Pets Unit Flashcards for Elementary ELL

This  Pets Unit Flashcards — ESL Vocabulary Cards for Elementary Learners is included in the full pack to teach the pets unit.    LINK for the resource ready to download: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pets-Unit-for-Elementary-ELL-Starters-10780015

Pets Unit Flashcards

Teaching pets vocabulary to young English learners can be tricky when students only see words on a list. These **pets flashcards** give teachers visuals and ready-to-use cards that help students instantly connect animal pictures with English names, making vocabulary stick faster. This resource is perfect for beginner ESL/ELL learners and works well in games, matching activities, and speaking drills.

Use the flashcards to introduce the pets vocabulary and have the students understand the names of the common animals.

Use the pets unit flashcards to ask yes/ no questions: Is this a dog?

Students: Yes, it is!

Is this a frog?

Students: No, it isn’t.

Use the flashcards to ask about colors: What color is this cat?

Students: It’s orange! (make a color splotch next to the cat)

Have students make sentences: This cat is white.

Let’s count the pets on the board: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Eight pets!!
Ask more questions: What’s number three?
Students: it’s a rabbit!

Make a grid on the board. Perfect for Listening comprehension. Say a number and letter combination for a student and have that person say what it is.

Teacher: 2C
Student: snake!

Use adjectives to help students describe the pets. Here is an example with a cat labeling to the parts of the body. Use for Speaking and sentence practice: The cat has small ears. 

Students will talk about possession: Who has a rabbit?
Students: Ann!
Model sentences to express possession: Bob has a fish.

Students will contrast and compare the physical appearance of the pets. Review the parts of body words if you have already taught that unit. You can choose the ears. Model sentences: The brown rabbit has long ears.

By using adjectives, students will express themselves wih more detail.

Contrast the length of the tail. Ask questions: Which pets have short tails?
Students: rabbit, dog, fish, hamster.

Use the flashcards to introduce or review even more body parts: wings, legs, head, body, eyes, whiskers, nose, mouth.
Ask questions: Which animal has wings?
Students: birds!

Introduce how to indicate position using the prepositions of place: in, on.

Place the fish and the fish bowl flashcards on the board. Write the word IN. mimic that the fish goes into the fish bowl, draw the arrow and say the sentence: The fish is IN the fish bowl.

Have the students say a sentence with the dog: The dog is in the dog house.

Do the same with the location word on. Ask questions: Where is the dog?
Students: It’s on the dog bed.

Students will express preference using the adjective favorite.Place the flashcards on the board and ask: What’s your favorite pet? Graph!

Students can use their worksheet to graph the results from the class and write it down.

Play a guessing game with your students. Hold a pet flashcard without showing it to your students. Describe it: This pet doesn’t have wings. It doesn’t have whiskers.  It has four legs. It has a tail.

Students will start guessing. The one that guesses correctly: dog! Will win the card. Continue with more cards.

When to Use These Flashcards

* Beginning of unit vocabulary introduction  

* Centers / small group practice  

* Partner speaking activities  

* Review sessions and warm-ups  

* Homework reinforcement

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/03/cat-family-for-elementary-ell.html 

Next blog post will be on the pet unit small cards. Just follow the blog: https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/