A selection of English ESL speed date printables

I used this for my conversation class. Young adults and adults. I introduce the concept of Speed Dating, which is not culturally known in my country of teaching. I give each student a character. Asian students (whom I teach) are naturally shy so giving them a character is easier for them then being themselves. You can start by giving them any vocabulary you think they will need. Explain that their task is to interact with others in a speed dating scenario, they will have 3 minutes to speak to each student, speaking as their character. After 3 minutes they will change seats and speak with another student. When everyone has spoken to each other, each student will write down which character they would like to meet again. You can check to see if there are any matches and discuss with the students if it is a good match or not.



This is easily edited or you can add more vocabulary or make it suit you level. All the pictures are taken from google.

Speed Dating 

Students make questions they might ask on a first date using the word "What" (or whatever you would like, we were concentrating on that). We form pairs of Person A and Person B. Person A sits and Person B moves. We give the students two or three minutes to ask their partner their questions and either O or X if they like the answer the other person said. 

Speed Dating

Fun conversational-whole class role-play  activity appropriate for young-mature adults who have  experience dating.  I have used this as a pre-writing activity focusing on the use of restrictive and non-restrictive clauses.  Lesson plan attached.  



Speed Dating Activity

Students first read about 'speed dating', then they must match the paragraph titles with the paragraphs. Then a series of comprehension questions follow. Usually, it's a good idea to continue this with a roleplay- dividing the class into boys and girls and sitting them with a partner (of the opposite sex ideally). They have 3 mins with each person to talk about themselves, their interests, etc, before asking the other person about themselves. After three minutes, the students move to the next partner to do the same. 

Speed Dating Class

This worksheet contains flashcards with identities to use for "speed dating". Students are going to talk in pairs and their goal is to find out as much as possible about the other before the end of a time limit (3-5 minutes). After the time limit the pairs switch (like in speed dating). The goal is to find a "soulmate" - someone who has at least 3 same interests.  

"Speed dating" - asking questions

Cut out the cards. If you want to you can laminate them.

Divide your class into 2 groups. Form a double circle (inner and outer circle). The pupils in the inner circle get the white cards and the ones standing in the outer circle the grey ones.

You may use a signal (like a bell) to start the game. The teams start asking each other questions. They should alternate so that everybody asks questions and gives answers. (In this connection the pupils can also practice conversation phrases like "It's your turn", "What about you?", "Mine, too.", "Interesting", ...)

After some time you ring the bell again and the inner circle moves one partner to the left or right. And they start again asking their questions.

The partners who agree in 3 categories will be the speed date of the day. (key included)

Speed dating simple present

Best for classes of 8 to 16 students. Each student has to ask questions to another and get answers then report on it. 
Use a free "Tournament App" to arrange the students. 
Give each round 4 minutes with a 1 minute break to move to the next round. 
At the end ask the student questions like
- Who had the most in common with you
- Who was the most interesting
etc

Use - https://tournamentscheduler.net/ to arrange the students into pairs. 

Speed Dating speaking activity

Advanced level listening worksheet made for the following clip about speed dating, taken from the popular American TV show Gilmore Girls, which is known for the caharacters' fast speech: http://youtu.be/txB485HTWR4

Gilmore Girls Speed dating worksheet

Transcript for the following video clip taken from Gilmore Gilrs: http://youtu.be/txB485HTWR4

Gilmore Girls Speed dating transcript

12 cards + directions for a "Speed Date" style lesson.

Students practice using "Prefer." We've been working on the comparative so I encouraged them to make comparative sentences.. but they don't have to. 



Speed Dating using Prefer and Comparatives 

I did a standing speed date with this one. 

Students stand up and change cards after asking and answering the questions. 

Students come to me to receive a new card if they get the same card again.  I kept a tally on the board of how many times each student changed cards, the one with the most points was the winner! 



Was great for getting can/can't pronunciations perfected.



This activity was designed for a 30 minute class of pre/low adult beginners. 

Speed dating using 2 Can questions 

"Speed Date" style lesson.

Students practice talking about the past using "When I was young..." and asking followup questions. 

Then talk about the present and using present tense followup questions. 



Designed for a 1 hour class of adult beginners. 

Speed Dating for talking about holidays and asking followup questions

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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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>

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24 Speed date English ESL worksheets pdf & doc