A selection of English ESL weekend activities printables

Sometimes you are asked a question that you can’t or don’t want to answer. For example if I ask you, "What are you going to do this weekend?" and you say, "I don’t know," you have killed the conversation. To keep the conversation going, you could say, "I’m not sure. What are you going to do this weekend?" In this activity we will practise a technique you can use to keep a conversation going even if someone asks you a difficult or an embarrassing question, or to end the conversation or change the topic. 

Keepers or Killers - Conversation Practise

If you run your classes at weekends or Friday afternoons, this one may be a nice foretaste of the two  keenly awaited days. Two sets of six questions will help you to find out more about the weekend habits of your students. Enjoy your weekend! :)

The weekend is coming! - quick survey

My students are learning was and were. I decided to create an activity - they have to complete the test with one word after that, they have to answer some questions about it. Age focus is around 10 years old. 

They have completed on their own and after they have to check the answers in pairs. Finally - based on my text - they have to write theirs.

Last weekend with was and were

A review of regular and irregular verbs with the theme what did you do last weekend. There are 4 pages of exercises to complete using the past tense. Good for discussion.

Grammar Review - Past Tense - Last Weekend - 4 Pages

This is a free A2 pre-intermediate level English reading lesson about making plans for a weekend. It includes the reading and reading comprehension exercises in 4 different formats together with the answer keys and explanations.

1) True/False questions
2) Multiple choice questions
3) Short answer questions
4) Multiple choice cloze exercise

Reading Lesson - Weekend Plans

You can use these flashcards to do spelling exercises, picture description or any other activity you wanted. Hope you find it useful. Have a great weekend. Thanks.

FLASHCARDS

This ESL teaching material outlines an activity focused on daily routines using a character named Tom Smith. Students engage in arranging sentence strips of Tom's routine, then create their own stories and posters about a chosen character's daily life. Activities include character selection, story arrangement, writing, and presentation, encouraging creativity and practical application of language skills in describing jobs, commuting, and weekend activities.







My name is Tom Smith

A listening activity using the new Vampire Weekend song step. Designed for Japanese students. 

Vampire Weekend Listening

Do you have any plan

This is an extremely popular game with my students, whatever their age. 



It creates a lot of fun, as it requires focus and fast reactions.

I always use it with the topic of physical description (looks and clothes). Students practise also the present progressive tense when stating what clothes the selected people are wearing.



Other uses I can think of is with likes and dislikes or pastimes, supposing the students did a task to learn about their classmates' preferences before or know each other well. In that case, they can make also sentences such as "Yes, I love my neighbours, except those who like playing video games". 



I'm sure it can be adapted to practising other structures as well, why not the past simple (talking about last weekend activities or last holidays) or present perfect for life experiences.



I hope you'll find the right use of this game that will suit your teaching setting and needs. Enjoy!





Change Seats! A game to revise the physical description vocabulary and more

Dive into the world of English with our Friday-themed class featuring The Cure's iconic song "Friday I'm in Love." Get ready to boost your vocabulary, practice grammar, and improve your listening skills while grooving to the upbeat rhythms of this timeless track. Whether you're a beginner or an advanced learner, join us for a fun and engaging session that will leave you feeling energized and ready for the weekend!

Feel-Good Fridays: Learning English with 'Friday I'm in Love'


 Students create phrases in the past simple tense to describe their weekend.

 Each student writes his/her phrases.

 When everyone is finished, students work with pairs.

 Partners ask each other questions;

  If motivated , students can ask more information about his/her partner's answers..


Use this fun game for reviewing the Past simple tense ! Includes a speaking activity.

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

74 Weekend activities English ESL worksheets pdf & doc