Times & Dates ESL Games, Activities & Worksheets

ESL Make a Calendar Activity - Vocabulary: Labelling, Ordering In this creative make-a-calendar activity, students create a calendar and fill it with special days or dates such as birthdays, festivals and national holidays. First, students learn and practice the rhyme "Thirty days have September." Next, students make a calendar by writing in months, days of the week and dates. When the calendar is complete, students add colour and pictures as desired, highlighting special days or dates such as family members' birthdays, national holidays, etc. Students then cut out the calendar, stick it together and thread it with a piece of string so it can be hung up. show less

ESL Saying Dates Activity - Speaking: Information Gap, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts - Pair Work In this free saying dates activity, students practice ordinal numbers, months and dates. In pairs, students take turns asking questions to fill in the missing dates in a table, completing it with their partner's answers. When the students have finished, they check their answers and spelling by comparing worksheets with their partner. show less

ESL School Timetable Worksheet - Reading Exercise: Table Completion This interesting school timetable worksheet is ideal for practicing time, parts of the day, days of the week, and school subjects. First, students read clues about Miyu's school timetable and fill in the missing subjects. Afterwards, draw the timetable on the board, read the clues and elicit the days and times Miyu studies each subject. show less

ESL Telling The Time Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Writing Short Answers, Drawing In this comprehensive telling the time worksheet, students learn and practice telling the time using numbers and expressions 'past' and 'to'. Students begin by matching time expressions to the number of minutes before or after the hour. Next, students write times in numbers. Students then match written times to clocks. After that, students draw times on blank clock faces. Following that, students write times in words using 'past' and 'to'. Finally, students match times with 24-hour clocks. show less

ESL Telling the Time Game - Vocabulary: Matching - Group Work This enjoyable telling the time game helps students practice saying the time with 'past' and 'to' by matching written times to times on digital clocks. The first student puts a domino down, either before or after the domino on the table, making sure the written time on one domino matches the digital clock on the other domino or vice-versa. The student then reads the time aloud to the group for confirmation. If the times don't match, the student must take back the domino. Play then passes to the next student, and so on. The first player to get rid of all their dominoes wins the game. show less

ESL Timetable Game - Speaking: Information Gap, Guessing, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts - Pair Work In this fun school timetable game, students practice telling the time, time prepositions and school subjects. In the game, students ask a partner yes/no questions to find the missing subjects in Terry's timetable. In pairs, students take turns guessing which subject Terry has at a specific time by asking their partner a question, e.g. 'Is the chemistry lesson at 9:30 on Monday?' Their partner checks their worksheet and responds with 'Yes, it is' or 'No, it isn't.' If the guess is correct, the student writes the school subject in the timetable. If not, the student waits until their next turn to try again. The first student to complete the school timetable with subjects wins the game. show less

ESL Time Around the World Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts - Pair Work In this useful time zones activity, students practice asking and answering questions about the time in different cities around the world. First, in pairs, students take turns asking their partner questions about the missing time for each city on their worksheet, e.g. 'What's the time in Singapore?' Their partner replies with the time shown, e.g. 'It's 8 p.m.' The student then writes the time in the table. When the pairs have finished, they read and answer four time puzzle questions. show less

ESL Telling the Time Game - Vocabulary: Matching In this productive telling the time game, students practice various ways of telling the time. In the game, students play multiple rounds of bingo to practice different times, starting with o'clock times. First, students draw a different time on each clock face on their bingo card, e.g. one o'clock, five o'clock, etc. Next to each clock, students write a time expression, i.e. in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, midday or midnight. Start the game by calling out times as numbers with a.m. or p.m., e.g. 1 a.m. If a student has a matching time on their card, they cross it off. When a student has crossed off all nine times, they shout, 'Bingo!' The student then reads the nine times aloud using o'clock and the time expression, e.g. one o'clock in the morning. If the times are the same as the ones you called out, the student wins the round. If the student has made a mistake, the game continues. Afterwards, students play more rounds to practice different times, e.g. half past, quarter past, quarter to, etc. show less

ESL Telling the Time Games - Vocabulary and Speaking: Matching, Forming Sentences from Prompts - Pair Work In these two free telling the time games, students match times to clock picture cards and practice saying the time. In pairs, students take turns turning over one clock picture card and one written time card. If a student turns over a matching pair of cards, the student says the time, e.g. 'It's half past six.' The student then keeps the pair of cards and has another turn. The student with the most pairs of cards at the end of the game wins. Afterwards, students test each other on the times using the picture cards. Students take turns picking up a clock picture card, showing it to their partner and asking, 'What's the time?' Their partner then tells the time on the card. If the answer is correct, the student keeps the card. If not, it is removed from the game. The student with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner. show less

ESL School Timetable Game - Speaking: Guessing, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts - Pair Work In this engaging timetable game, students play battleships by trying to find six English lessons in a partner's school timetable. First, students write six English lessons in a timetable. Students then fill in the rest of the timetable with other school subjects, e.g. history, science, etc. Next, students take turns asking their partner what they study at specific times and writing the answers in an empty timetable. The first student to find all six of their partner's English lessons wins the game. show less

ESL Time Game - Vocabulary: Matching, Spelling - Group Work This imaginative time game helps students practice telling the time while reinforcing recently covered vocabulary and spelling. First, draw a clock on the board. Next to each number, write letters of the alphabet. The first letter of the word is the hour hand, and the last letter of the word is the minute hand. Call out a word you want to review. The first team to correctly state the corresponding time (based on the first and last letters of the word) scores a point. When all the vocabulary has been reviewed, reverse the game by calling out a time, e.g. twenty-five past eight. Teams then race to think of a word that starts with one of the letters associated with 8 and ends with one of the letters for 25. The first team to give a correct word scores a point. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Saying Dates Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts In this rewarding saying dates activity, students practice asking and answering questions about birthdays while exchanging imaginary gifts. First, students write the date of their birthday on a card that shows a gift-wrapped present and a label. Next, collect all the cards and redistribute them so that each student has someone else's birthday on a card. Students then look at the present on the card and imagine what it is, writing the name of the present on the back of the card, e.g. a box of chocolates. Next, students go around the class, asking 'When is your birthday?' to find the person whose birthday matches the date on their card. When students find the correct person, they give them the card and present the imaginary gift, saying something like 'I bought you a box of chocolates for your birthday. I hope you like them!' Afterwards, students give feedback to the class on the presents they received. show less

ESL Time Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice In this insightful 'Find Someone Who' activity, students practice asking and answering questions about time. First, students go through the items on the worksheet and form the yes/no questions they need to ask in order to do the activity, e.g. 'Is your birthday in July?' Students then go around the class, asking each other the time-related questions. When a student finds someone who answers 'yes' to a question, the student writes down their name and asks a follow-up question to gain more information, noting down the answer on the worksheet. The two students then move on and find new partners. This process continues until the students have completed the worksheet with different names and information. Finally, students give feedback to the class on what they found out. show less

ESL Saying Times Game - Listening and Vocabulary: Matching - Group Work This entertaining time expressions game helps students practice telling the time, time prepositions and saying days, months, years, dates and other time expressions. In groups, the student with 'start' on their card begins by saying the time expression indicated in the 'Say' column next to 'start'. The other students listen carefully and try to find the time expression in the 'Hear' column on their card. If a student sees a matching time in the 'Hear' column, they say the corresponding time expression in the 'Say' column for the other students to recognise. Each time a student speaks, they add in any prepositions of time or articles that are necessary, e.g. the 28th of March, Monday the 6th, in 2013, etc. If they have a time, e.g. 16:45, they say the time as 'quarter to five' rather than just reading the number. Play passes from student to student until they reach the finish. Afterwards, groups repeat the game with a new set of cards. show less

ESL Telling the Time Activity - Speaking: Ordering, Forming Sentences from Prompts, Freer Practice - Pair Work In this free telling the time speaking activity, students practice saying times and using the present simple to describe a partner's daily routine. First, students select cards that represent activities they do on a typical day and indicate when they do each activity by drawing the time on a clock. Students then exchange cards with a partner and lay out their partner's activities in order, according to the times on the clocks. Next, students take turns describing their partner's day using the present simple, e.g. 'You wake up at half past six. You have breakfast at seven o'clock.' Afterwards, students compare their routines, identifying similarities and differences, e.g. 'I wake up at seven o'clock, but you wake up at half past seven.' Next, students take their original partner's activity cards and pair up with someone new. Finally, students arrange the cards in order and describe their previous partner's routine using the third-person singular. show less

ESL Saying Times Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Ordering, Forming Sentences, Freer Practice In this productive saying times activity, students practice asking about and explaining times in their daily routine, as well as sequencing and describing daily activities using the present simple. First, students write down the names of their classmates on a worksheet. Next, each student chooses a daily activity and draws the time they do it on a clock card, marking a.m. or p.m. Students then find out what times their classmates have and why by going around the class asking and answering questions about their times and activities. Students note down the time and what each classmate does next to their name on the worksheet. Next, in pairs, students cut their worksheets as indicated and arrange the names in order, from the earliest to the latest time recorded. Students then take turns forming a sentence about each student, according to the time and what they do, e.g. 'At half past six, Steve goes jogging.' Afterwards, students write their name on their clock card and stick it on the board. Finally, as a class, go through the times and activities in order, confirming the correct sequence. show less