A selection of English ESL street conversation printables

City map for conversation exercises like giving directions or telling where certain buildings are (prepositions of place). 

There are two pages with the same map, once with and once without street names.

City Map

The article came from BreakingNewsEnglish, but it has been heavily edited to suit my students. 


I give the article for homework. The next class we do the gap fill, vocabulary, and questions. 


Afterwards students work with partners or in groups to complete the various activities. 


The students especially enjoyed the song. You can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWE6seINeoE


For the class activity, I gave each student a colored card. On the back of the blue cards I wrote some questions, I gave blue cards to the weaker students. 





This lesson is designed for a 2 hour class. 

Conversation lesson on Occupy Wall Street and protesting

Here are the 20 best English slangs by magiclearning (   https://www.magiclearning.com/) and their meaning to take your language learning to the next level, so you can move like a native speaker and get your tourist brand off. It's time to aim for the informal.



Do you know what slangs are?



English slangs are nothing more than colloquial or informal words.



You don't learn all the slang in English classes, but they are certainly there and are part of the language.



Any culture has reconverted or transformed words that many can describe as "street slang."



In reality, English slangs are like any other idioms that gradually transform the language or are used in specific situations.



Most of them are just the product of slight changes that are not usually decisive from one moment to the next, but they do not cease to exist and coexist in parallel with the regulated words.



Why should I learn Slangs in English?



Because when you learn a language, it is one of the most challenging aspects; for example, in the UK, there coexist as many accents as variations of slang in English.



It wouldn't hurt to learn a few terms to get a complete education of the language.



Classes give you a formal grounding in the language, but you should not underestimate the importance of English idioms because, after all, everyone uses them.



In conversation, using these colloquial English words allows you to relax and maintain a level of confidence that you wouldn't get if you spoke like the gentlemen at the round table all the time.



Also, when traveling or meeting native speakers, it will be a great help. It's not about mispronouncing words in English. It's about knowing idioms that can help you in an informal situation.



Try as you might maintain formality, the reality is that you won't always be at a conference speaking like an encyclopedia. You will have to go out on the street and deal with colloquial English words most of the time.



It doesn't mean you have to become a gangster, but consider that many, regardless of race and social strata, speak this way, and you should adopt as best you can.



Another good reason to learn English slang is to have fun with friends without sounding like you came out of a library. This vocabulary is basic for everyday social situations.



Learning the idioms will help you in understanding the language. It will be a way to expand your vocabulary and study accents and intonations in depth.



Top 20 slangs in English



Enough chitchat, here are the 20 best slangs in English and their meaning so you can immerse yourself in the Anglo-Saxon culture as you should.



Practice these phrases and make them part of your English vocabulary.



1. Bloody: Widely used in movies and can substitute a swear word and emphasize something good or bad. You are very used by the British. Here is an example: "You're a bloody mess."



2. Dig: Although it means "dig," it is used when you like something. Example: "Hey, I dig your new shoes!" - Hey, I love your new shoes.



3. Ace: One theory suggests that this word came from Ace Ventura's movie with Jim Carrey. We're not sure about that, but what we do know is that it serves to highlight something fantastic.



4. Aye: An alternative and much more informal way to say "yes": "Can you come tonight? Aye" - Can you come tonight? Yes.



5. Tacky: Refers to something terrible, low quality: "Those shoes are tacky" - Those shoes are ugly.



6. Ledge: An abbreviation of Legend is used to exaggerate the quality of a person, animal, or thing in a specific situation: "You are a ledge" - You are a legend.



7. Numpty: It would be the opposite of the ledge. It refers to a dumb or incompetent person: "What a complete numpty you are" - You are a complete idiot.



8. Bestie: It is another way of saying my best friend, Best Friends, and BFF: "You're my bestie" - You're my best friend.



9. Fierce: Means you're confident, attention-getting, or stylish: "You're fierce" - You're hot.



10. The fuzz: The police have many colloquial terms, some more derogatory than others, although this is one of the most common: "The fuzz took my license."



11. Crisps: One of the most used, it never goes out of fashion. Refers to potato chips: "They ate an entire bag of crisps!" - They ate an entire bag of crisps.



12. Fancy: It is an ancient idiom, but it is used to say when we like someone or want something: "I sure fancy her. Would you fancy a coffee?" - I sure fancy her. Would you prefer a cup of coffee?



13. Loaded: In any other situation, it would mean loaded, but as an idiom, it is used to denote a person with a lot of money: "That lady is loaded, look at her house."



14. Loony: One of the most beloved slangs, perhaps because it is mentioned in many movies or comedy series. It means crazy: "Adam is loony" - Adam is crazy.



15. Telly: It is common to invent idioms for what we are fond of, such as the television: "Turn on the telly! It's time for the show!" - Turn on the telly. It's time to watch the show!



16. Tosh: A rather crude neologism to say that someone is talking tosh when drunk: "She was talking tosh when drunk" - She was talking tosh when drunk.



17. Any road: Another way of saying, "anyway," it's not a way of cutting off the sentence, it's just a slightly "cooler" variant, so to speak: "So, any road, are you from Spain or Italy?" - So, anyway, are you from Spain or Italy?



18. Lass: Another one of the most common, it refers to something nice or sound in a girl, recommended to use it when defining that girl you like: "Sarah is such a good lass" - Sarah is such a good lass.



19. Earwig: Means to eavesdrop on someone else's conversation, although it is also a wake-up call, something like, "Ears, flies!": "Ana, don't earwig on your aunt!" - Ana, don't eavesdrop on your aunt!



20. Lad: The counterpart of Lass, it is used to talk about a boy, usually someone young: "He's a nice lad."



There you have it, a complete list with the best, most functional, and most used slang in English so that you can act like a native speaker without making a fool of yourself.



We recommend that you constantly practice with different groups to study and learn them as you should. If you have no way of mixing with the Anglo-Saxon culture, try social networks.



There you will find many people to share and chat with as much as you want, from anywhere in the world.



This list of the 20 best English slang may not be worthy of Shakespearean praise, but they are undoubtedly beneficial for everyday life; after all, not everything is in books.

MagicLearning Lesson "Top 20 Slangs in English and Their Meaning"

English idioms are an attractive, entertaining part of the language, but sometimes beginners pay too much attention. From this article written by essay-company writers (https://essaycompany.org/), you will learn what idioms are and whether they are worth remembering. The difference between an idiom and a proverb where butterflies in the stomach come from, and what it is that spoon that sucks with fear.



What are idioms?



Idioms or phraseological expressions are stable turns of speech, indecomposable combinations of words, understood, as a rule, in symbolic meaning. The meaning of its constituent words does not determine the importance of the whole expression. Often the sense of an idiom is difficult to guess, to understand from its constituent words if you are not familiar with it.



For example: to be in the same boat. It means "to be in the same situation, to experience the same difficulties.



"I understand your problem. We are in the same boat."



Idioms are called stable, indecomposable combinations because they are used in a fixed form. For example, no one says to sit together in the same boat or be in the same vessel. An idiom is used as a ready-made figurative pattern for some typical situations.



The meaning of the expression about the boat can probably be guessed, primarily when heard in context, but there are idioms whose purpose is impossible to imagine.



"I want to buy a Saturday night special, but I'm scared to own it."



Idioms are called stable, indecomposable combinations because they are used in a fixed form. For example, no one says to sit together in the same boat or be in the same vessel. An idiom is used as a ready-made figurative pattern for some typical situations.



"A rolling stone gathers no moss."



The meaning is a person who often changes his place of residence, occupation, never settles down, does not settle down. Accordingly, the equivalent would be: "he who does not sit still will not make a good living."



How many idioms are there in the English language?



There are thousands of idioms in English, but it is impossible to tell the exact number, just as it is impossible to say the precise number of words in the language. For example, the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms (M. McCarthy, 1998) has 5782 dictionary entries, but that number doesn't say much.



English idioms are as much living units of speech as words, and their numbers are constantly changing. Some idioms live for centuries, while others quickly go out of use.



English idioms, proverbs, colloquial formulas, phrasal verbs, and other similar units of speech



Idioms can easily be confused with proverbs, various speech patterns, phrasal verbs. Even scientists sometimes find it difficult to distinguish them.



Idioms are a type of formulaiс language - stable, indecomposable expressions that should be understood and taught as a single unit of speech, rather than a group of words.



These patterns include:



1. Greetings and good wishes



How are you? 

Have a good day!



2. Prepositional groups or prepositional phrases



In a minute 

Once in a while



3. Proverbs, sayings, proverbs, quotations.



Bad news travels fast 

Buy the best, and you only cry once 



4. Phrasal verbs.



To look for

To sign in



5. To look for, to look for, sign in, and register. 5.



Blond hair 

Deeply disappointed



6. Conversational speech formulas



You have to be kidding!

Do you see what I'm saying?



7. Idioms



A penny for your thought

To give the green light



As you can see, the line between idioms and similar expressions is sometimes tough to draw. For example, the phrasal verb to look for cannot be called an idiom - there is nothing conversational about it, that is, any symbolic meaning. But the phrasal verb to sail through can easily be confused with an idiom because it has a symbolic meaning.



В idioms, and even more so in various collections of phrases on the Internet, are often found not only in dictionaries but in everything that remotely resembles them. It has at least a hint of idiom, including individual words with symbolic meanings.



How much knowledge of English idioms is necessary?



Sometimes I think that English idioms are almost the first necessity because they are ubiquitous in English.



Honestly, not that often.



It is beneficial and exciting to know idioms, but there is no point in learning them on purpose. Let's consider two cases: knowing idioms for their use in speech and understanding speech or text.



1. Use of idioms in speech



Many idioms have a stylistic coloring, are used in informal speech, are characteristic of some social or age groups. 



2. Understanding idioms



In my experience, I can say that when speaking to native speakers, idioms are rare. Often there are:



colloquial clichés,

phrasal verbs,

sentence groups.



But idioms, that is, turnips with symbolic meaning, like it rains cats and dogs when pigs fly, are rare. Your interlocutors understand that English is not your native language and try to speak without much difficulty.



By the way, many have noticed that when you talk to a foreigner in the company, you understand him well, but when they talk to each other, nothing is understandable. People talk to each other in their everyday language without making allowance for the "foreignness" of the interlocutor, so their speech can be dotted with slang and incomprehensible jokes.



Do I need to learn idioms?



If you have recently started studying English, you still have a small vocabulary, and reading a page of English text gives you a headache. You do not need to learn, memorize English idioms by heart actively. Idioms are quite an advanced part of the language, not a priority initially. If you discover a list of 100 or 200 idioms, in practical terms, it will give you very little because they are not so common, but your head will be scored thoroughly.



But idioms are perceived by many as an attractive, curious part of language, something like amazing facts or "did you know that...?" In that case, idioms can just be read at your leisure as something entertaining.



But if you're actively reading and listening in English, you'll sometimes encounter idioms. I think you should memorize them at a comprehension level, but there is no point in learning them so solidly that you can use them freely in speech - they are not such ordinary and necessary expressions.



Fortunately, memorizing idioms at the comprehension level is relatively easy, thanks to their vividness, imagery, and sometimes an entertaining origin story. The unusual and vivid things are best imprinted on the memory.



Popular English idioms with translation - a selection from personal experience



In conclusion, here is a selection of idioms that I have encountered in practice: I have not read them out of a textbook, but heard them from someone, met them while reading, and for some reason, they stuck in my memory. Here is my list of popular idioms.



Piece of cake - easy as pie, like a piece of cake.



It's an expression I learned as a kid. In Terminator 2, John Connor, the future savior of humanity, hacks into an ATM with some electronic device and steals money from it. "Piece of cake," John says and runs away.



To ring a bell - to remind you of something, to ring a bell.



The idiom has been seen several times in movies and detectives and is remembered because of the imagery. The ringing of a bell symbolizes a sudden thought.



Rule of thumb - A simple rule of thumb, an approximate way of judging letters.



The rule of thumb is a simple, practical method of not measuring something accurately. Linguist Paul Nation likes to use the expression in scientific papers and lectures.



The origin of the idiom is not precisely established. One version says that the "rule of thumb" came from the old carpenters' way of measuring - with a finger, not a measuring instrument. Everyone's fingers, of course, are different, so such a "tape measure" was not distinguished by accuracy but was easy to use. According to another version, the expression came from an alleged law in England, according to which the husband was allowed to beat his spouse with a stick, but not thicker than his thumb.



To have a crush on someone.



The expression is often found in youth comedies, teen literature, and sitcoms such as "The Friends" or "How I Met Your Mother.



Different ball game 



It's an expression I've only heard from one person, but many times. Do you know how some people have favorite words and phrases? Just such a case in point. An acquaintance of mine in America, a kindly elderly uncle who loved to spout wisdom and talk about the old days, used to say things like.



Jumpscare, in horror movies: a sudden frightening of the viewer, literally: a jump scare.



One of the essential and most effective scare tools in the horror movie and game makers' arsenal, which is why I don't like the genre. In its most primitive form, it looks like this.



The hero sneaks down the dark hallway of a vampire castle with a flashlight, the music building up a tense atmosphere. He approaches a large mirror on the wall, and then there is a rustle, and a shadow flashes behind him. The hero sharply turns around and sees that it is just a mouse. He exhales and says, "It's just a damn mouse!" and turns to the mirror, AND THERE!!! Plus a robust and squealing sound effect. Such scares make the viewer jump on the spot (apparently, hence the name).



The device is hackneyed among genre fans who have resorted to it in a cheap horror movie. In good horror, scare in much more subtle, profound ways, forcing not just the occasional jumping out, dropping popcorn, and the entire film to sit in suspense, and by the end just burning your nervous system to the ground.



I was introduced to this cinematic term when I watched the walkthrough of the super scary game PT on YouTube. Someone wrote in the comments that the frequent use of jump scare frustrated him - such a good game and such a cheap trick.



The bottom line is the gist, summary, lit.: bottom line, bottom line, bottom line.



This idiom means approximately the same: inference, conclusion. For example, a long article may end with a paragraph called "Conclusion" or "The Bottom Line. 



Street smart 



I heard the expression in a conversation with an American journalist, John Alpert. He said he had never been super bright, except for being street smart.



Street smart is a smartness acquired not at school and over books, but on the street, in life, in everyday life. It is also understood in a narrower sense: the ability to survive on the street.

English Idioms By EssayCompany: what are they, and should you learn them?

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

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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

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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>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

4 Street conversation English ESL worksheets pdf & doc