A selection of English ESL story cards printables

Based on story cubes.Print out the cards double-sided, laminate and then cut them out.

Divide the class into small groups or pairs, depending on class size.

Students take it in turns to pick a card and then tell a story using no less than two sentences and no more than five.

Once that student has said their part, the pack is shuffled and passed on to the next student who then takes a card and continues the story.

If there are only two students, they need to take 3 cards each.

Groups of 6 let the cards go round once.

The last student (good idea if it’s the best student) always concludes the story.



 

Picture Story Card Pack

A writing exercise to set the imaginations of students free! Each student must randomly select an object, a theme and a character. Then, their task is simple. To write a short story involving each of the three cards (this results in some really funny and creative ideas!) This is an activity which has worked wonders with my students, both teens and adults, particularly ones that struggle to think creatively. I call it ´guided creativity´. Hope it proves useful! Enjoy! :)

Creative Writing – Story Cards #3

Creative Writing – Story Cards #1

Creative Writing – Story Cards #2

Young learners watch our animated video and order the story cards as a way to help reinforce their understanding of this aspect of the Present Simple tense. 



When young learners have completed the worksheet, simply play the YouTube video again so students can check their own comprehension.





https://youtu.be/zdUzmMUjNpQ

Present Simple Question YouTube video #1 - Order Story Cards

Young learners watch our animated video and order the story cards as a way to help reinforce their understanding of this aspect of the Present Simple tense. 



When young learners have completed the worksheet, simply play the YouTube video again so students can check their own comprehension.



https://youtu.be/7LWC01gTY2s

Present Simple Negative YouTube video #2 - Order Story Cards

Young learners watch our animated video and order the story cards as a way to help reinforce their understanding of this aspect of the Present Simple tense. 



When young learners have completed the worksheet, simply play the YouTube video again so students can check their own comprehension.



https://youtu.be/D5rPu2WhPlA

Present Simple Positive YouTube video #1 - Order Story Cards

This board game is great for speaking! Cut the cards and give them to your students for them to explain the words in 1-2 minues without using derivatives. Can be used to work in pairs and in a group.

Alias

Try this fantastic video activity on daily routines. The activity is an activation task to practice using the simple present tense for daily routines. It should be done after students have been taught how to use the simple present.



Find the video:

On YouTube, by searching for “English Through Videos: Daily Routines with Simple Present Tense - Star Wars Stormtrooper”.

Or by using the link below. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz3FeSDWxvI



Instructions:



- Watch the video.

- Answer the questions from the video to describe the Stormtrooper's daily routine.

- Use the simple present tense. 

- It can be done as a speaking activity (in pairs) and/or as a writing activity using the worksheet.

Daily Routines with Simple Present Tense - A Day in the Life of a Stormtrooper

This worksheet contains 18 conversation cards and two vocabulary matching exercises (one with pictures). The cards can be cut out if desired and be used as conversation questions. Can be used with both young learners and adults (pre-intermediate to upper-intermediate).

Let´s talk about the NEWS

This worksheet contains 18 conversation cards and a matching exercise with descriptions and pictures. The cards can be cut out if desired and be used as conversation questions. Can be used with both teens and adults. 

Let's Talk about History

This worksheet is based on a BBC video about the life of the famous British writer Charles Dickens and It contains a set of comprehension questions, a gap-fill exercise and a vocabulary matching exercise. I hope you find this work quite useful





Listening Activity: The Life of Charles Dickens

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

97 Story cards English ESL worksheets pdf & doc