A selection of English ESL there is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc. printables with picture description, speaking practice

In this printable ESL worksheet / accompanying interactive quiz students have to find and describe nine impossible/unrealistic things in a beach scene.  Students will have a chance to use the following language structures: there is/there are (+present participle), present continuous tense,  has. You can find the solutions on page two of the printable worksheet.

As a follow-up task, you can get students to make the unrealistic scenes or objects into realistic ones. This could be used for practising the Second conditional, present participles or SHOULD. For example: Teacher: How could you realistically put a hot air balloon in this scene? Student: 
A) If there were people in the balloon and there were no bike hanging from it, it would be realistic (CONDITIONAL 2). 
B) A balloon with some people in it and no bike hanging from it would be realistic. 
C) The balloon should have some people on board and there should be no bike hanging from it.

I think since it's an open-ended task, you can meaningfully use this activity with levels ranging from elementary to intermediate. 

Find nine impossible things in this beach scene

Look at the pictures and write sentences using There is - There are.

THERE IS - THERE ARE

A "simple" guide to some common uses of existential it and locative there. 
Read about the different uses in the boxes and do the exercises. This is a confusing grammar point for many non-native speakers.



It Is vs. There Is or There Are - Guide & Practice

SS learn some of the prepositions of place.  Then, practice by describing the location of the objects that you can see in the picture.

THERE IS... THERE ARE...

This activity is  the perfect way to practise different grammatical and vocabulary issues: simple present, prepositions, colours, people, and so on. It can also be done like a reading activity.

Speaking Activity

A reading comprehension ws to practice there is, there are, prepositions of place and furniture. Before reading students can guess which room belongs to which person. Then they read the short descriptions and match them to one of the pictures. Possible follow-up activitiy: which is the best/worst room, why? 

Whose room is it? (Reading and speaking activity)

A fun Halloween-themed worksheet designed to help students differentiate between there is, there are and they are. Contains multiple-choice and writing exercises. 

there are vs they are (Halloween-themed worksheet)

The worksheet aims at revising or practising the topic Home/House with young learners. There are three tasks containing the necessary vocabulary.



Good for those who are going to take Cambridge Young Learners Exam (Movers). The exercises are made like those in the exam reading papers (Part 1, Part 2, Part 4). 



It's based on the vocabulary given in Kid's Box 3 (Unit Home, sweet home). 

Home (YLE-Movers exam - like task)

This is a group task (groups of three) to practice there's/there are and plural/singular form of nouns. The S tells their patners what's there in his picture, the rest of the group draw the subjects on their pictures. Then they compare the results. It's also a good way to practice classroom objects.

There's / There are

A fun worksheet mainly for elementary school kids. The first exercise is a true or false activity with sentence writing. On the second page, kids have to name the autumn clothes and colour them later, though this part may be skipped. The author of the illustration is credited on the first page.

An autumn day - a picture activity

It is a vocabulary practising worksheet aims to help the children between 6 and 9 ages to learn the basic words of a house. The students are expected to read the passage and show the rooms of the house.

My house

This is a test created for Time Zones 1, unit 4 but anyone can use it. 

The topic is wild animals and the grammar is "there is/there are" and prepositions of location. There are three tasks with an answer key at the end.

Wild animals -there is/there are-

Picture description

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

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)

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

47 There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc., Picture description, Speaking Practice English ESL worksheets pdf & doc