A selection of English ESL accidents printables with discussion starters, speaking cards, speaking practice

There are 2 pages of speaking cards illustrating everyday misadventures. The students are to answer each example with "I would..." and give as many examples- serious or funny that they can think of. It's good for us to laugh at our gaffes. Let's try to find how we can prevent future occurrences or find a way to deal with everyday problems in a better manner in the future..

Role Play : Everyday Misadventures or What Would You Do if...?

This fun video activity is to practise using past modals "should have.." and "would have..." to discuss past mistakes. The video describes the Top Ten Stupid Mistakes made by people. Learners should listen and fill in the missing information to show they understand the mistakes. Then they can give their opinions and suggestions about the past using past modals. This can be done as a speaking and/or writing activity. There are more detailed instructions on the worksheet. 



Copy and paste this link to find the video:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5AvDdeEx48

Or search YouTube for:   "English Through Videos: Past Modals "Should have...Would have..." - Discussing Mistakes"



Past Modals: "Should have... Would have..." - Discussing Mistakes

As I´m doing a set of classes on emergencies again, I thought I´d do one on potentially life-threatening situations or injuries. Given the morbid nature of the worksheet, I have tried to keep it upbeat and light-hearted but I still wouldn´t recommend it for kids.

Life-Threatening Injuries and Situations

'Dumb Ways To Die', an extremely popular (and catchy) song about safety around trains, etc.

Youtube link to song with and without subtitles in English + Speaking activities!

Have fun! ;)

Dumb Ways To Die - A Song!

Not really for children. Story about a very stupid accident followed by a debate with role-play cards. Can be used to check expressions of agreement and disagreement. 

The Dog and Jeep: Reading and Debate

An exercise on idioms about death. B2 level. It starts with a standard gap-fill exercise where students try and guess the words that go in the gaps (get them to give you an example using the idiom). After that, there is a short quiz on the origins of the expressions. An answer key is provided.

Idioms with Death

Divide students into pairs. Cut out cards and get one of each pair to phone and describe the traffic accident. The other student should use the Traffic Accident Report card to get as much detail as possible from their partner. 

Traffic Accident Reporting Role Plays

Telephoning for emergency services (Australia)

Vocab pictures

Basic dialogues to contact emergency services

Copyright free if used in a classroom by teachers







Basic Emergency Vocabulary and Dialogues

There are three pictures. The students should write at least 10 statements about the pictures depending on their level.

After the students exchange their worksheet and the partner says if the statements refer to picture, 1, 2, 3 or to all of them.

If you want to practice more, you can find more picture descriptions here

https://en.islcollective.com/mypage/my-creations?search_key=Picture+description&type=printables&option=published&id=5163&grammar=&vocabulary=&materials=&levels=&studentTypes=&skills=&languageExams=&dialect=&functions=&page=1&sorting_type=most_newest&filter_type=filter_all&view_type=list&view_length=12



Picture Descriptions of Accidents

This thought-provoking worksheet, The Lifeboat Ultimatum, is ideal for B1–B2 level students and centers on a powerful ethical dilemma. After a shipwreck, six survivors must decide who should be left behind so the lifeboat won’t sink — prompting difficult choices and intense discussion. The worksheet includes a short reading to set the scene, vocabulary matching for key terms, and ranking tasks where students must justify their decisions. A set of discussion questions and twist scenarios encourage deeper moral reasoning, empathy, and debate. Perfect for conversation classes, critical thinking practice, or lessons exploring ethics in English.









The Lifeboat Ultimatum: Who would you leave behind?

This is a B2-level critical thinking and speaking worksheet called "The Broken Trust." Students read six short but detailed interviews after a confidential project is leaked at a small company. Each employee gives their side of the story, but no one fully admits fault. Students must brainstorm together who is most responsible, who is least responsible, who might be hiding something, and who seems honest. The main focus is on group deduction, discussion, and supporting opinions with evidence. After analyzing the interviews, students answer deep discussion questions about leadership, workplace trust, and personal responsibility. This activity is ideal for practicing real-world communication skills, soft skills, and critical thinking in Englis

The Broken Trust : Six Employees. One Leaked Secret. Who Betrayed the Team?

This B1-level worksheet is based on a mystery roleplay scenario set on a desert island. Six people were stranded after a boat trip went wrong, and now each of them shares their side of the story in a short interview. Students must read between the lines, look for contradictions, and decide who is most responsible for what happened. The worksheet includes survival-themed vocabulary activities, a gap fill, comprehension questions, a deduction task, and group discussion. Perfect for practicing reading, critical thinking, and speaking in an engaging and imaginative context.

Stranded – Who Is to Blame?

Discussion starters, speaking cards

Accidents

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

16 Accidents, Discussion starters, speaking cards, Speaking Practice English ESL worksheets pdf & doc