A selection of English ESL telling stories printables

This reading exercise is in fact a part of an upload called Beer Facts by the writer sariyse. I decided to use the history part of it to make my own reading comprehension. Each of the numbered questions relates to the numbered historical story about beer. I also use the 8 Beer facts from the same author's work as a memory exercise.

Beer

A visual-aid and video-based storytelling lesson for students to practice telling stories using sequencers and talking in the past tense. 



A fun and extremely effective story that uses visual aids to get students to tell a story in the past tense, watch a YouTube video and compare the story that they wrote and told to the story that they watch. 

Then complete discussion questions, grammar, and vocabulary activities.



This lesson is part of Pocket Passport's original course which includes 80 lessons across 4 levels (Beginner, High Beginner, Intermediate, and high intermediate)



Get access to all of the lessons: www.pocketpassport.com



Check out the YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/aX7m64qrtDk



 and subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LearnEnglishbyPocketPassport

Telling a Story: The Birthday Party

This story talks about Robinson Crusoe (only the first chapter)

Robinson Crusoe chapter one 

The second part of this Pirate story about Dangerous Dan. Hope your students enjoy it as much as mine did.

A Pirate\'s Tale (2)

This is a writing task to help students when writing a narrative. There are questions to guide them, pictures to help them and a list of things to check when the writing is finished. There is even a section for teacher's comments and a marking template. It is suitable for pre-intermediate and intermediate students.

Narrative -The Accident

A fun and engaging ESL conversation and video-based lesson on Telling a Story about Japanese culture. 



One of many of our lessons to talk about and teach cultural awareness. 

Start the lesson with visual aids: Have students google the words and explain the topic regarding Japanese culture. 



Next, students watch a YouTube video and answer listening comprehension questions, complete a vocabulary matching exercise, discuss some things about Japan, Japanese culture, and world culture and finish with a listening exercise.



This lesson is part of our original Pocket Passport course which consists of 4-levels and 80 lessons. Get access to everything: www.pocketpassport.com



The video link is in the lesson plan or you can get a sneak peek here: 

https://youtu.be/KXs6rz7VuW4

Telling a Story: Japanese Culture

This is a funny speaking exercise for which you'll need some dice.

There are three boards used for rolling stories; students have to roll a die three times in order to find out:

1. who or what is the main character of their story

2. where does it take place

3. what's the problem 

Then they go freestyle and start telling a totally made-up story :) have fun!

Roll a story

This is a writing activity for students to write about a traditional story from their country or culture. It was created for intermediate students and above. I have used it with adult ESOL students at Entry 3 and Level 1. The stories my students have written have been fascinating to read. 

Write an article about a traditional story from your country or culture.

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

This is a picture story for beginners . Learners will write the given words and expressions to replace the images,then answer some related comprehension questions. It is in the simple present tense as it is meant to reinforce the structure in a fun way.Hope you find it useful.

The Ant and the Grasshopper 

Creative writing activity. Can be used to practice different gram.features or vocabulary. In our case it was past tense and phrasal verbs relating to relationships. Students work in pairs/groups and come up with four different stories based on the same picture.

Finish the story

An update on my writers checklist, separating the three stages of any longer piece of writing into preparation, writing and checking. The checklist gives a method that student's can use to work through their longer pieces of writing.

The Writer's Checklist v.1.1

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)

For personal or classroom use only. Uploading on other internet sharing platforms or any commercial use NOT PERMITTED. Share Alike.

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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

228 Telling stories English ESL worksheets pdf & doc