A selection of English ESL conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then) printables with discussion starters, speaking cards, speaking practice

Discussion starters, speaking cards

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

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)

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.

Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License

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

This is a worksheet for individual and group work to practice subordinate conjunctions with 3 different parts of activities. Divide students into 5-6 groups. Part A: Read and Match. Part B: Look and Write. Part C: Talk with subordinate conjunctions in different situations. Teachers can offer the incentives to reward the groups that get 5 task passes. 
If there’s not enough time for part C, students can select 1-2 questions to practice for each task pass. Have students answer all the questions with subordinate conjunctions. All the pictures are from Phillip Martin and ClipartHeaven.com


Subordinate Conjunctions-1

This is a worksheet to practice subordinate conjunctions. Have students choose one food picture.Start the pair work speaking practice with the note sheet (including questions in some situations and answering blanks). One plays the speaker to ask questions. The other plays the speaker to answer the questions with subordinate clauses. All the pictures are from Phillip Martin. 


Subordinate Conjunctions-2

Hey Teachers!



With Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 18th, I've decided to create and publish an ESL lesson plan on him. This lesson is based on a short biography video about MLK and racial segregation in the USA in the 1950s & 60s. With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA, I found it would be an interesting topic for students to study in the context of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement in the USA that took place in the 1950s. One of the aims of the lesson is to help students build awareness on racial discrimination in the USA and what it was like.



I would say this lesson plan is probably most suitable towards intermediate (B1) to upper intermediate (B2) level students - probably better for upper intermediate level students, although you could probably present a tough challenge to an intermediate student if you're willing to play the video a few times for them.



In order to view the video, please visit the lesson page on Fluentize via the link below. The full lesson plan is free to download on Fluentize until January 18, 2021 as long as you're registered. After that, the lesson will cost 1 credit. Here on iSL Collective, you get the first half of the lesson plan for free, which includes the preview activities and viewing activity, but excludes the post-viewing exercises.



https://app.fluentize.com/lesson/martin-luther-king



As you'll see, the preview activities include feature discussion material, pre-teaching the essential vocabulary that is presented in the video, and then the viewing activity is essentially a listening comprehension exercise based on the video. The post-viewing sections feature activities on a video quote, vocabulary context usage,  prefixes / suffixes, grammar using the conjunction "despite", follow-up conversational material, and then a quiz & review, in addition to the teacher's guide.



Students learn about Martin Luther King Jr., what segregation. They'll also learn a few special phrases and terms such as "to be on the run" and what "sit-ins" are. After watching the video and completing the first post-viewing section, there is a second post-viewing part that focuses on some grammar using the conjunction "despite" based on the following quote from the video:



"Martin Luther King Jr. believed in the power of nonviolent sit-ins and marches despite the use of force by police."



You can follow everything up with additional discussion material based on the following topics...



- The effect of racism on society

- What racism and discrimination is like in the native country where students are from

- Cultivating anti-racist attitudes for future generations

- What kinds of other social changes students would like to see take place in the future beyond racism



From the creator’s standpoint, my favorite part of the lesson is the section on prefixes and suffixes, as I found that the specific vocabulary words in the video and their accompanying prefixes and suffixes to be both interesting and useful (discredit, nonviolent, outspoken, brotherhood, rightful).



I also realize that many English language teachers are teaching in an online environment. For those of you who are, I recommend trying out our interactive lesson plan for it  (attached below), which is basically a digital version of the lesson materials that comes equipped with interactive fields for your students to write answers within.



I hope you have a great lesson exploring Martin Luther King Jr. and his influence in detail with your students!

3 Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then), Discussion starters, speaking cards, Speaking Practice English ESL worksheets pdf & doc