Topic worksheets
Resources created in this area by English Language Partners New Zealand are freely available.
Please acknowledge the source when using our resources.
Taking the bus to class
Picture sequence story and exercises about taking a bus to class. With warm up, listening practice, dialogues, questions, jumbled sentence activity, and other activities including politeness in New Zealand and Kiwi vocab.
Healthy Homes – spot the difference
‘Spot the difference’ picture story and activities related to having a healthy, safe home. With warm up, listening practice, dialogues, questions, jumbled sentence activity, and other activities.
Making a meal
Picture sequence story and exercises related to preparing a meal with children, including talking about food safety. With warm up, jumbled description activity, gapped text, listening practice, speaking activities and many other extension activities.
Learning English outside your lessons
Picture sequence story and exercises related to ways of learning English outside the structured ESOL class or one-to-one learning environment. With warm up, jumbled description activity, gapped text, listening practice, speaking activities and many other extension activities.
Renting a house
Picture sequence story and exercises related to renting a house in New Zealand. With warm up, jumbled description activity, gapped text, listening practice, speaking activities and many other extension activities.
The early years
Picture sequence story and exercises related to a child’s stages through the early years (ie pre-school age). Focus on communicating with the Plunket nurse and doctor. With warm up, jumbled description activity, gapped text, listening practice, speaking activities and many other extension activities, for example, a list of questions the Plunket nurse may ask, dental care etc.
The library
Picture sequence story and exercises related to joining the library and accessing the different activities that run there. ie. self-issue for books, children’s groups, accessing a JP clinic etc. With warm up, jumbled descriptions, gapped text, listening practice, speaking activities and many other extension activities.
Graphic sheet 1: ‘Joining the library’ | Graphic sheet 2: ‘Enjoying the library’ | Graphic sheet 3: ‘What’s on’|
Picture sequence story and exercises related to getting involved in local community activities ie. joining a community class, participating in a community garden day and volunteering as a soccer coach. With warm up, jumbled descriptions, gapped text, listening practice, speaking activities and many other extension activities.
Picture sequence story and activities about how to manage a traffic checkpoint encounter. With warm-up ideas, focus on key vocabulary, jumbled sentences, gapped text, true/false, dialogues, jumbled sentences and extension activities focused on managing interactions with officers at a traffic checkpoint. Traffic checkpoint cloze activity
Picture sequence story and activities about using an ATM. With warm-up ideas, focus on key vocabulary, jumbled pictures, gapped text, true/false, dialogues, jumbled sentences and many extension activities focussed on how ATM machines vary from bank to bank, and on NZ money and general banking activities.
Picture sequence story and activities about buying seeds at a garage sale then growing vegetables for the family to eat. With ideas for warm-up, focus on key vocabulary, jumbled pictures, gapped text, true/false, dialogues, jumbled sentences and many extension activities.
Picture sequence story and activities about water safety: Swimming at the beach, Fishing off the rocks and Boating. With ideas for gapped text, true/false, dialogues, jumbled sentences and many extension activities.
Picture sequence story and activities about turning off the water and calling a plumber to repair a leak. With ideas for a warm up, jumbled sentences, gapped text, a game, true/false, dialogues, and many extension activities.
Picture sequence story and activities about taking children to and from school: ‘walking buses’, drop offs on wet days, parking signs near schools and pedestrian safety. With ideas for gapped text, true/false, dialogues, jumbled sentences and many extension activities.
How to get your NZ driver licence
With ideas for using the sequence: jumbled sentences, true/false, gap-fill activities and more.
Picture sequence story and activities about taking a child to the doctor: greeting the receptionist, going through to see the doctor and the kind of conversation a doctor may have with the mother of a sick child. With ideas for gapped text, true/false, dialogues, jumbled sentences and many extension activities.
Picture scenario for asking for help and talking to the cashier in a supermarket. With teaching ideas for using the sequence story including jumbled sentences, gap-filling, listening activities, using supermarket flyers etc.
Picture scenarios for giving feedback in different situations: requests for personal opinions, for a phone survey, on a course form, online feedback (skype). With ideas for oral responses, jumbled sentences, true/false, gap-filled activities etc.
Volunteering in a charity shop
Picture sequence story about applying and being interviewed for a job. With ideas for using the sequence: jumbled sentences, true/false, gap-fill activities and more.
Picture sequence story about applying and being interviewed for a job. With ideas for using the sequence: true/false, gap-fill activities, writing covering letters, interview questions and more.
Picture sequence story about what to do if a fire breaks out in your home, i.e. smoke alarm, evacuating the house, calling 111.
Picture sequence story about parent teacher interview, i.e. receiving information from school, filling in a return slip, discussing progress with the teacher.
Picture sequence story about returning faulty goods, i.e. talking to customer services. Includes ideas for use and vocab/text.
Picture sequence story about the different kinds of people who may knock on your door or phone, i.e. electricity companies, religious people, telemarketers, halloween visitors and fundraisers.
Picture sequence about getting a haircut, i.e. making a phone appointment, visiting the salon, the normal hairdresser procedure and conversations involved. Includes ideas for use and vocab/text.
Picture sequence about school trips, i.e. permission forms and getting involved. With ideas for using the story sequence and vocab and text activities.
Detailed graphic of a neighbourhood coping post-earthquake. Promotes discussion about ‘getting through’.
Picture sequence with worksheet with detailed activites about admission forms and hospital notices. With ideas for using the story sequence and vocab and text activities.
Sequence story about street collections. With ideas for using the story sequence and vocab and text activities.
Sequence story about a nose-to-tail accident. With ideas for using the story, reading comprehension about car insurance, vocab for directions and a crossword puzzle.
Sequence story about a dentist visit. With ideas for using the story, school dental information and a conversation on making an appointment.
Detailed graphic about winter activities. With activity worksheet: vocab to talk about the picture, sentence strips, listen and draw, reading comprehension on Matariki and two recipes.
Worksheet on Matariki (Maori New Year) with a reading comprehension activity and a true | false activity.
Worksheet on the Treaty of Waitangi. Includes reading comprehension with questions, a word find, an activity on pronouncing Maori and a reading activity on Te Papa.
Maori pronounciation websites
Detailed graphic about spring.
Detailed graphic about a Kiwi beach.
Detailed graphic about autumn.
Sequence story about ANZAC Day. With ideas for using the story, reading comprehension, word cloze, question prompts, jumbled sentences.
Sequence story about a Kiwi funeral. With ideas for using the story, question prompts, jumbled sentences
Sequence story about a Kiwi wedding. With ideas for using the story, question prompts, jumbled sentences.
Ideas for teaching texting in English, activities on text abbreviations and writing abbreviations out in full.
Reading comprehension tasks on NZ fishing limits, a Maori legend and a recipe. Also a word search puzzle.
Reading comprehension, match the meaing, cloze, scanning, sentence creation and word search activities on reading newspaper classified advertisements.
Public holidays in New Zealand
Discussion and reading activites, matching activities. Major focus on Labour Day. A WORD document – update the public holiday dates as you need.
Reading and discussion, and reading comprehension activities. Focus on insurance and its pros and cons.
Reading and discussion, match the meaning, graph filling activities. Focus on recycling in New Zealand.
Give it a go
DIY topics and worksheets for ESOL home tutors and learners
Ideas for one-to-one teachers on developing sessions based around topics. With ideas for resources, suggestions for activities and how to extend the learning. Each topic has a ready-to-use worksheet.
A dialogue with a neighbour. The learner chooses the most appropriate response to the neighbour’s comment, from the three possible answers. The tutor can read Abdul’s words aloud and the learner listens, or the learner reads the words.
A weather map scanning activity. The tutor can provide the day’s weather forecast from the local paper, or from the Internet. The learner looks at the map to understand the weather information, then answers questions about tomorrow’s weather.
Discussion and Q & A about your NZ region. The webpage featured is the ‘Wellington region’ page from a government-funded tourism portal. To find the page about your learner’s region, go to the site and click on ‘Travel to New Zealand’. Select ‘Destinations & Maps’ from the top drop down menu.Then ‘Regions’.
Activity for the learner to classify food according to how much they like it. The learner looks at the food items and writes the names under the most approporiate of five headings, ranging under from ‘Love to eat it ‘ to ‘Never eat it. Good activity promoting discussion at the elementary level.
Quiz on social customs about going out to dinner and to restaurants. The learner guesses what happens in NZ and answers questions about their country (Yes/No or Always/Often/Sometimes/Rarely/Never). Promotes discuss about cultural differences and similarities.
Reading activity about personal details and routines. The learner answers five simple questions based on the reading and then answers four questions about themselves.
Two activities. 1 The learner writes the English words for the Maori words, and/or the words in their language. 2 A gap-filling exercise. The learner fills in the Maori words to complete the story about the German family in Rotorua.
Activity scanning/interpreting junk mail. The learner reads a flyer from The Warehouse and ‘spends’ $50.00. They ‘buy’ storage containers for their child’s bedroom.
Scanning an electricity bill for key information. The learner finds the answers to five questions about the bill (amount due, due date, discounts, customer numbers etc).
10. Phone calls and visits from strangers
True/false activity. The learner reads a passage about dealing with an unwanted caller. Promotes discussion on dealing with strangers selling products, promoting religious views etc.
11. Getting the most from English Language Partners
Matching activity: two halves of sentences. Teaches about ELPNZ’s logo and some of our values. Promotes discussion about logos.
Flexible phone call activity. The learner completes the caller’s responses to a receptionist. Responses can be selected from the given options. These could be spoken or written. The tutor could also prepare as a listening activity in advance. Extend by using the learner’s details.
Activity identifying the meaning of NZ road signs and rules.
Two activities related to supermarket shopping. 1. Indentifying ‘use by’, ‘expiry’ and ‘best before’ dates. 2. The learner focuses on the names of products and classifies them into these categories: meat, cleaning, vegetable, cosmetic or bread and perishables.
Activity based on ‘For sale’ notices. The learner reads notices, selects one and role plays a phone call to the seller. Focuses on the abbreviations used in newspapers.
Two activities about fire safety. 1. From 20 items, the learner selects those suitable for a fire safety plan. 2 The learner then identifies the items that can cause a fire and makes safety suggestions.
Picture story activity about a plumbing problem. The learner looks at the nine pictures and tells the story. For lower levels, the tutor tells the story and the learner repeats in their own words. The pictures can also be cut up to make an ordering activity.
Reading a recipe activity. The learner reads the recipe, looks at the pitcures and guesses the dessert (pavlova). Focus on the language of instructions (beat, mix, separate etc). The learner and tutor could also cook together!
Reading activity based on a birthday party invitation. The learner scans the invitation and answers the questions. Promotes discussion around NZ customs for children’s parties.
Sorting/classifying activity. The learner reads the packing list for a school camp and classifies the items into categories: Clothes, Sleep/night, Food/drink, Footwear, Bathroom and Other. Promotes discussion about school camps, why some items are needed, some of the rules etc.
Reading activity. The learner reads a newspaper birth notice and answers questions about the baby’s name, gender, weight and family details. The learner can also fill in a brief chart with the baby’s details.
Speaking activity based on a phone call to a school. The learner completes the parent’s part of a conversation with their child’s details. Then practises calling the school to report an absence. The learner could also practise leaving a recorded message.
Read for information. The learner reads a ‘missing pet’ flyer and discusses how to make a call if you find a missing pet, what to say etc. The phone call can be role played with the tutor.
Answer questions and mark dates on a calendar. The learner answers questions about what days Xmas and New Year fall on. Then they circle the dates on a calendar. NB The tutor will need to use a current calendar.
Matching activity. The learners matches dates with their respective public holiday. NB The tutor will need to update the information for current public holidays. There is a web link to current dates at the bottom of the worksheet.
A board game. The learner and tutor throw a dice to advance around the board. Discuss how each picture landed on can be connected to the beach. Promotes discussion about what Kiwis do at the beach, what you may find at the beach. Compare with the learner’s country.
Responding to a job ad. The learner reads an advertisement for a job in a cafe, discusses what the job involves and writes an enquiry email to apply. The tutor could use a current, relevant advertisement and prepare the learner’s curriculum vitae.
Preparing for a job interview. The learner reads 12 common job interview questions and prepares answers. Then role plays the interview with the tutor. The learner could prepare questions of their own. The interview could be recorded /filmed and reviewed.
Complaining about services
Is it OK to complain?
Reading and discussion activities, followed by a speaking (or writing) activity. 1. The learner ticks ‘I agree’ or ‘I disagree’ for five statements. 2. The learner discusses their opinion about the statements with the tutor. 3. The learner completes each second half of sentences for three ‘complaint scenarios’.
Complaining about goods or services
Speaking activities based on retelling a story. The learner looks at nine pictures and tells a story about a problem with a mobile phone. Phrases/words guide the learner. The pictures can also be cut up to make an ordering activity. For lower levels, the tutor can tell the story while the learner places the pictures in order. There are also seven questions to guide a discussion about the story. The learner and tutor can follow up with a role play activity.
Writing to complain
Reading comprehension activity based on a complaint letter to a power company. The learner reads eight questions then scans the letter to find the answers. They put a question number (i.e. 1-8) in the box that leads to the correct answer in the text.
Where to get more help
Two reading activities. 1. Interpreting a diagram about the processes for formally resolving a complaint in New Zealand. 2. Matching four words to their definitions.
Resources created in this area by English Language Partners’ centres and staff are freely available. Please acknowledge the source when using our resources.
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