A selection of English ESL short conversations printables

some easy short conversations for our little learners. It will help them remember the various tenses. If you need help with any conversation leave a comment and I'll be glad to help :)

Short conversation

These questions can help students to start a short conversation. I often start or finish my lessons with one question in order to let all students talk to each other.

Questions for short conversations 

Grammar-based ´Getting to know you´ worksheet aimed at practising the use of correct wh-question words, speaking, listening, asking for clarification, asking to repeat, note-taking and short presentations or talking in front of the class. Fully editable, printer-friendly colours (background colour does not print) and plain vanilla version (without any colour or clip art) included on 2nd page. Answer key provided.

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Grammar Meets Conversation: Wh-questions (1) - Getting To Know You

Grammar-based worksheet aimed at practising the use present simple questions with do/does/are/is, speaking, listening, asking for clarification, asking to repeat, note-taking and short presentations or talking in front of the class. Fully editable, printer-friendly colours (background colour does not print) and plain vanilla version (without any colour or clip art) included on 2nd page. Answer key provided.

Grammar Meets Conversation: Do/does/are/is (2) - Asking for Personal Information

Grammar-based themed worksheet aimed at practising -ing/-ed adjectives, speaking, listening, asking for clarification, asking to repeat, note-taking, short presentations or talking in front of the class and writing a paragraph. Fully editable, printer-friendly colours (background colour does not print) and plain vanilla version (without any colour or clip art) included on 2nd page. Answer key provided. NOTE: If you want students to practise more listening you could cut the ws into two halves (or use 2 wss) and let Ss interview each other without them having seen the questions beforehand (pair work). Also, you could use more of these worksheets and do a group work exercise.

Grammar Meets Conversation: -ING vs -ED Adjectives (5) - Asking about Experiences and Opinions

Grammar-based themed worksheet aimed at practising reading comprehension, the use of present simple questions and adverbs of frequency, speaking, listening, asking for clarification, asking to repeat, note-taking, short presentations or talking in front of the class and writing a paragraph. Fully editable, printer-friendly colours (background colour does not print) and plain vanilla version (without any colour or clip art) included on 2nd page. Answer key provided. NOTE: If you want students to practise more listening you could cut the ws into two halves (or use 2 wss) and let Ss interview each other without them having seen the questions beforehand (pair work). Also, you could use more of these worksheets and do a group work exercise. 

Grammar Meets Conversation 12 - How often do you (12) - Asking about regular activities

Grammar-based themed worksheet aimed at practising the use of possessive adjectives, speaking, listening, asking for clarification, asking to repeat, note-taking, short presentations or talking in front of the class and writing a paragraph. Fully editable, printer-friendly colours (background colour does not print) and plain vanilla version (without any colour or clip art) included on 2nd page. Answer key provided. NOTE: If you want students to practise more listening you could cut the ws into two halves (or use 2 wss) and let Ss interview each other without them having seen the questions beforehand (pair work). Also, you could use more of these worksheets and do a group work exercise.

Grammar Meets Conversation 10 - Possessive Adjectives (10) - Asking For General Information

This worksheet was created with  intermediate+ learners in mind, perhaps a mixed-ability group (hence an extra task for fast finishers). It could be used as the first part of a task-based lesson on tenses and storytelling. I chose this text, short, yet rich in typical features of an anecdote, to become a springboard for a further discussion of spoken English grammar, reviewing present and past tenses (including past perfect) and introducing reported speech.

A funny tense review story (reading comprehension and speaking)

Grammar-based themed worksheet (Animal Knowledge) aimed at practising the use present and past simple questions with do/does/are/is, speaking, listening, asking for clarification, asking to repeat, note-taking, short presentations or talking in front of the class and writing a paragraph. Fully editable, printer-friendly colours (background colour does not print) and plain vanilla version (without any colour or clip art) included on 2nd page. Answer key provided. NOTE: If you want students to practise more listening you could cut the ws into two halves (or use 2 wss) and let Ss interview each other without them having seen the questions beforehand (pair work). Also, you could use more of these worksheets and do a group work exercise.

Grammar Meets Conversation: Do, does, did, are, is, was, were (4) - The Animal World

Grammar-based themed worksheet aimed at practising the use of articles and some/any, speaking, listening, asking for clarification, asking to repeat, note-taking, short presentations or talking in front of the class and writing a paragraph. Fully editable, printer-friendly colours (background colour does not print) and plain vanilla version (without any colour or clip art) included on 2nd page. Answer key provided. NOTE: If you want students to practise more listening you could cut the ws into two halves (or use 2 wss) and let Ss interview each other without them having seen the questions beforehand (pair work). Also, you could use more of these worksheets and do a group work exercise.

Grammar Meets Conversation: A, an, the, some, any (6) - Asking questions

Where in the world can these landmarks be found? What do you think? Guess and discuss. This conversation worksheet with 10 landmarks and 7 questions can be used as a basis for an informal discussion about landmarks, tourism, culture, national identity, pride, and more. It can be used for Internet research and/or giving short presentations as well.

Conversation Corner - Where in the World (6): Landmarks

Grammar-based themed worksheet aimed at practising the use of the past simple, speaking, listening, asking for clarification, asking to repeat, note-taking, short presentations or talking in front of the class and writing a paragraph. Fully editable, printer-friendly colours (background colour does not print) and plain vanilla version (without any colour or clip art) included on 2nd page. Answer key provided. NOTE: If you want students to practise more listening you could cut the ws into two halves (or use 2 wss) and let Ss interview each other without them having seen the questions beforehand (pair work). Also, you could use more of these worksheets and do a group work exercise. 

Grammar Meets Conversation: When was the last time...? (11) - Asking for Past Information  

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

168 Short conversations English ESL worksheets pdf & doc