TV & Film ESL Activities, Games, Lessons & Worksheets

ESL Film and Cinema Board Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Impromptu Speech, Communicative Practice - Group Work This communicative film and cinema board game helps students practice talking about films and going to the cinema. In groups, students take turns rolling the dice and moving their counter along the board. When a student lands on a square, they talk about the film or cinema topic on the square for 20 seconds without stopping. If a student can't think of anything to say or stops talking before the 20 seconds are up, they go back to their previous square. The first student to reach the finish wins the game. You can make the game easier or harder by increasing or decreasing the length of time students are required to talk. show less

ESL TV Programmes Activity - Speaking: Information Gap, Asking and Answering Questions - Pair Work In this useful TV guide information gap activity, students learn about different types of TV programmes by asking and answering questions about what's on TV. In pairs, students complete missing information in a TV guide on their worksheet by asking questions to their partner about what's on TV, e.g. 'What's on Channel 1 at six o'clock?' 'What kind of programme is...?' When the students have finished, they check their answers by comparing worksheets. show less

ESL Film Genres Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Table Completion, Asking and Answering Questions, Recommending, Controlled and Freer Practice - Pair Work In this productive film genres discussion activity, students learn about different types of film genres and discuss and recommend films. First, students think of a film that they enjoyed watching for each type of genre on the worksheet and write down the names of the films. In pairs, students then discuss the films they like from the different genres using language from the worksheet and recommend two film titles to their partner. Afterwards, students give feedback to the class on their film recommendations. show less

ESL Movie Conversation Questions Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group and Pair Work In this free talking about films activity, students complete questions about films with question words and then ask and answer the questions with a partner. In two groups, students use question words in a box on their worksheet to complete a set of movie conversation questions. Students then pair up with someone from the other group and take it in turns to ask and answer the questions with their partner. When everyone has finished, students give feedback to the class on what they found out. show less

ESL Movie Review Activity - Vocabulary, Reading and Writing Exercises: Matching, Short Answer Questions - Speaking Activity: Discussing Opinions - Group Work In this engaging movie review activity, students learn film vocabulary and then write and discuss movie reviews. Students begin by matching sentence halves together to make definitions of film vocabulary. Next, students read a short movie review and answer two questions about it. After that, students think of a movie they would like to review and complete a movie review form, detailing the genre, a description of the plot, their opinion of the movie and recommendations. In groups, students then take it in turns to read out their movie reviews to their group members who listen to each review and discuss their opinions on the movie. show less

ESL Film and Cinema Lesson - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Sentence Completion, Gap-fill, Short Answer Questions - Speaking Activity: Discussion - Group Work In this insightful film and cinema lesson, students learn vocabulary related to films and film genres and practice talking about movies. Students begin by matching sentence halves together to complete definitions of film genres. Students then write the name of one film that matches with each type of film genre. Next, students answer questions about their favourite film and read out their answers to the class. After that, students describe film actors and actresses and write about their favourite ones. In groups, students then talk about films using a set of prompts. Finally, students have a discussion to decide which film the group would like to see at the cinema. show less

ESL TV Programmes Lesson - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Sentence Completion, Gap-fill, Short Answer Questions - Speaking Activity: Discussion - Group Work In this comprehensive TV programmes lesson, students learn vocabulary related to TV and TV genres and practice talking about TV programmes. To begin, students match sentence halves together to complete definitions of TV genres. Students then write the name of one TV programme that matches with each type of genre. Next, students answer questions about their favourite TV programmes, actors and actresses. In groups, students then talk about TV using prompts. Finally, students have a discussion to decide which TV programme the group would like to watch. show less

ESL TV and Film Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice In this handy TV and film speaking activity, students practice asking and answering questions about TV programmes, films and cinema. Students begin by preparing yes/no questions about TV programmes and films from the items on the worksheet. Students then move around the classroom asking and answering the questions, e.g. 'Have you seen the same film more than once?' When a classmate responds 'yes' to a question, the student writes down their name and asks a follow-up question, e.g. 'What's the name of the film?' The student then writes down their classmate's response. Afterwards, students give feedback to the class on what they found out. show less

ESL TV and Film Game - Vocabulary: Guessing - Pair Work In this fun TV and film vocabulary game, students guess the names of people involved in TV and film productions from clues. In pairs, students take turns picking up a card and reading the clue for three points to their partner, who listens and guesses the crew or cast role. If the student correctly guesses the role, they score three points. If the student doesn't know the answer or guesses incorrectly, the first student reads the next clue for two points, and so on, until the correct answer is given or all the clues have been used. The card is then removed from the game, and the students swap roles. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Film Review Worksheet - Writing Exercises: Form Completion, Writing Sentences, Writing a Summary and Review In this interesting film review worksheet, students learn what goes in a film review and practice writing one. This activity is well suited to follow a class film viewing. First, students think of a film they have seen or one that they imagine. Next, students write down the name of the film, year of release, director's name, film genre, and the names of the lead actors. Students then move on to write what they think of various aspects of the film and write a short summary of their overall opinion. After reading through some film review tips, students use the information from the previous exercises to write a film review. When the students have finished, they read out their film reviews to the class. show less

ESL Movie Pitch Activity - Writing and Speaking: Table Completion, Writing a Story Outline, Writing and Presenting a Dialogue - Group Work In this free presenting a movie pitch activity, students create a plot for a film by choosing characters, places and events from a worksheet. Students then think of a title, prepare a short dialogue for one of the film's scenes and then pitch their idea for the movie to the class. In groups, students choose three characters, places and events from each column on the worksheet. Students then create the details of a film plot and write an outline for their film using their chosen characters, places and events. Students also think of a film title and create a short dialogue for one of the scenes in their movie. After that, groups rehearse the dialogue and prepare their movie pitch. Each group then pitches their movie to the class and acts out their scene. Finally, there is a class discussion and vote to see which film students would choose to be made into a movie. show less

ESL Film Awards Discussion - Speaking Activity: Expressing Opinions, Agreeing and Disagreeing, Answering Questions, Freer Practice - Pair and Group Work In this intriguing film awards discussion activity, students discuss and make nominations for the Oscars. To begin, students write their Oscar nomination for each category on the worksheet. In pairs, students then explain their nominations to their partner, give opinions on their partner's nominations and make comparisons. Each pair then agrees on a nomination for each category, noting down the answers. Next, each pair joins with another pair to make a group of four. Each group then discusses and agrees on a final set of nominations. Afterwards, each group announces their final nominations to the class and the other students say whether they agree with each group's choices. show less

ESL Describing TV Programmes Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Describing, Guessing - Group Work In this creative describing TV programmes game, students describe and guess different types of TV programmes. In groups, students take it in turns to describe a type of TV programme on a card to the other students, without saying the type of programme. Students are also not allowed to use two of the three words listed in bullet points on the card in their description. The first student to successfully guess the type of TV programme being described wins and keeps the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. You can make the game easier or harder by allowing or disallowing students to use more or less of the words in bullet points. show less

ESL Film and Cinema Game - Vocabulary: Matching - Group Work In this memorable film and cinema vocabulary game, students play dominoes by matching film-related words with their definitions. The first player puts a domino down either before or after the domino on the table, making sure their film-related word or definition matches with the first domino. The player then reads the word and definition to the group for confirmation. If the word and definition don't match, the player 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