Giving Advice ESL Games, Activities & Worksheets
You should...
ESL Should Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Pair Work
Here is a productive giving advice speaking activity to introduce students to using 'should' to ask for and give advice. In pairs, Student A begins by reading each statement and asking their partner for advice...
Problems and Advice
ESL Problems and Advice Game - Vocabulary: Sentence Completion, Writing Statements, Matching - Pair and Group Work
In this useful giving advice game, students practice stating problems and giving advice. Students begin by writing sentences that state problems and give advice. Students then cut the sentences into problem...
Should and Shouldn't
ESL Should and Shouldn't Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Identifying, Matching, Binary Choice, Gap-fill, Writing Sentences - Speaking Activity: Freer Practice - Pair Work
Here is a comprehensive should and shouldn't worksheet to help students learn and practice giving advice with should and shouldn't. Students begin by...
Should and Shouldn't Board Game
ESL Should and Shouldn't Board Game - Speaking: Offering Advice, Freer Practice - Group Work
In this fun giving advice board game, students read problems and give advice with should and shouldn't. Players take turns rolling the dice and moving their counter along the board. When a player lands...
Advice Dominoes
ESL Giving Advice Game - Grammar and Vocabulary: Matching - Group Work
In this enjoyable giving advice with conditionals game, students play dominoes to practice the zero and first conditional for giving advice. The first player puts down one of their dominoes on either side of the domino on the table, making sure...
Advice for the Modern World
ESL Everyday Advice Game - Speaking: Sentence Completion, Writing Sentences, Guessing - Pair Work
In this engaging giving advice game, students use four phrases to write advice for everyday situations and then play a guessing game using the advice. First, students complete four phrases with advice for...
Advice Needed
ESL Should for Advice Game - Speaking: Giving Advice, Communicative Practice - Group Work
In this free should for advice game, students give the best advice they can using the modal verb 'should'. In groups, students take turns picking up a card, reading out the situation on the card and asking for...
Agony Aunt
ESL Giving Advice Activity - Writing and Speaking: Writing Responses, Discussion, Freer Practice - Group Work
In this imaginative giving advice speaking activity, students take on the role of an agony aunt called Abby and give advice. First, students read a message on a card asking Abby for advice about a...
Asking For and Giving Advice
ESL Giving Advice Worksheet - Writing Exercises: Listing, Writing and Reading Mini-Dialogues, Writing Email Replies
Here is an insightful giving advice worksheet to help students practice phrases for asking and giving advice on everyday topics. First, students write a list of six things they would ask advice for, e.g. a low...
Careers Advice
ESL Careers Advice Game - Speaking: Sentence Completion, Guessing - Pair Work
In this rewarding giving advice game, students give careers advice and their classmates try to guess the matching jobs. In teams of two, students complete each job card with career advice for someone who would want to do that job in the future...
I've got a Problem
ESL Giving Advice Activity - Speaking: Stating Problems and Giving Advice, Communicative Practice - Intermediate (B1)
This versatile giving advice speaking activity helps students practice phrases for stating problems and giving advice. Half the students are problem people and the other half are advice givers. Write a phrase...
Jon's Story
ESL Giving Advice Activity - Reading, Writing and Speaking: Reading a Text, Writing Sentences, Discussion - Group Work
In this interesting giving advice activity, students read a short story and then write and discuss advice for the people in the story. First, students read the short story together as a class. Students then...
Should, Ought to, Had Better
ESL Giving Advice Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Error Correction, Unscrambling, Matching, Forming Sentences
Here is a handy giving advice worksheet to help students learn and practice how to give advice using should, ought to, and had better. Students start by finding and correcting mistakes in advice...
The Best Advice
ESL Stating Problems and Giving Advice Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Writing Sentences, Communicative Practice
In this communicative stating problems and giving advice speaking activity, students ask for and give advice and then choose the best piece of advice they received...
Travel Advice
ESL Travel Advice Game - Speaking: Sentence Completion, Guessing - Group Work
In this creative giving travel advice game, students write travel advice for a place they know well and then use the advice in a guessing game. First, students think of a country, city or place...
What's your advice?
ESL Advice Game - Writing: Writing Sentences - Group Work
In this free giving advice game, students practice phrases for giving advice by racing to write down as many pieces of advice as they can for a given situation. Write an advice phrase and situation on the board, e.g. 'You should...' and 'I just had...
Awesome Advice
ESL Giving Advice Game - Grammar, Vocabulary and Speaking: Sentence Completion, Freer Practice - Group Work
In this fast-paced giving advice game, students race to give advice for different problems using modals of advice and the second conditional. In groups, students take turns picking up an advice...
Guess the Problem
ESL Giving Advice Game - Speaking: Forming Sentences, Guessing - Group Work
In this entertaining giving advice game, students give advice and their classmates try to guess what the problem is. In groups, students take turns picking up a card, reading the problem on the card and giving advice for it. The other students...
What should I do?
ESL Advice Game - Speaking: Forming Sentences, Communicative Practice - Group Work
In this amusing giving advice game, students try to give the best advice they can for a variety of problems. In groups, students take turns picking up a card, reading the problem on the card to the group...
You Might Want to Connect Four
ESL Advice Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Forming Sentences, Freer and Communicative Practice - Pair Work
In this productive giving advice game, students play Connect Four by giving advice for different scenarios using specific phrases. To begin, the first player chooses a square from the game board...
Using Giving Advice Phrases
Giving advice in English means using specific phrases and structures to suggest what someone should or should not do, ranging from strong recommendations like 'You had better see a doctor' to softer suggestions like 'You might want to think about it.' Choosing the wrong expression for the situation, such as using a strong modal like 'had better' in a casual conversation, can make a speaker sound unnecessarily alarming or even aggressive, which undermines the very relationship they are trying to help.
This page covers giving advice across A1-A2, A2, B1, and B2 levels, with twenty activities spanning pair speaking tasks, board games, card games, writing exercises, and role-play activities, with two resources available as free downloads.
The table below maps the most common English expressions for giving advice by grammatical form and strength, so teachers and students can see at a glance how the language shifts from a soft suggestion to a strong warning.
| Expression | Form | Strength | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| You should... | should + base verb | Moderate | 'You should get more sleep.' |
| You shouldn't... | shouldn't + base verb | Moderate (negative) | 'You shouldn't eat so much sugar.' |
| You ought to... | ought to + base verb | Moderate | 'You ought to see a doctor.' |
| You had better... | had better + base verb | Strong | 'You had better call them now.' |
| You had better not... | had better not + base verb | Strong (negative) | 'You had better not be late.' |
| If I were you, I would... | if + past simple + would | Soft/Empathetic | 'If I were you, I would apologize.' |
| Why don't you...? | why don't + subject + base verb | Soft/Suggestion | 'Why don't you take a break?' |
| You might want to... | might want to + base verb | Soft/Tentative | 'You might want to check the contract first.' |
| Have you thought about...? | have + subject + thought about + gerund | Soft/Question | 'Have you thought about talking to your manager?' |
How to Use Giving Advice Phrases
Empathetic advice with 'If I were you': Use this phrase when you want to step into the other person's shoes and soften your advice. It signals that you understand their position before offering a suggestion, as in 'If I were you, I would talk to her before it gets worse.'
Urgent advice with 'had better': Use 'had better' when the consequences of not acting are serious. It raises the urgency of your advice above 'should' and signals that action is necessary, as in 'You had better call your doctor today, not tomorrow.'
Tentative advice with 'might want to': Use this phrase in professional or formal situations where direct advice could feel intrusive. It keeps your suggestion polite and face-saving, as in 'You might want to review the figures before the meeting.'
3-Step Framework for Teaching Giving Advice Phrases
1. Introduce the Phrases with Controlled Practice: Start by getting students to produce the core expression 'should' in a structured, low-risk way. One student reads a situation aloud and asks their partner a question, something like 'I need to get some money. What should I do?', while their partner responds using 'should' and a prompt on their worksheet. Swapping roles means both students get practice on both sides of the exchange before moving on.
2. Build Range and Accuracy Across More Expressions: Once students are comfortable with 'should', a board game format pushes them to handle both affirmative and negative forms under a little pressure. When a student lands on a square, they read the problem aloud and must give two pieces of advice, one thing the person should do and one they shouldn't. The rest of the group judges the response: get it right and you stay on the square; get it wrong and you go back two squares.
3. Move into Written Advice and Authentic Expression: Writing advice requires students to choose their expressions more deliberately than speaking does, and that conscious selection is exactly what consolidates the language. Students take on the role of an advice columnist called Abby, writing a reply to a message using the specific expression for giving advice embedded in the question they received. Groups then compare responses, agree on the best answer, and present it to the class.
Common Mistakes with Giving Advice Phrases
Relying on 'should' for every situation: Students often use 'should' for all advice situations, ignoring stronger or softer alternatives, which makes their language sound flat and one-dimensional regardless of how urgent or sensitive the situation is. Wrong: 'You should see a doctor today.' Correct: 'You had better see a doctor today.'
Adding 'to' after 'had better': Students often write or say 'had better to' instead of following 'had better' directly with the base verb, treating it like other expressions that take 'to.' Wrong: 'You had better to call him back.' Correct: 'You had better call him back.'
Common Questions About Teaching Giving Advice Phrases
What is a fun game for practicing giving advice?
The game Advice Needed puts students in the role of advice-givers competing for cards. In groups, one student picks up a situation card and reads it aloud, and the other students each give a different piece of advice using 'should'. The card-holder awards the card to whoever gives the best advice, and the student with the most cards wins.
What is a useful worksheet for teaching should, ought to, and had better?
The worksheet Should, Ought to, Had Better walks students through all three expressions in a single sequence. Students find and correct mistakes in advice sentences, unscramble words to form advice, match advice with problems, and then choose the right expression from a box to write affirmative or negative sentences using should, ought to, or had better.
What is a good speaking activity for practicing giving advice?
The activity I've got a Problem gives every student a reason to speak by dividing the class into problem people and advice givers. Problem people collect five pieces of advice from classmates using a target expression like 'You had better...', then roles swap and the activity repeats with a new expression so both sides get equal practice.
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