Routine Verbs Flashcards for ESL/EFL learners

 This resource is included here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Routine-Verbs-for-Elementary-ELL-3088833

The Routine Flashcards give students a clear visual cue that helps them connect the action verb with its meaning, making it easier to remember.

Some ideas for games and activities for your students. Let me know which one you used and how well it worked.

Mime. Show a flashcard and do the corresponding action as you say it. Have the student mime and repeat the action.

Teacher: wake up, wake up!
student: wake up, wake up!

Who is? Have six children come to the front. Hand in a routine verb card to each one and the corresponding realia or cutout to act it out. They have to look at it and mime the action at your call.

Teacher: Ready! Action!
Teacher: make the bed!
Students: Laura!
Teacher: brush the teeth!
Students: Jacky!
Then do it backwards.
Teacher: Ready! Action!
Teacher: Patricia!
Students: do homework!
Teacher: Tomas!
Teacher:  wash the dishes!

Verbs in a bag. Place the routine flashcards in a bag. Sit the children in a circle if you have a small group. For large groups, it might be good to have several sets and do the activity in groups.

The first child of the circle gets a card from the bag and without showing it mimes the actions. The children have to guess and shout out the verb. Then make a sentence with the verb.

Children: clean the window!
Children: Erin is cleaning the window!

Hand in the routine verbs flashcards to a group. Have them order the verbs in alphabetical order and then write them down.

Place 6 flashcards on the board. Write a question word under each one: Who ?, Why ?, Where ?, When ?, What ?, How many ? . Divide the class into pairs and have them write questions with each question word. When all the questions are ready, have them exchange the questions sheets with other pairs to answer them.

Lay all the cards face down on a table.  A student turns a card around, reads it and makes a complete sentence. If it is right the student keeps the card.  If the sentence is wrong, the student puts the card back. Student: clean. I clean the house with my mother.

    Yes/NO Q&A: Have students ask each other in pairs questions using any flashcard in random order.

Student 1: Do you play football?
Student 2: Yes, I do.

 Students pick any four flashcards and write a short text. Then, hands it in to another student to read. They can find similarities between their routines.

More things are included in this resource, go to the blog post:  https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/07/routine-verbs-small-cards-for-eslefl.html 

Visit my blog, EFL Preschool Teachers, where you’ll find fun lessons, printable materials, and inspiration to make your classroom shine! CLICK: https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/

Present Continuous Activities for the Toys unit

  This resource is also included here. LINK: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Toys-unit-for-Elementary-English-Language-Learners-Starters-1865563

Understanding and using the Present Continuous tense allows learners to participate more fully in conversations about current activities related to toys in this case.

Flashcards work well in warm-ups, Show a Toy flashcard. Ask: “What is the girl doing?”

Then, have students take turns making sentences for other flashcards: The boy is playing with a teddy bear. The teddy bear is brown. It is small.

Present Continuous Statements. Small cards encourage independent learning.  It is can be used to build sentences.

Present Continuous Questions. Learners will ask what people are doing in pictures and have peers answer.

Use the cards as a prompt yes/no question-and-answer interactions between students.

These worksheets help students connect grammar structures with real-life vocabulary. Students identify actions using the present continuous tense.

Worksheets give students repeated exposure to key verbs through matching to the picture. This helps solidify understanding and recall.

Answering simple questions aids into written communication.

Describe the action on each space of the board game. Students say what the person is doing. If correct, they move one space. If not, they don’t.

Play sentence association game where students match a picture card to a sentence. It Supports Grammar Acquisition as It reinforces sentence structure, especially the subject + verb + ing form used in Present Continuous tense.

The cards are in the same format as in the complete resource. Put them all together and play with more cards. Check the blog post here: https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2024/03/toys-unit-games-for-elementary-english.html

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Community Helpers, Jobs and Occupations Games

Link to the complete resource:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Community-Helpers-Jobs-and-Occupations-2549710

Play remains essential in the classroom because it creates an engaging, low-stress environment where students can practice language naturally and meaningfully. Through games, learners build communication skills, reinforce vocabulary, and develop confidence while having fun and staying motivated.

In this post, I’m sharing a 3P model lesson plan. This is the Production part of this approach.

Playing this community helper board game helps students reinforce vocabulary related to community helpers.  When a student lands on a space, they must name the worker (e.g., “This is a firefighter”).

This matching activity card game helps students build vocabulary by connecting words to visuals. It also promotes critical thinking and peer interaction. They can also play Memory Game by turning the cards face down and take turns flipping two to find a match.

This spelling game supports letter recognition, phonics, and vocabulary development by helping students connect letters to meaningful words.  Play Race to Spell: Give students a picture and see who spells the word first.

Bingo helps reinforce vocabulary through listening and word recognition in a fun, low-pressure setting. It also encourages focus, comprehension from all students.  Have the students write the community helper word on each space. Then, call out the job name and students cover the matching picture. Use the flashcards as calling cards.

Visit Holistic English Resources by Rosa Amelia on Teachers Pay Teachers. My  store is filled with engaging, hands-on activities that support language development through fun themes, including prepositions, vocabulary games, and more. Perfect for elementary and kindergarten classrooms, these resources are designed to make English learning accessible and enjoyable for students. Check it out and find something new to inspire your lessons!

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Circus Popcorn Numbers 1 to 20

 This resource is also included here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Circus-Unit-for-Elementary-ESL-3759017

This resource can fit easily into a circus-themed or number learning unit. It can be used with whole class, small groups, or individual centers, and it’s adaptable for various levels.

Do you follow the 3Ps in your lessons? Theresource will follow the3Ps of teaching—Presentation, Practice, and Production— to form a clear structure for building strong language skills in ELLs.

The popcorn and circus themes flashcards (Presentation) are colorful and perfect for visual learners.

Place the flashcards around the room. Have the students put the flashcards in order forwards and backwards on the board.

Play Flashcards bingo. Place all the cards on the board.

Have the students select five numbers to write on one of their bingo grids. Then, start calling the numbers and the first students to cross out all five numbers wins.

Place the small cards around the room. Have your feed me monster box ready. Students walk around grabbing just one small card at a time and feed the monster saying: It’s number thirteen!

Tally how many cards the students got to feed the monster.

As simple as cutting off the word each card and play match.

This hands-on worksheet (practice) includes: One grid with numerals from 10 to 20. A second grid with matching number words and popcorn quantities in mixed order.

Students will cut out the pieces from the second grid. Match and glue each number word + popcorn picture next to the correct numeral. Complete the puzzle.

Read and Color the Numeral worksheets

This worksheet invites students to write a number word (e.g., “fourteen) under the matching numeral (e.g., 14)

Identifying and distinguishing numerals in the worksheet and trace a line.

This worksheet requires students to think logically and fill in missing number words in a sequence.

Students will listen to a simple set of simple instructions and color accordingly.

Classic Matching Mat Game (Production). Students match the popcorn images (showing quantities) to the circus number cards (numerals 1–20). It is a way to reinforce number recognition and one-to-one correspondence.

Count the Popcorn Board Game!

Students roll a die and move that many spaces. They land on a circus number. They must say the number. Then, find a matching mat card to match.

Find more to this resource:    https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2018/04/circus-unit-for-elementary-ell.html

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I’d love to hear how these resources work for you and your students!

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