A selection of English ESL telling a story printables

Created for use with the Interface 3, Unit 3 speaking task.  (Useful phrases for telling anecdotes.)  Students complete the exercises then invent their own anecdote.

Telling anecdotes

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

Students take turns to finish a story. 



Each student gets a story handout.

(There are 6 kinds of handouts, for added variety). 

The last page is the back of the handout and gives students writing tips.



Student 1 - draw Picture 2

Student 2 - write a sentence to describe Picture 2/ follow sentence 1

Student 3 - draw Picture 3, etc. 



(picture -> sentence -> picture -> sentence...)



When 6 pictures and 6 sentences are finished, return to original student and they write the last sentence to complete the story. 





What Happens Next - Chain Story

Get your students writing and performing with this brand new free printable worksheets to download!



This fun and multifaceted writing activity includes story planning, writing an article or story for a newspaper or magazine, grammar practice in the form of writing wh-questions and yes/no questions, and also group work with students creating, producing, performing, and peer-assessing role plays based on the original stories!



Download the free accompanying podcast from http://purlandtraining.com/2018/02/03/free-podcast-story-planning-my-life-without/

Story Planning - My Life Without...

riddle



Exam about the short story The Oval Portrait. It is mainly focused in the story and the simple past tense. There are questions to solve, a true/false exercise and some sentences to write about the biography of Edgar Allan Poe.

The Oval Portrait

Answers and explanation for The Jump. A short story that takes students into space as part of a crew of cadets performing their first sub-orbital jump. It's a comprehension and vocabulary exercise to be read actively.

The Jump Answer Key

This resource strengthens skills with irregular verbs and planning a speech. The lesson begins with a listening activity and model for the finished speech. Then, it leads into prompts for the speech. The assignment ends with a rubric for teacher and/or student evaluation.

Like any resource, this resource is only a tool in the hands of a capable teacher. Feel free to adapt it to the needs of individual classes and students. Also, make my day and drop me a note about how you will use it. 

A Visit from the Past: Planned Speech Using Irregular Verbs

This is the skeleton of the story only. Teachers could use their imagination and add more details while telling it. The objective is to get your students interested in the topic and make them talk about it.

The haunted house

Aesop's fable A Bell for the Cat

This worksheet is specially made for those students who are learning new vocabulary and want to practice writing sentences. It is also suitable for higher-level students who want to practice short story writing.

Making Sentences - A Stroll in the Park

It's a lesson plan based on an extract from Ellen's Show to support lessons on charity. Students will practise listening skills and develop such soft skills as empathy. 

The Ellen's show -- a hearing aid campaign

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 evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

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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

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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

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how to remind people of something 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

288 Telling a story English ESL worksheets pdf & doc