Writing Archives - ALL ESL

7 Detective Activities to Solve Riddles like Sherlock Holmes

allesl — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 10:28:53 +0000

Free Detective Style Activities

Have you ever wanted to be a detective? Now, you can with 7 detective activities.

Like Sherlock Holmes, you get clues and solve challenging puzzles.

And the best part? You practice English. And it’s tons of fun.

Like all our worksheets, they’re free to use for any purpose.

1. Detective Clues

Divide the class into groups of four, with one secretary and three detectives per team.

Detectives find clues, memorizing them in English. They report back to their secretary, who writes down each clue.

Once all clues are collected, the team works together to solve the puzzle. This activity combines memory skills, teamwork, and English practice in an exciting treasure hunt format.

Detective Clues Worksheet

2. Einstein’s Riddle

Get ready for an Einstein’s Logic challenge. This brain-teaser was supposedly created by a young Albert Einstein.

Using a set of clues, students must determine the nationality, pet, drink, color, and hobby of each homeowner in a neighborhood.

This will test your students’ deductive reasoning skills. Can your students solve Einstein’s riddle?

Einstein’s Riddle Worksheet

3. Spot the Difference

Two pictures look identical side by side. But they’re not. The students’ mission is to find 10 subtle differences between the scenes.

This activity sharpens observation skills while encouraging students to use English to describe what they see.

Can your students find all 10 differences? It’s a fun way to practice vocabulary related to objects, colors, and positions.

Spot the Difference

4. What’s in the Box?

This activity is called “What’s in the Box?” The teacher brings a mystery box to class containing a secret object.

Students must figure out what’s inside by asking yes or no questions. They can inquire about the object’s size, shape, color, or function.

The challenge is to guess correctly using only these limited questions. If a student guesses right, they might win a prize.

What’s in the Box

5. Teacher Quiz

I like to kick off the class with this Scavenger Hunt! Hide clues around the classroom before students arrive.

Divide the class into small teams and give them a list of items to find. Each item corresponds to a hidden clue.

Students must locate the clues, solve them, and match answers correctly. It’s a perfect ice-breaker that combines fun with learning in your first ESL class.

Teacher Quiz Worksheet

6. Talking Bingo

Everyone stands up with their own Bingo worksheet. Students mingle, asking each other questions from their sheets.

If someone answers “yes,” the asker marks that square. The goal is to complete a line on the Bingo card.

The first player to get a line shouts “Bingo!” Show your worksheet to the teacher and you win.

Talking Bingo Worksheet

7. World Monuments

Explore world monuments with a connect-the-dots puzzle. Students will link dots to reveal famous landmarks within country outlines.

Once completed, challenge students to name both the monument and its country.

This activity combines geography knowledge with fine motor skills practice. Best of all, you can learn about global landmarks and their locations.

World Monuments Worksheet

Free Detective Activities

We’ve revealed 7 of the best detective activities where you either find clues or solve a challenging riddle.

They have worked wonders for our classes. Hopefully, they’ll be challenging for your students too.

Have you ever tried detective-style games in your class? Please let us know what has worked and what hasn’t in the comment section below.

The post 7 Detective Activities to Solve Riddles like Sherlock Holmes appeared first on ALL ESL.

15 Free ESL Exercises for English Language Learners

allesl — Thu, 02 May 2019 08:48:26 +0000

ESL Exercises for English Education

These ESL exercises are a controlled way to practice a particular language aspect. Ready to get started? And don’t forget that all our worksheets are 100% free to use in your classroom today.

1. Countable Nouns vs Uncountable Nouns

Plural nouns indicate more than one person, place, or thing. You can specify countable nouns numerically (e.g., 5 carrots), while uncountable nouns cannot (e.g., rice).

This worksheet tests students’ knowledge of plural nouns. This includes countable and uncountable nouns.

Countable Nouns Exercise

2. Daily Routines – Present Verb Tense

This “Daily Routines” worksheet explores present tense verbs through everyday activities.

Students work in pairs to review routine examples. They discuss their own daily, weekly, or monthly habits.

The exercise encourages students to think about their personal schedules. The goal is to expand their vocabulary for describing regular activities.

Daily Routines Exercise

3. Prepositions of Location

Students practice prepositions by identifying and writing down the position of an apple in relation to boxes in various scenes.

They use prepositions like under, on top, next to, behind, and in front to describe the apple’s location. This worksheet focuses on prepositions of location.

Preposition of Locations

4. Adverbs of Frequency

In this activity, students fill in sentences with adverbs that describe their habits. You want them to focus on adverbs of frequency, which express how often something occurs.

Common adverbs include “never”, “sometimes”, “often”, “usually”, and “always”. Try to use the sentence structure as “Subject + Adverb + Verb”.

Adverbs of Frequency

5. Emotions Vocabulary: Personality Adjectives

The worksheet provides an in-depth exploration of various emotions. It uses a spinner to randomly select emotions for discussion.

Students work in pairs to share experiences related to the chosen emotion. It aims to help students better express their feelings.

Emotions Vocabulary

6. Singular and Plural Nouns

Learn simple plurals by adding “-s” or “-es” to the singular form. For example, “balloon” becomes “balloons”.

This plural worksheet practices forming regular plural nouns from singular ones. You can work in groups or as a classroom.

Singular and Plural Nouns

7. Irregular Past Tense Verbs

Students conjugate 10 verbs in the irregular past tense. Then, they match sentences with corresponding images.

After completing the worksheet, students work in pairs to list other irregular past tense verbs. Encourage peer learning to help grasp the concept.

Irregular Past Tense

8. Opposite Adjectives: Find the 2 Opposites

This opposite word worksheet focuses on antonyms for young learners. Students identify and circle two opposites within groups of three words.

The activity progresses from start to finish, covering various antonym pairs. Upon completion, instructors verify the answers.

Opposite Adjectives

9. Comparative Adjectives Worksheet

Comparative adjectives describe differences between two or more subjects. Our worksheet requires students to write sentences based on given images and words.

The typical sentence structure is: Noun (subject) + verb + comparative adjective + than + noun (object). Improves your understanding of comparative structures in English.

Compartive Adjectives

10. Compound Words: The Matching Game

Students match words to form 10 compound words. After completing the matching, students brainstorm additional compound words. Finally, the class then reviews all the examples together.

Along with 3 compound word worksheets and activities, this will put students on a solid foundation for forming compound words.

Compound Words Worksheet

11. Minimal Pairs: Pronunciation Pyramid

Sharpen your phonological awareness with the minimal pairs pyramid. Students start at the top of the pyramid by circling words the teacher says.

As the teacher says minimal pair words, the exercise ends at a specific endpoint. After completion, the class reviews where everyone lands.

Pronunciation Pyramid

12. Picture Rhymes Worksheet

For most students, this is one of their favorite rhyming worksheets. In this activity, students identify rhymes based on pictures.

It’s not only good for rhyming, it’s also perfect for pronunciation. Can students identify all the rhyming words? Give it a try.

Picture Rhymes

13. Compound Nouns in Pictures

Students write the compound word for each image. Then, they create their own in an empty box for peers to guess.

The exercise encourages creative thinking about word origins. We’ve provided answers at the bottom of the worksheet for reference.

Compound Words Worksheet

14. Common and Proper Nouns Worksheet

This common and proper nouns worksheet challenges students to generate proper nouns for given common nouns.

It highlights the capitalization rule: common nouns are lowercase, while proper nouns are capitalized.

Common and Proper Nouns

15. Irregular Plural Nouns Worksheet

This irregular plural nouns worksheet focuses on nouns that don’t follow the standard -s or -es pluralization rule.

Students convert singular nouns to their irregular plural forms. This might involve vowel changes or different endings.

Irregular Plural Nouns

It’s Time to Shine

These ESL exercises have structure and teach a particular aspect of language learning.

Because when you guide students with these ESL exercises, all the pieces of the teaching puzzle start fitting together.

And students go from just good towards greatness.

Which ESL activities do you like most in this list. Please let me know with a comment below.

The post 15 Free ESL Exercises for English Language Learners appeared first on ALL ESL.

13 Free ESL Lesson Plans to Master Your ESL Classes

allesl — Sat, 12 Jan 2019 06:00:17 +0000

13 Free ESL Lesson Plans to Help Your Students Learn English

We’ve all been there. Standing in the front of your class with nothing. Completely empty-handed.

If you’re teaching English abroad, you’ll need ESL lesson plans to keep your students confident in learning English.

The secret is knowing where, exactly, to find that English teaching playbook. That’s where we have you covered. 🙂 These 13 free ESL lesson plans will help you master your ESL classes.

And if you’d like more free ESL worksheets, don’t forget to check out our other free activities to engage your students in English.

The best part? All are free and can be used for any purpose.

The Key to ESL Lesson Plans

Your goal as an ESL teacher is to boost student speaking time while cutting down on your own talking time. But how exactly do you do that?

The key is to keep your students engaged with actionable, fast-paced activities in your ESL lesson plans. Alternatively, if you teach adults, these ESL conversation topics are appropriate.

As students go through the 5 predictable stages of second language acquisition, these ESL lesson plans mix how students can learn English. For example, they include group, mixer, and open classroom ESL activities. While some think it’s a bad habit to ‘repeat after the teacher, this is how your students can focus on their pronunciation. These ESL lesson plans will include these types of drills as well.

They also try to engage the four different types of learners – visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic. Mixer style activities help kinesthetic learners do by hand-on experience, while the others are quite self-explanatory.

If you’re going to teach English in Japan (or anywhere!), it’s time to put these powerful strategies into practice.

ESL Lesson Plan 1. Expectations, Rules, Handouts, Discipline
ESL Lesson Plan 2. Culture Shocked
ESL Lesson Plan 3. Making Questions
ESL Lesson Plan 4. Powerful Pronunciation
ESL Lesson Plan 5. Rhyme Time
ESL Lesson Plan 6. Get Emotional
ESL Lesson Plan 7. Everyday English
ESL Lesson Plan 8. Get a Job
ESL Lesson Plan 9. Directions & Travel
ESL Lesson Plan 10. WH- Questions
ESL Lesson Plan 11. Celebrity Status
ESL Lesson Plan 12. Merry Christmas
ESL Lesson Plan 13. The Big Question

ESL LESSON PLAN 1. Expectations, Rules, Handouts, Discipline

Let’s be honest.

Your first class is not what you’ll expect.

Your students will be shy. They’ll be uncomfortable. And they probably don’t want to be there.

Or who knows? Maybe, they’ll give you a hard time and act up the entire class. Both are real possibilities.

Our advice: You’re wise to keep things simple. Keep a positive atmosphere. And make them feel comfortable using the Rassias method.

It’s your chance to help your students feel relaxed in learning English. Tell your students what you expect from them throughout the year. Establish rules for your class like “mistakes are ok”, “listen and be quiet” and “to ask questions any time”.

1. My Class, My Rules

Your students are listening and attentive. It’s the best time to establish discipline in the classroom. For example, “no sleeping in class” is a good one. Because it’s their first class with you, it’s also not a bad idea to translate this for your students in their native language. They have no excuse for not understanding your rules in the classroom. There’s nothing wrong with starting off simple because your students will thank you for it. As your students progress, you can modify and even add new phrases to your students’ memory.

My Class, My Rules

2. Teacher Talk, Student Talk

As a teacher, you should repeat phrases like “let’s begin”, “do you understand?” and “repeat after me”. Your students can use phrases such as “please say that again”, “I don’t understand” and “please speak more slowly”. This is why you should stick to common phrases in your ESL lessons. In order to do this, you will need to build the teacher talk and student talk dialogue from the opening.

Classroom Language

3. Why Learn English?

First, put the students into pairs with one worksheet per group. Without giving too much away, describe some of the benefits of learning English.

For example, if you want to become a pilot, English is the language of communication with the ground at airports around the world. In this case, the benefits of learning English help you become a pilot.

Why Learn English

4. Business Cards

How many times have you introduced yourself? In business culture, new contacts often exchange their company information, phone number, or email address. They do this by exchanging a handy business card. Using the business card template, ask your students to fill these out. They can practice introductions by walking around the classroom and greet fellow students.

Business Cards

ESL LESSON PLAN 2. Culture Shocked

One of the best parts of teaching English abroad is the cultural exchange. Let’s not forget that culture exchange is two ways. Not only do your students learn about your culture, but you can learn about theirs.

At the start of this ESL lesson plan, exchange business cards and shake hands with students when they enter your class. Maybe, it’s custom to bow in their culture, so this might catch them off guard a bit.

Depending on where you are teaching, your students may not have spoken to a lot of foreigners. Your students are curious about you. And rightfully so.

Do you have any pets? Did you grow up in a house? What are your hobbies? When you include pictures, they will be fascinated by you.

Furthermore, when you open yourself up to them, they are more likely to return the favor. Include quirky things about your life but keep them comfortable in your ESL lesson plans.

1. Teacher Quiz

If you want to get your students out of their chairs in your first class, then this should be your go-to activity. Find clues around the class, and match answers with the clues.

Teacher Quiz

2. Cultural Differences

The fine line between culture across the globe is thinning because of globalization. However, some key cultural differences still remain. What are they?

Cultural Differences

3. Hometown Newspaper

If you want to get your students out of their chairs in your first class, then this should be your go-to activity. Find clues around the class, and match answers with the clues.

Hometown Newspaper

4. Cultural Dictionary

The fine line between culture across the globe is thinning because of globalization. However, some key cultural differences still remain. What are they? Culture exchange is two ways. Not only do your students learn about your culture, but you can learn about theirs. Ask students to write down one culturally significant item about their country and put them all together in a dictionary.

Cultural Dictionary

ESL LESSON PLAN 3. Making Questions

It’s said that through repetition, learners can truly develop a skill that is a stored routine.

Learning English is no different.

Greet students at the door and show them something culturally significant. If you’re Australian, bring a didgeridoo. Canadians can bring a hockey stick. Anything!

In these ESL lesson plans, your students will gain the practice they need to ask questions and increase their confidence in learning English.

And asking questions doesn’t stop here. Encourage your students to keep asking questions in all your ESL lesson plans, as others probably have the same question that you have.

1. What’s in the Box?

At the start of the class, bring a box with an object inside. Your students have to ask “yes” and “no” questions to uncover what’s inside the box.

What’s in the Box

2. What’s the Question?

For each word in the ESL worksheets, students will make an appropriate question. The teacher can review potential questions for each word in the activity sheet.

What’s the Question

3. Reverse Quiz Show

This is my greatest activity because students love competing with each other. Instead of answering questions like in a quiz show, students are making the questions. Similar to Jeopardy, each card has a point value. Put students into groups. If they make a correct question, they get those points. But if they get it wrong or take too long to answer, they get negative points.

Reverse Quiz Show

4. Talktastic Board Game

In groups of two, students roll the dice and move their game pieces. When they land in a square, they’ll ask their partner the question in the box until they go around the entire board game.

Talktastic Board Game

ESL LESSON PLAN 4. Powerful Pronunciation

Your greatest asset as an ESL teacher is your pronunciation. Without a doubt, this is the one skill you can bring to your classroom that your co-workers secretly idolize.

In this lesson, you get surgical on how to pronounce the various sounds of English. And depending on which country you teach in, some of these sounds can be very foreign to them.

For example, when you place your tongue between your teeth to make the /th/ sound, they might need a bit of practice to get this right.

That’s why you practice the sounds of English at an extreme level. In this free ESL lesson plan, we give you interesting ways to challenge and improve your students pronunciation.

1. Sounds of English

This ESL worksheet gets surgical for pronunciation showing students exactly where to place their tongue. Lead by example and place emphasis for each challenging sound such as /th/, /s/, /r/ and /l/.

Sounds of English

2. Pronunciation Pyramid

In groups of two, students roll the dice and move their game pieces. When they land in a square, they’ll ask their partner the question in the box until they go around the entire board game.

Pronunciation Pyramid

3. Minimal Pairs ESL Cards

In pairs, students listen carefully to the teacher and try to grab the correct card. The student who grabs the card faster keeps it. At the end, the students count their cards to see who the winner is..

Minimal Pairs ESL Cards

4. Tongue Twisters

Oddly enough, tongue twisters are an effortless way to get your students talking. Practice each tongue twister, and have your students try to show off their English skills. Pro tip: they love it if you can say a tongue twister in their native language.

Tongue Twisters

ESL LESSON PLAN 5. Rhyme Time

Your students are poets and they don’t even know it. This ESL lesson plan puts pronunciation into action. Students can level up their skills with these fail-proof rhyme activity sheets.

To the average English speaker, rhyme doesn’t sound too complicated. But in reality, it’s a foreign concept for ESL learners.

Although students can be hesitant to speak openly, ask about their culture and if they use rhymes. Ask questions. Do singers rhyme? Are there rhymes in poems?

Overall, rhymes complement pronunciation quite well. We enjoyed putting this ESL lesson plan together and hope you do too.

1. Listening Test

Test your students listening skills with these minimal pairs. Can they differentiate some of the sounds unique to English? Mix up the minimal pairs five times each and correct their papers.

Listening Test

2. Rhyme Time

Bring out your stopwatch. In groups, get your students to think of as many rhymes as possible. The group with the most rhymes wins.

Rhyme Time

3. Picture Rhymes

This is one of the best ESL worksheets here. Not only does it helps students practice pronunciation, but they also learn to rhyme. Each picture is a rhyme, what is it?

Picture Rhymes

4. Roses are Red

Who knew rhymes could be so much fun? Finish the rhyme from the classic poem “Roses are red, violets are blue…”. I love Valentine’s day and so will your kids with this ESL activity sheet.

Valentine’s Day Cards

ESL LESSON PLAN 6. Get Emotional

Students always find it hard to express themselves with emotions. Instead of saying the usual emotions like ‘sad’ and ‘happy’, this lesson truly explores our emotions.

As an English teacher, you will be showing various emotions in the classroom. Using facial expressions and gestures is a means of communication everyone understands no matter where you are from.

Your mood state will often change in the classroom, and your students should learn each feeling you share.

After these ESL lesson plans, your students should now be able to put a word to each emotion.

1. Like or Dislike

Each student writes down their likes and dislikes. After, the teacher collects everyone’s answers and reads them aloud. Can you figure out who wrote what? It’s interactive. There’s an element of intrigue in it. And most importantly, you can learn more from your fellow students.

Like or Dislike

2. Emotions Match

Emotions are a common theme in these ESL worksheets because students have a hard time expressing themselves! This simple ESL activity gets students to match emotions with emoticons.

Emotions Match

3. Emotions Vocabulary

Of all ESL worksheets, this is the most in-depth vocabulary for emotions. Because students always need help explaining how they feel, their arsenal of emotions will at least triple with this ESL activity.

Emotions Vocabulary

4. Your Satisfaction Level

Explore your innermost satisfaction. What makes you happy and sad? A lot of ESL worksheets focus on feelings. And this one registers at all levels extreme happiness to sadness.

Satisfaction Level

ESL LESSON PLAN 7. Everyday English

If your students are interested in pop culture, they’re going to hear a lot of slang and casual English. Further to this, ESL textbooks often teach only basic English.

For these reasons, you can teach them some casual English terms to help them go beyond the basics.

Take things a step further:

Manga is extremely popular in a lot of Asian cultures. In the last activity, students fill in these bubbles creating their own story. The students can get quite creative following these ESL lesson plans.

1. Detective Clues

In groups of four, students will walk around the ESL classroom searching for clues. While one student is the secretary, the other three are detectives. The detectives memorize each clue in English. They return to the secretary who writes down the clue, of course in English as well. Finally, once all the clues are found, the student detectives solve the puzzle.

Detective Clues

2. Text Message Translation

From their native tongue to English, students translate a typical text message they would send with their friends. Or better yet, they can make it up if they don’t feel comfortable sharing.

Text Message Translation

3. Phone Emoticons

Kids use a ridiculous amount of emoticons in phone conversations nowadays. What do they all mean? How do you associate an emoticon with an emotion? Cut out a select few, and use them in a written conversation.

Phone Emoticons

4. Comic Book Creation

Almost every kid loves comic books. But what if they didn’t have any words? Let’s fill in these speech bubbles with an interesting story.

Comic Book Creation

ESL LESSON PLAN 8. Get a Job

It’s not easy picking a career. Honestly, some people never find their career path. But when you find something you love doing, it’s almost as if you’re not working at all.

This ESL lesson plan explores your students career interests. What job do they want to do after they graduate?

Talk about potential career paths.

Taking it to the next level is actually preparing for a job interview and landing that job. These ESL lesson plans should get your students thinking.

1. Top 10 Jobs

A Family Feud-style ESL worksheet that helps kids reflect on their future jobs. Let them guess the top 10 jobs students in North America want to be. They might be surprised.

Top 10 Jobs

2. Jobs Match

In the same theme of exploring students future, they associate jobs with pictures in this one.

Jobs Match

3. Find Your Dream Job

In pairs, students ask each other the list of questions in the sheet. After answering all the questions, everyone can find out their perfect job.

Find Your Dream Job

4. Job Interview

The unexpected job interview that registers at all levels. Imagine students have landed interviews for their dream job. With the set of questions in the handout, students can write down answers to the interview questions.

Job Interview Practice

ESL LESSON PLAN 9. Directions & Travel

As English becomes the universal language of communication, traveling becomes much easier when you speak English.

And if there’s one skill you oughta learn before you travel abroad, it has to be asking directions.

How many times have you needed directions to get somewhere?

These activities are meant to broaden students’ minds when they start traveling abroad.

1. Country Outlines

I love geography. Who doesn’t? Match the country with its outline, then draw a country. How close are you to the real thing? One of my brightest students always loved drawing country outlines for fun so I dedicate this one to him.

Country Outlines

2. Maze Directions

A twist on the maze game, where one student closes his or her eyes and the other tells the way using directions. I’d be surprised if anyone got it perfectly, but that’s why this activity is so good. It’s challenging.

Maze Directions

3. Obstacle Course

One blindfolded student gets directed where to go in a classroom obstacle course. The blind leading the blind? I don’t think so, as they improve directions in real-time.

Obstacle Course

4. Dice Questions

Each number on the small dice corresponds to a type of question – who, what, when, where, why, and have you ever. The big dice are worth a point value. Students roll the dice. When the student asks a successful question, they earn that value of points. Keep track of points in hopes this gets them talking.

Dice Questions

ESL LESSON PLAN 10. WH- Questions

We continue to master the art of asking questions. These enjoyable activities lighten the mood of practicing all these types of questions.

Throughout these ESL lesson plans, encourage your students to keep asking questions, as others probably have the same question that you have.

Harness the power of asking questions.

This recurring theme will pay off big in the future.

1. Birthday Match

Get your students off their feet to search for clues around the classroom. The detectives pass the information to the secretary and match birthdays with some of the most prolific figures in history.

Birthday Match

2. Timeless Timelines

Students arrange the timeline according to the birth date and the invention year. From youngest to oldest, who can put them in the right order first?

Timeless Timelines

3. Preposition Practice

Where is the apple? In this ESL worksheet, students practice prepositions by writing down the location of the apple in each scene.

Preposition Practice

4. Shout It

Get your partner to say the top word on the card. But the only rule is that you can’t say that word. Describe it. Use gestures. But don’t say the word.

Shout It

ESL LESSON PLAN 11. Celebrity Status

How awesome would it be to be a celebrity for a day? Well, now students can get celebrity status with these ESL activities.

Shine the spotlight on them with a celebrity-style interview.

The challenging ‘No Subtitles’ activity has your students lip-sync with a film of your choice. Just say anything! Creativity is important.

By far, this is the most challenging of all ESL lesson plans so far.

1. Famous Foreheads

In this ESL game, all players sit in a circle. Give each student a post-it note and a pencil. Each player writes down the name of a famous person and passes the note face-down to the player on the left. Each player sticks the note on his/her forehead and everyone takes turns asking “Yes” or “No” questions to find out who they are. The first player to guess the name on his/her forehead is the winner.

Famous Foreheads

2. No Subtitles

Turn any English movie on mute. In groups of two, have your students re-enact the voices. When the movie stars move their lips, so do the students. They can say anything.

No Subtitles

3. Celebrity Interview

Shine the spotlight on your class with this celebrity-style interview. Take turns giving each other interviews. Students guess which celebrity their partner is.

Celebrity Interviews

4. Group Charades

Charades work for outgoing classes. But for introvert classes, it can be an epic failure. However, in groups suddenly introverts become extroverts… and they’re much more likely to be more relaxed. Rather than one person acting out, the entire group acts it out, and one person guesses.

Group Charades

ESL LESSON PLAN 12. Merry Christmas

It’s time to expose students to Christmas, a time of joy, curiosity, anticipation, love, and trust.

To get your students in the spirit of Christmas, let them decide what they would buy for you…

Most importantly, why would they pick that Christmas present?

This wide range of activities boosts vocabulary, practices spelling, and exchanges culture.

1. Word Untangle

A surprisingly difficult activity where students get to decipher words from a bunch of letters. Even the teacher might find it challenging.

Word Untangle

2. Jingle Bells Order

Students listen to the classic Christmas song “Jingle Bells” and order sentences when they hear them.

Jingle Bells

3. The Ultimate Christmas Present

Imagine your students had enough money to buy the ultimate Christmas for you… What present would they buy? And most importantly, why would they buy it?

The Ultimate Christmas Present

4. Christmas Crossword

Some say crosswords are non-educational ESL activities. But I disagree. Not only do students learn to improve their vocabulary, they learn to spell holiday words.

Christmas Crossword

ESL LESSON PLAN 13. The Big Question

It’s the Hail Mary to spark conversation in class.

In order to sharpen their English skills further, students put their thinking caps on and truly converse in English.

The centerpiece in this ESL lesson is ‘101 conversation topics’. There are enough challenging questions in here to keep them speaking for days.

Practice makes perfect.

1. Would You Rather?

“Would you rather” questions are great because there are only two answers! And the other person has to provide one of two potential answers. Stand up and ask ‘would you rather’ questions until you get tic-tac-toes in both game boards.

Would You Rather

2. Have You Ever?

In your ESL classroom, there is a NO and YES side. Start asking YES or NO questions getting your students moving to either side. Encourage students to volunteer and take the role of the teacher.

Have You Ever

3. Topics From a Hat

Energize your classroom with these engaging topics from a hat. Print them off. Cut them up. Put them in a hat. Select a topic at random and let your students talk in pairs or together.

Topics From a Hat

4. Compound Words

Slightly unrelated to the ESL lesson plan, but it’s a good visual activity that gets students thinking. Figure out each compound word in the worksheet and then have them draw one in the last square.

Compound Words

Now, it’s your turn

Are you new to teaching English abroad? Or are you thinking about going to teach English in Korea or China?

Are you in need of ESL lesson plans to succeed as an ESL teacher?

These ESL lesson plans will transform your repertoire into a teaching empire.

Any questions? Let me know with a comment below.

The post 13 Free ESL Lesson Plans to Master Your ESL Classes appeared first on ALL ESL.

Your Superhero Story: What Would Be Your Superpowers?

allesl — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 10:01:40 +0000

Download

If you’re an artist, then it’s your time to shine. If you could have any superpower in the world, what would it be and why?

For example, you could be the strongest man or woman in the world. Or, you could be the fastest. In this activity, you can practice superlatives and comparatives.

There’s nothing more exciting than writing your own superhero story. And that’s exactly what the Superhero Story Worksheet is all about. It’s a fun way to help kids to flex those creative muscles and give them a chance to create their own unique superhero stories.

Your Superhero Story: Example

The fast firewoman is so fast that it’s hard to take a picture of her.
She wears a black mask, red boots and has red hair.
She helps catch people who steal from banks.

Related Adjectives Worksheets

If you need more grammar and adjectives worksheets, see our free printable activity sheets below.

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Describe Your Dream Dog

allesl — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 09:55:18 +0000

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In groups of two, one student picks the dog they would want to own. The other student has to ask specific questions until they find their partner’s dog.

It’s the memory type of game, where students have to ask questions about something they are thinking of. Who wouldn’t want one of these cute dogs?

If they could pick one of these dogs to be their pet, which dog would they pick? Can they think of any adjectives that describe their dream dog?

Your Dream Dog: Related Dog Adjectives

Fluffy
Loyal
Friendly
Small
Cute
Smart
Playful
Energetic
Shaggy
Clean
Intelligent
Protective
Affectionate
Caring
Mischievous
Trained

Hyperactive
Cuddly
Brave
Curious
Shy
Courageous
Temperamental
Kind-hearted
Clumbsy
Strong
High-Energy
Clever
Trustworthy
Funny
Lethargic
Polite

Related Adjectives Worksheets

If you need more grammar and adjectives worksheets, see our free printable activity sheets below.

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Top 10 Jobs for Kids: Family Feud with Occupations

allesl — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 08:31:21 +0000

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This Family Feud-style worksheet helps kids reflect on their future jobs. And these types of jobs are different for each country. For example, the “Top 10 Jobs for Kids” applies to kids in North America.

First, put students into groups. Next, let them guess the top 10 jobs students want to be in North America. Finally, you can reveal the answers and see how far they are from the truth.

Note: Family Feud is an American game show that puts two families against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question. A survey is done with 100 people, and from that people are selected at random to answer questions on the game.

Top 10 Jobs for Kids: Family Feud with Occupations

1. Teacher
2. Actor
3. Astronaut
4. Firefighter
5. Chef
6. Doctor
7. Athlete
8. Veterinarian
9. Police Officer
10. Engineer

Related Occupations Worksheets

If you need more occupation worksheets, see our free printable activity sheets below.

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Text Message Translations: Fill in the Blanks

allesl — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 10:24:14 +0000

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From their native tongue to English, students translate a typical text message they would send to their friends. Or better yet, they can make it up if they don’t feel comfortable sharing.

First, students write a typical text message of two casual friends, parents, or anything. Next, they fill in the text bubbles. But there’s no need to stop just here.

Text message translations are an easy activity to use with your students. This activity allows students to practice reading and translating non-English text into the English language.

Related Speaking and Dialogue Worksheets

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Adjectives that Describe Me: Phone Emoticon Emotions

allesl — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 10:49:10 +0000

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Kids use a ridiculous amount of emoticons in phone conversations nowadays. What do they all mean? How do you associate an emoticon with an emotion?

“Adjectives that Describe Me” could mean being shy, bored, happy, sensitive, angry, or frustrated. Is there an emoticon that describes your emotions in different situations?

First, select a few emoticons from the list. Describe how you would use each emoticon. Finally, write an example of a sentence in a written conversation using the emoticon.

Adjectives that describe people

Caring
Sensitive
Shy
Happy
Sad
Generous
Clumsy
Calm
Bored
Anxious
Annoyed
Joyful
Brave
Angry
Frustrated
Curious
Wild

Related Adjectives Worksheets

If you need more grammar and adjectives worksheets, see our free printable activity sheets below.

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Informative/Explanatory Writing: Multi-purpose Items

allesl — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 10:23:35 +0000

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First, the teacher gives the class an object, any object. Next, give the students a couple of minutes to think of all of the different uses for that item. After about five or six minutes, the teacher asks students to share what they have come up with.

For example, you can use forks to eat food, comb your hair, open cans, mix ingredients, and clean pans. Not so bad for a simple fork. The “Multi-purpose Items” worksheet encourages creativity and it’s fun to hear what they come up with.

The purpose of informative/explanatory writing is to explain why or how something works the way it does. In this informative/explanatory writing worksheet, we engage in giving informative answers for multi-purpose items.

Related Roleplay Activity in the Classroom Worksheets

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Like or Dislike: Can You Guess Who is the Mystery Person?

allesl — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 20:56:00 +0000

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Can someone identify you by what you completely love or despise? That’s why this activity sheet is called like or dislike.

Each student writes down their likes and dislikes. Next, the teacher collects everyone’s answers. After reading everyone’s answer aloud, can you identify who it is?

It’s a fun interactive guessing game that gets personal. There’s an element of intrigue in it. Best of all, it gets the whole class involved, you can learn about each other and usually gets some laughs.

LIKE Examples

I like looking at the stars
I like eating cheesecake.
I like long walks on the beach.
I like my pet dog, Fido.
I like swimming in the ocean.

DISLIKE Examples

I don’t like cats.
I don’t like doing chores.
I don’t like talking on the telephone.
I don’t like waking up in the morning.
I don’t like taking tests.

Related Adjectives and Emotions Worksheets

If you need more emotions and adjectives worksheets, see our free printable activity sheets below.

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