Modal Verbs - EFL ESL Teaching Activities

ESL,EFL,TEFL,TESOL,ELT

Follow Us

Need EFL/ESL activities?

EFL/ESL Teaching Activities - Modal Verbs

Ability Bingo.PDF
EFL/ESL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 25 Minutes
In this teaching activity, students circulate, asking questions about the abilities of other students in order to fill in a Bingo Card. Students have to demonstrate their ability if possible. The first student to get five names in a row wins.

Can you...?.PDF
EFL/ESL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 30 Minutes
This speaking activity helps you to teach students to talk about ability. Students work individually and try to guess if their partner can or can't do the activities listed on their worksheet. When they have finished, students take it in turns to ask their partner if they can do the listed activities. For each statement students have guessed correctly they receive a point. Students then come to the front of the class and tell the other students about their partner.

Find Someone Who Can.PDF
EFL/ESL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 25 Minutes
This is a fun activity for teaching students how to ask and answer questions about ability. Students have a list of different abilities on their worksheet. Students have to find someone who has each different ability. The students ask each other different "Can you...?" questions. When a student responses with a "Yes, I can" answer, the student demonstrates they have the ability and the other student writes down their name on their worksheet.

Guess the Place or Situation.PDF
EFL/ESL Writing and Speaking Activity - Elementary - 40 Minutes
This imaginative activity is helpful for teaching students how to use various modal verbs to talk about places and situations. Students are given a card with a place or situation on it. In pairs, students make five sentences using different modals verbs to talk about the place or situation on their card. Each pair presents their sentences to the class. The class tries to guess the place or situation.

Can & Could.PDF
EFL/ESL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 20 Minutes
In this teaching activity, students have to go around the class and find out about other student's past and present abilities by asking and answering questions using can and could.

I've got a Problem.PDF
EFL/ESL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 25 Minutes
This speaking activity teaches students how to give suggestions and advice to people. Students are divided into 'problem people' and 'advice givers'. Each 'problem person' pairs off with an 'advice giver'. They explain their problem, and the other student gives a piece of advice using the suggested structures for making suggestions and giving advice. This repeated a few more times. After the activity has finished, the students report back on the best and worst advice.

Jon's Story.PDF
EFL/ESL Writing and Speaking Activity- Pre-intermediate - 30 Minutes
This activity teaches students to generate discussion using modal verbs. Students read a story and then answer questions from their worksheet using the modal verbs, could, would and should. After that, the class has a discussion based upon the situation in the story and their answers to the questions.

Modal Mania.PDF
EFL/ESL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 30 Minutes
In this teaching activity, students are divided into groups of four. Each student has five picture cards. Modal verb cards are placed face down in a pile. Students take it in turns to pick up a modals card and try to match it with one of their picture cards. The student then has to explain how the two cards match to the other players. Students can be as creative as they like in order to convince the other players.

My Perfect World.PDF
EFL/ESL Writing and Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 25 Minutes
This interesting activity teaches students to write and discuss how people must and mustn't behave in a perfect world. The students are taught to use the modal verbs must for obligation and mustn't for prohibition. Students invent a list of instructions for how they would like people to behave in their perfect world. When everyone has finished writing, students go around the class and find other students who have written the same instructions for their perfect world.

Necessity.PDF
EFL/ESL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 30 Minutes
In this teaching activity, students are given a set of necessity cards and action cards. They spread the two sets out, face down. They then take it in turns to turn up two cards, one from each set. The object of the game is to match one card from each set to make a meaningful sentence. If a player can make a meaningful sentence, they add a phrase to the sentence to justify it. The player can then keep the two cards. The player with most cards at the end of the game wins. This activity gives students practice at talking about necessity using the modal verbs must, mustn't and needn't.

Should Survey.PDF
EFL/ESL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 20 Minutes
This activity teaches students to use should and shouldn't for obligation and prohibition. Students circulate, asking for classmates' opinions on what people should and shouldn't do. They ask each other yes/no questions with should, e.g. "Should people eat meat?" They also fill in a survey with the results.

10 Rules for English Class.PDF
EFL/ESL Writing and Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 45 Minutes
In this teaching activity, students work in pairs. Students make a list of ten rules for their English class using different modal verbs. The students are also taught to explain the reasons why they have the rules on their worksheet.

Necessary Skills.PDF
EFL/ESL Speaking Activity - Intermediate - 30 Minutes
This activity helps you to teach students how to talk about necessity using the phrases: have to, have got to, and need to. Students figure out their classmates assumed occupations by asking questions about the qualifications and skills necessary for each job.

Modal verb resources can also be found on this page:

Future

<< Back to Resources Page