beyond basic grammar and want to polish their ability to express nuanced ideas in English.











How Hard Is It to Learn English?: Present Perfect Simple and Present Perfect Continuous.

If your students love Naruto, this worksheet will certainly do good to you. It aims to introduce such words as 'enjoy, think, wonderful, tasty, walk, make, favourite' in different grammar constructions (Present Continuous, Present Simple, sentences with linking verb to be, There is, Can).

Naruto's Life

This exercise is a fill in text with the lyrics of Driving home for Christmas and it also includes the solutions and a little reading about Chris Rea´s life with questions about it.

Driving home for Christmas

This is just one part of a lesson plan I have once downloaded from this great website: www.breakingnewsenglish.com (this particular lesson is to be found at http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1001/100102-lifes_greatest_pleasures.html). Tis website gives you a complete ready-to-use handout + listening in MP3 format. However, I use this very list of 50 greatest little pleasuers whenever we discuss one´s happiness in life or what makes my students happy. Very useful as an icebreaker as well.

Top 50 Greatest Little Pleasures

This is a project-orientated worksheet for students who are about to start a job after graduating. It starts with some basic information and vocabulary and leads to writing and dialogue exercises for individual results. Have fun! 

a working life

The students will be able to work with two different texts,a bout two people It is a reading comprehension worksheet, so they tell about their daily life and their favourite days.  Students answer questions and find specific words. Hope you like it! 

FAVOURITE DAYS

Mind map on William Shakespeare life and The sonnets' structure: form, themes, style. 

Especially suitable for students affected by learning disabilities such as dyslexia .

Extremely clear from the visual point of view.



William Shakespeare life and Sonnets' structure mind map

This worksheet contains three fill-in-the-blanks songs (Fight Song, It's My Life & Ka Ching) and several prompts to encourage students to interpret the song in their own way. This worksheet was created by Sirhajwan Idek. 

Song Lyric & Interpretation 

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)

For personal or classroom use only. Uploading on other internet sharing platforms or any commercial use NOT PERMITTED. Share Alike.

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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

1,223 School life English ESL worksheets pdf & doc