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

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

The activity aims at the student's listening skills throughout a good variety of exercises. This song is very popular at the moment. Its length is around 40 - 50 minutes depending on the student's former knowledge.

Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber - I don't care song worksheet

House of the Rising Sun, version by Joan Baez is a great song to do a quick revision of many grammatical structures. For example, you can check your students' knowledge of the third conditional, the passive voice, expressing future plans (going to future), expressing commands in direct speech, and with it reported speech as well. 

They also practice listening skills and vocabulary so it is a great exercise all around. 

House of the Rising Sun by Joan Baez Song Activity 

A listening and phrasal verb activity. Learners listen to the audio and fill in the gaps in the worksheet using a phrasal verb beginning with 'g'



Audio and answers can be found here: https://youtu.be/JOQ77fgw1dE



Learners then check their answers themselves by watching the video.

Phrasal verbs - 'G' - Get / Give / Go / Grow (in songs) worksheet

This worksheet if for teens and adults, intermediate and above. It has a gapfill, a vocab task and it also draws attention to gon\' for going to, wanna for want to, \'bout for about etc. Audio clips are embedded. Enjoy!

Chris Brown - Don't Think They Know (song worksheet with audio

Listen to the song, go over the lyrics if needed, answer the ABCD questions, pick the right summary of the song, match the target words to their definitions, then practice through reading a dialogue on the related topic and answer the questions on the text. 

Practice B2 CEFR Vocabulary with Out of the Gang song

Here is a worksheet to pracise listening and vocabulary. The worksheet is based on a very popular song that students know very well. the worksheet includes 4 different exercises. First of all they have to listen and put the words from the table in the empty spaces. then they have to numer the lines in the correct order. In the two last exercises they have to writethe words thay hear. In the last exercise the forst letter of each missing words is given. nise song, nice exercises - Have fun with your studens:)

Song -  Michael Jackson - Hold My Hand - Duet With Akon ft. Akon

The objective of the worksheet is to teach children or students the christmas songs and carols. It contains the lyrics of 8 the best in my opinion christmas songs and carols. like Feliz navidad, last christmas, jingle belss...

Christmas - the lyrics of 8 the best christmas songs and carols

A listening/discussion/writing worksheet based on the song "Just When I Needed You Most" by Smokie.

The listening part is a gap fill exercise. I suggest to play the song once first, before handing out the worksheet. For the first three verses the missing words are given 1) in the wrong order 2) with the letters mixed up and 3) in the wrong order. For the remaining verses the missing words aren't given. A key (full lyrics) is included. A part of the gap fill, almost all verbs have been omitted from the song so this worksheet could also be used as a lead in to practice irregular and regular verbs.

For the discussion part I have included a couple of questions to invite the students to think about the song and give reasons for what might have happened.

As for the writing part, students are asked to compose a short letter from "him" to "her" and it would be fun to share these letters with the class and vote for the most romantic just to end the class on a high note. Alternatively, if you want to omit the writing part, just get the students to sing the song together for a little bit of fun.

Smokie - Just When I Needed You Most - Song Gap Fill - Writing

This worksheet can help students to be more self-motivated in studying English. It contains some types of tenses, slang expressions, word formation, idiom expressions and very emotive translation. You can use video instead of listening.

Song: Jay-Z & Alicia Keys NY state of mind (with key)

Song activity where students have to choose between frequently misheard/confusing words. The song is upbeat and great for adults. As an added task, they have to figure out what certain expressions from the song mean in the task under the lyrics.

Led Zeppelin - Hey, Hey, What Can I Do - Song Gap Fill

If you use songs in the classroom (or are thinking of using songs) then this list can save you a lot of time! I have categorized songs under various headings such as grammar, discussion topics and vocabulary. The grammar group has been divided according to suggested use e.g articles; present simple etc. The vocabulary group has been divided according to focus e.g. colours; weather etc. This list is by no means comprehensive. It has been compiled mostly from my own experience and from ideas from various websites including  www.musicalenglishlessons.org.  



List of songs by Category such as Vocabulary; Grammar; Discussion Topics etc.

This worksheet provides a link to the video to watch/listen to the song and then the students have to fill in the blanks from the box of words provided. 



I would appreciate your feedback if you download this free resource :)

1,430 Song, Upper-intermediate (B2) English ESL worksheets pdf & doc