reading assignment b1

Intermediate English reading

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Reading texts for intermediate  English - CEF levels B1 and B2

1.  topics about life in britain, britain in general.

• NEW   Charles III, his coronation and the future   New  audio
• NEW   London Fashion - London is the world capital of fashion
• NEW   Remembering Queen Elizabeth - simple English   New  audio
• NEW   Britain's new king  With  audio - Queen Elizabeth II has died. God save the King.
• The Commonwealth .  After the United Nations, it is the world's largest grouping of nations ..
• Britain - a nation of cat-lovers  -  New  audio A touching story about an old lady and her cats: interactive
• The tradition of Christmas cards .  People have been sending Xmas cards in England since 1843.
• Christmas in England With  audio - Christmas is the biggest... and longest... festival in the year.
• Christmas shopping  For many people, it is the most important aspect of Christmas.
• Britain, that island   With  audio - Why did Britain vote for Brexit? Is Britain really so different ? Easy intermediate English
• Living in the Highlands. What is it like to live in the Highlands of Scotland, specially for young people?
• The wind farm controversy - Conservationists oppose plans to modernise a wind farm.
• Moving to the Country - With  audio   More and more people want to live the rural life, but....
• Leaving home - Leaving home is part of the teenage dream, particularly in Britain. But the dream is often a long way from reality.
• Black and British; an extended document .  A full Focus on minorities in Britain.
• No more Fish 'n' Chips?  a look at Britain's original fast food
• Scouting moves ahead . The scout movement is over 100 years old, and still going strong.
• English ghost stories   New  audio Fact or fiction?
• The Mother of Parliaments!  The English / British parliament is almost 1000 years old. 
• Cambridge new and old - The historic university city is the heart of Britain's "Silicon Fen".
• NEW   Polluting for pleasure ? - B1 - a dialogue in simple English
• Pollution - someone else's problem - a humorous dialogue on a serious subject.
• Dialogue: School uniforms  With  audio -  British school pupils discuss the pros and the cons
• Dialogue: Work  British school pupils talk about work
• Dialogue: Drugs  British school pupils discuss drugs – now less cool than they used to be
• Dialogue: Talking about "culture"  What is culture? And do teenagers get enough of it?
• Dialogue: Are you a brand slave? British teens discuss designer clothes
• Dialogue: Fast food, OK ?  With  audio - British teens discuss fast food. 
• NEW   Black taxis going green .  London's iconic black taxis are changing.
• My name is Bond .  An imaginary interview with James Bond.
• New Life for Big Ben.  With  audio . London's iconic clock is being renovated.
• Charlie Chaplin and the Little Tramp .  A classic story of "rags to riches".
• Sherlock Holmes is getting old  - The famous detective first appeared in 1887. - over 130 years ago.
• Still No. 1 in 2023 ! Music : the Beatles - Fifty years on, they are still among the best-selling groups in the world.
• Robin Hood - Fact or fiction ?  Did this popular hero really exist?
• The Loch Ness Monster - does it really exist?
•   Who is James Bond ?
•   The story of the BBC - Britain's main broadcaster is one of the most important in the world
•   The men who guard the King With  audio - who are the red-coated guards outside Buckingham Palace ?
• New Life for Big Ben.  With  audio .  London's iconic clock has been renovated.
•   London in the Sea ? - Britain's capital city is at serious risk from rising sea levels.
• The story of London - Britain's capital city, once the biggest city in the world, is over 2000 years old.
• Big red London buses  With  audio   -  the story of London's famous routemaster buses
• London : Madame Tussaud's -  Where you can be sure to see the celebrities every day
• London: the Lord Mayor's show .  One of the biggest free shows in the world.
• London: the Great River Race  London's other marathon
• Britain: sport cuts crime.  In Bristol, a new football league is making its mark
• Sport: The story of the Derby - With  audio - The oldest and most famous horse race in the world.
• Sport: The story of football and rugby - and how football came from England to Brazil.
• More resources coming

2. Topics with a North-American theme

• NEW    American Indians -  New  audio - Also known as Native Americans, they are the original inhabitants of the USA 
• Alcohol, Prohibition and Al Capone B1 level, a simple but interesting text with interactive worksheet.
• Profession : Cowboy New  audio   There are still cowboys working today in the American west
• George Washington  -  With  audio - the story of America's first president
• Hollywood & Superheroes    New  audio

• USA: Still looking for Gold  Out west, the gold rush is not yet over...
• USA: who was Buffalo Bill? With  audio - Remembering one of America's great folk heroes .
• USA: Team sports, American style  Why do the USA and Europe have different sports?
• Elvis - he's still the "King" and his home Graceland, in Memphis, is a major tourist attraction.
• The story of Silicon Valley  What is Silicon valley, where is it, and why ?
• The story of Coca-Cola.   New  audio  The name "Coca-Cola" is the best-known name in the whole world.
• The story of Blue Jeans. The world's most popular garment was first created in 1873
• Hollywood - its life and times A short story of Hollywood, in easy English.
• America's oil - a love affair Americans use a lot of energy; but the cost of oil is going up.
• USA: Winter sports USA  Americans love winter sports, because their winters are so cold
• USA: Close encounters with a Twister  -  A tornado strikes....
• Go West, young man! The phrase that built America  - With  audio
• Plastic pollution; how can we stop it? - With  audio

3. Other resources - short stories, technical English, songs, cartoons

•  Looking for the yeti .  Does this legendary creature really exist ?
•   Humour and jokes .  in easy English

Short stories - teenage fiction  ( ► see also short stories )

• NEW    Short story: Dr. Trelew's Encounter - (B1) a Victorian mystery with worksheet and  audio
• NEW    Short story: Dance Macabre  - (B1) a short story from the USA with worksheets and  audio
• NEW   Short story: Driftwood  - (B2) a short story from England with worksheet and  audio
• Short story: the Wimp .  Teenage fiction, in two parts, with worksheets and  audio
• Short Story - The Girl in the Denim Jacket , a story in two parts with worksheets and  audio
• Short Story - The Trap , a story in two parts
• Mystery : The Titanic and the Temple of Doom  Did this really happen ?
• Short story: the Box  - a short story in two parts with worksheets and  audio
• Short Story - One Foggy Night - teenage fiction -  a short story in two parts with worksheets and  audio
• Short Story - The path to High Crag , a story in two parts
• Song: I would if I could.  An English learning song; theme, modal verbs (+ audio )
• Song: the Titanic.   A popular folk song, with words (+  audio )

Technical subjects

• NEW   Storing electricity - the big challenge . The sun doesn't shine at night, and sometimes the wind stops blowing....
• NEW   Climate change: can we stop it ? -  Or are we heading for disaster? With  audio
• Polluting for pleasure ? -  a dialogue in simple English
•   Short text: The car of the future?  An easy text in semi-technical English.  With  audio
•   Will there be life after oil?  What will happen when the oil runs out ?  With  audio
•   Short text: Holidays in space  With  audio   An easy text in semi-technical English
•   The story of Silicon Valley  What is Silicon valley, where is it, and why ?
• Short text: Living without energy  A short text in semi-technical English
• The legendary Mini Cooper - Semi-technical English
• The story of the bicycle - semi technical English
•    Cartoon - MacBrain & MacBrawn 1 - Fiona McBelle -          MacBrain & MacBrawn - cartoon 2 : A Walk in the hills         MacBrain & MacBrawn - cartoon 3 : The Sales         MacBrain & MacBrawn - cartoon 4 : Wishful thinking          MacBrain & MacBrawn - cartoon 5 : The motorbike          MacBrain & MacBrawn - cartoon 6 : Another dinner date          MacBrain & MacBrawn - cartoon 7 : African safari ?          MacBrain & MacBrawn - cartoon 8 : A new job...          MacBrain & MacBrawn - cartoon 9 : Hang-gliding champion...    and more to come.

4.  Go to > Intermediate Puzzles and word games

English for a2 b1 and b2 levels. intermediate english reading resources .

Simplified English ?

Schools, teachers .

5 Free Practice Tests (Online) | B1 Preliminary (PET)

Would you pass B1 Preliminary (PET)?

B1 preliminary (pet) practice online: reading (tests).

What’s in Part 1? Part 1 consists of five short texts , for example, signs, messages, notes, emails . Each text s followed by a multiple-choice question. This part tests the ability to read real-world notices and other short texts for the main message.

Need more practice tests?

What’s in Part 2? This consists of five short descriptions of people and eight short texts . The task is to match each person with the correct text. This part tests the ability to read multiple texts for specific information and detailed comprehension.

What’s in Part 3? This consists of a text, taken from a newspaper, a magazine, a review , etc. The text was followed by five multiple-choice questions, each with four options. This part tests the ability to understand attitude, opinion and the purpose of the writer.

What’s in Part 4? This part of the reading test is a longer text that has five numbered spaces where sentences have been removed. Following the text, there are eight sentences. You have to choose the correct missing sentences to fill the gaps. This means that there are three extra sentences which you do not need to use.

What’s in Part 5? In Part 5 of the reading test, you have to read a short text with six numbered spaces . Then, you will be given four words to choose from , to find the correct word to fill the space. These words will be testing your vocabulary, mostly, rather than your grammar skills. Quite often they will be similar in meaning or they will look similar, so be careful when you choose your answer.

What’s in Part 6? Part 6 of the reading test is similar to Part 5 in that you have a text with 6 missing words. However, in Part 6 you are not given a choice of 4 answers to choose from. You need to find the missing word by yourself ; without any help.

FCE, CAE, PET

More than practice tests, b1 preliminary (pet) practice online: listening (tests).

What’s in Part 1? In Part 1, there are seven short listenings , each with a question and three pictures. You will listen to the text, then choose the picture which best answers the question that you have been asked. You will be listening for specific information in Part 1. You will hear all the listenings twice.

What’s in Part 2? In Listening Part 2, there are six short dialogues , each with a context sentence, as well as a question or a sentence to complete and three options. You have to listen to the short conversation, then choose the option which best answers the question or completes the sentence. You hear each conversation twice.

What’s in Part 3? In Part 3 of the listening test, you are given a page of notes, or sentences, from which six pieces of information have been removed . As you listen to the speaker, you must fill in the numbered gaps with words from the text which complete the missing information. The text that you will be given in notes makes a summary of what the speaker has said. Most answers will be single words, numbers, or very short phrases . You will hear the speaker twice. In this task, you will be listening for specific pieces of information.

What’s in Part 4? in Part 4 ot the listening, you will hear a longer text, which will be an interview. You will have to answer six multiple-choice questions as you listen to the interview and choose the correct answer from a choice of three options.

What is your level of English?

Cambridge B1 Preliminary (PET): Reading Part 1

Reading Part 1

In this article I’m going to show you all the best tips and tricks for Reading Part 1 of the Cambridge English B1 Preliminary exam. If you want to know more about PET in general, I recommend starting with my other post about everything you need to know about the PET exam .

However, if you look for specific information about Reading Part 1, you’re in the perfect place so let’s get started.

What do you have to do in Part 1?

3-option multiple matching . You get five short texts, for example notices or messages, which you might find in real life. For each text you have to choose the best option A, B or C.

In this part you are tested on your understanding of different types of short texts and this is a true reading task while, for example, Parts 5 and 6 are designed to test you grammar and/or vocabulary.

This is what a question in Reading Part 1 might look like. You can see that the text is really short and on the right are your three possible options A, B and C.

Your task is to decide which of the three options reflects the meaning of the text or which of them is a fully true statement. Once you’ve decided, you also have to transfer your answers onto a separate answer sheet that the examiner gives you at the beginning of the exam.

Of course, the Reading paper contains of six parts in total so if you want some more information about this whole part of the PET exam you can follow this link to find out more about B1 Preliminary Reading .

What is difficult about Part 1?

When we look at Reading Part 1, there is just one main difficulty. First, I’m going to show you what this problem is and then, in the following part, we’re going to look at strategies that will help you to avoid it in the future.

Read the texts and the answers carefully

Cambridge English exams are not easy and one of the biggest reasons for that is the confusing answers that you get in the test. In fact, the questions and answers are designed to make it more difficult for you.

Very often you will find that some of the possible answers are almost correct, but a little twist with the grammar or just one word that makes the whole sentence negative can turn a correct answer into an incorrect one.

In the example above you can see that all three possible answers talk about the age of the people who can enter the competition to win a car. In the text on the left it says that you have to be at least 18 years old .

You have to be very careful and find the answer that means the same as the text. ‘At least 18 years old’ means 18 years or older so 18 is the minimum. Therefore, option B can’t be true because it talks about a maximum age. Also, option C says that you have to be exactly 18 years old, which isn’t what the text says either because you can be older than that. As a result, option A must be the correct answer.

I hope this example has shown you what can be difficult when you try to complete Reading Part 1. Now, let’s look at how to do it right.

Tips and strategies for Reading Part 1

In this section of my post you will find out a little bit more about the things you can do and the strategies you can use in order to be successful in Reading Part 1.

Underline the key words

We now know what the biggest problem is, but what is the best way to avoid it? In Reading Part 1, this is quite easy and straightforward. When you read the texts and the possible answers, make sure that you underline the most important words . In our example from before we would underline everything that is about the age of the people in the competition, so it would look like this:

This makes everything a lot easier for you because you can now focus on the important parts of the task and ignore everything else. You save time and you can work in a more relaxed way.

Follow a step-by-step process

One other thing that a lot of student ignore or simply forget is that you can go through the different tasks like through a cooking recipe. As I said above, you should always underline the most important words so you know exactly what to do.

Apart from that, however, you should always think about the next step and the step after that and so on. In Part 1 you want to underline the key words, then analyse what you have underlined and, finally, choose the correct answer either by eliminating the wrong options or by finding the correct one.

For the other parts in the Reading exam there are, of course, other step-by-step processes, but it is important for you to have something you can follow when you get nervous or are short on time.

General tips

There are a few things you can do to prepare in general for the Reading paper of the B1 Preliminary exam.

First of all, try to read things in English as often as possible. Even if you only have five or ten minutes every day on the bus to or from work or school, use it practise some reading. Read whatever you want: the news, stories, articles or anything else you enjoy.

You will become a faster reader, which can save you time in the test, and you will see a lot of grammatical structures and new vocabulary that you might see again when you take the exam.

Secondly, think about taking English classes to prepare yourself specifically for the exam . It can be very helpful to have a teacher who can give you feedback on your typical mistakes and things you already do well so you know what you have to improve what you should focus on when getting ready for PET. To find a good school near you have a look at my article about everything you need to know about B1 Preliminary .

Last but not least. think about your time management and the order in which you want to go through the different tasks in the exam . If you want to know more, you can follow the link to my post about the Reading paper in the PET test .

Lots of love,

Teacher Phill 🙂

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Reading tasks

There are lots of different types of tasks in reading exams. This section will help you learn more about them.

What type of tasks can you remember seeing in your school exams?

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22 Effective ESL Reading Activities Your Students Will Love

Do your ESL students sometimes struggle to understand what they’ve read?

Reading comprehension is notoriously difficult for students to learn and for teachers to teach. You have to make it interesting and effective. Otherwise, your students will lose interest and get discouraged from reading in English altogether.

In this post, I’ve compiled 22 awesome and effective ESL reading comprehension activities that your students will surely enjoy. Some are straightforward, while others require a bit of preparation prior to the main activity.

1. Pick the Right Word: Which Is It?

2. picture quiz: brown bear, what do you see, 3. connect the dots: this word goes with that picture, 4. sequence: putting humpty dumpty back together, 5. story retelling: showtime, 6. cause and effect: who solves the mystery, 7. following directions: it’s a treasure hunt, 8. multiple-choice: get it right, 9. short answers: a story within a story, 10. vocabulary focus: show and tell, 11. decoding idioms: guess what the phrase means, 12. question time: prep for the real work, 13. read and repeat: get pronunciation down pat, 14. paragraph summary: tell it another way, 15. quiz writing and giving: stump your classmates, 16. true or false: give me a thumbs-up (or down), 17. puzzle making: cut and paste, 18. taboo: don’t say that, 19. class discussions: talk it out, 20. class debates: fight it out, 21. class presentations: in-class ted talks, 22. class presentations redux: tell me about [a favorite topic], why do esl reading comprehension activities.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Most ESL reading activities designed to test comprehension look like this:

Sarah went to the (beach/park). There, she met a friend who went to (science class/summer camp) two years ago.

You can usually find exercises like this for free on K12Reader.com and Mr. Nussbaum.com , so you don’t need to spend time making them on your own.

They’re rather cut-and-dry as far as exercises go, but if you’re new to giving out ESL reading comprehension activities or are looking for a safe option, you can always fall back on this one.

If you’re looking for a more creative version of “Pick the Right Word,” you can also craft an ESL reading comprehension activity that doesn’t necessarily involve words and sentences (as strange as that might sound).

Instead of giving students two options to choose from or having them fill in the blanks, you can give them a bunch of pictures and have them do some matching.

Using the example above ( Sarah went to the (beach/park) . ..), you can label several pictures as A, B, C and D. Picture A can be a beach, Picture B can be a park and so on. Students can then sort through the pictures, and write the correct letter corresponding to the correct image in the blank space.

Alternatively, you could also use “Connect the Dots” for the same exercise above. This works especially well with younger ESL learners, who’ll be more appreciative of colorful pictures accompanying their learning activities.

Feel free to throw in an irrelevant picture or two to make the activity a tad more tricky and interesting. It’ll also more accurately gauge whether your students actually understand the answers they’re giving out or are just guessing them.

Nursery rhymes like “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall” are engaging for ESL learners of any age.

For this activity, use pictures to retell the story and help your students remember the main plot points, characters and events of the text.

Preparation

• Create copies of two stories. Make sure each is single-spaced and printed on a separate piece of paper. Label each story “Story 1” and “Story 2.”
• Make a worksheet of a bunch of pictures (related to the stories you’ve created) labeled with either numbers or letters. Make sure there are spaces or lines immediately below the pictures where your students can write their answers. Depending on your class’s level, you can turn the labeling exercise into the perfect drill for practicing spelling and sentence construction.
• Give your students the picture worksheet, and talk about what’s happening in each picture.
• Ask your students to turn over the picture worksheet, and hand out the two stories to read.
• After the students have finished reading, have them flip the papers with the stories over to the blank back side. Without looking at the story, students should cut out the pictures, and glue them to the back of the right story in chronological order.

If you need some inspiration for fantastic picture reading comprehension worksheets, try ESlFlow.com . There are also some interesting picture worksheets on Cal.org that  focus specifically on health literacy for ESL adults .

You’ll probably find that it’s easier and more fun to find a story online, and download images from Google to make your own picture stories.

Story retelling involves reading a text or story and then acting it out to other students. If you have students who love role play, they’ll enjoy this one and similar activities .

• Choose from any of these short stories for ESL students , print them out and make enough copies for the whole class.
• Divide students into small groups. Make sure the size of each group matches the number of characters in the stories you’re handing out.
• Give each group a different story that they’ll need to act out in front of the class.
• Prepare (or have your students prepare) a list of short answers/multiple choice/true or false questions to engage the audience and evaluate how well the actors captured the events of the story.
• Once everything is set, it’s showtime!

Cause and effect questions help students think outside the box and better understand the ripple effect of events.

Text materials that have a mysterious plot or historical background are excellent choices, because they require students to understand the context of the mystery, the clues and the characters to fully appreciate the thrills of crime solving.

For example, you can read this interesting crime scene together with your students in class. Your objective with this activity is to answer the final question: Why isn’t Inspector Coderre satisfied with Ms. Webb’s version of the event? 

• Divide students into groups.
• Create a cause and effect map to capture the first part of Ms. Webb’s testimony, which ends right before the sentence, “The inspector was very sympathetic and told her that it was very natural to not want to damage somebody’s property.” For example, you can write something like “ (effect) Ms. Webb could see the study room → it was well-lit. (cause) ” or “ (cause) Ms. Webb broke a small window → to get into the house. (effect) ” It doesn’t matter how you order the cause and effect—the point is to help students notice details in the story and make an effective analysis.
• Ask the students to identify the part of the testimony that made the detective lose his sympathy. Analyze that testimonial section with another cause and effect chart. Do they notice any inconsistencies?
• Discuss the students’ findings in class or in small groups.

You don’t have to limit ESL reading comprehension activities to short stories. You can also facilitate hands-on activities to encourage your students to read, such as this treasure hunt game.

• Create a map. It can be hand-drawn or printed. Give unique names to the basic geographic features of the classroom/schoolyard, so students can navigate the “rainforest” or “dark caves” without getting lost.
• Put together a clue sheet to help locate the treasure. It should be filled with hints, codes and even secret messages for students to decode. For example, if you hid a diamond playing card on the third shelf of a bookcase in the corner, you can give the following clue: It stands in a corner with lots of pages for you to read. The diamond is on the third floor and right under a fairy tale. 
• Hide different treasures (cards, small balls and beanies) in the classroom or schoolyard.
• Divide your students into groups.
• Give them the map and clue sheet to locate the treasure.
• The first group that finds their treasure wins the game. But they’re always welcome to join other teams to help them find their treasures, too!

Multiple-choice is a classic, wonderful way to ease your students into new material. It’s also excellent for building much-needed confidence before moving on to more challenging ways of checking reading comprehension.

You’ll want to use “scaling” in your multiple choice questions—i.e., making each question slightly more difficult than the one before it. This way, your students will be challenged just enough to keep going.

To get started:

• Ask students to read a short story, article or blog post. 
• Give them a few concise multiple-choice questions afterward.
• Go over the questions and answers as a class.

In this activity, your aim is to get students to dig deeper beneath the surface of what they’re reading. You want them to go beyond answering questions about the events and characters in the story, and talk about related topics as well.

For example, if a short story features lovers who are of the same gender, the students might want to formulate short answers about the concept of homosexuality. (Of course, if this is a taboo topic in the area where you’re teaching, or your students aren’t at the level where they can talk about such topics yet, you may want to pick an easier subject that’s less emotionally charged or controversial.) 

There are a lot of ways to go about this activity. You can:

• Give students time to read the story in class.
• Assign the story as homework.
• Pair students up, and have them develop short answers together.
• Have pairs read their short answers to other pairs.

This exercise is a great way to put some of your students’ newly learned words to good use. Plus, you don’t have to search far for new words—the ones that appear in the assigned reading will do.

All you have to do is:

• Pair students up.
• Have them underline key words in the target text.
• Have them look up any words they don’t know.
• Have students present their vocabulary terms to their classmates.

Decoding phrases, especially idioms, can be tricky for most students. That’s why it’s a good idea to devote an entire activity to this concept alone.

• Scan the assigned or target text for idioms that may be difficult to decode based on context alone.
• Compile these words and phrases, and print them on a worksheet.
• Ask your students to read the collection of phrases, and have them write down or discuss what they think the phrases mean. Be careful not to use too many phrases, or you’ll bore the life out of your students and discourage them from reading the assigned or target text further. 
• Once everyone is done, explain the phrases to the students. If you speak your students’ mother tongue, you can also judiciously use the bilingual method of teaching English . Ask them if they have similar idioms in their language.
• Challenge your students to write sentences using the new idioms, either in class or for homework. This allows you to check for comprehension and tweak accordingly.

Often, ESL reading activities involve answering questions after the text has been read. For this activity, it’ll be the other way around. 

Pre-reading questions are great for reading comprehension because:

• They orient the reader to the genre, topic and purpose of the text.
• They allow the reader to activate their knowledge of related vocabulary, and glean the key words and phrases they should seek to understand in the reading.
• They provide a focus for the reading of the text, so students know what information is important and what isn’t.
• They save a ton of time during reading comprehension tests.

Encourage your students to underline key words and phrases, and make notes and translations where necessary. This will help them avoid the common error of not answering the question as it’s written on the paper. A little time spent going over their notes here can improve the overall accuracy and relevance of their answers.

Reading comprehension work gives you an excellent opportunity to get in some pronunciation activities for your ESL students . These will enhance their speaking and listening skills all at once.

For example, when working on a text in class, you can:

• Read a sentence in the target text.
• Have the students repeat the sentence after you, paying close attention to their pronunciation.
• If you notice anything off about their pronunciation, give them gentle feedback .
• Once you’ve worked through the entire piece, have the students read it back to you paragraph by paragraph. Again, take the opportunity to correct where necessary.

Similar to the short answer activity discussed earlier, paragraph summary activities can challenge your students and help them develop their unique English voices.

This activity could be done post-reading, but it’s also an excellent way to ensure comprehension as you work through the text with your students.

• Put students in groups.
• Give them the text as you usually would.
• Encourage your students to take notes, annotate and underline as they go. Ask them to talk about any personal connections that they have to the topic(s), or to put themselves in the shoes of someone featured in the text. Students will benefit from relating what they’ve learned to their own lives.
• At the end of a paragraph (or suitable portion of the text), have the students summarize what they’ve read in their own words. They should be instructed to write it out in no more than four or five sentences. Encourage them to use different words and sentence constructions.
• Have them present their summaries to the class. The presentations can last from 30 seconds to a minute each.
• Answer any questions that arise.

A fun post-reading activity is to have a quiz based on the reading comprehension text.

Students generally get lots of opportunities to answer questions in class, but not as many to ask them. Try checking their comprehension by having them ask their classmates questions about the passage they’ve read.

I’ll go into the specific quiz formats later, but the activity will generally go like this:

• Have them create a quiz for the other groups.
• Have the groups grade the quizzes.
• Discuss the quiz questions and answers as a class.

The quizzes don’t have to be in the usual pen-and-paper format. They can also come in the form of an:

• Oral quiz.  This gives the students an opportunity to use their new vocabulary in speech.
• Game show quiz. Set up a game resembling “Jeopardy!,” or choose from any other famous TV game show to model your quiz on.

True or false is yet another standard classroom activity that can be made fun for your ESL classroom.

• Take your featured text, and create a good number of “yes or no” questions about it. Each question should be relatively simple, covering the main topic, events, themes, characters and anything else described in the text.
• Read the questions out loud while students follow along on a worksheet. Have the students respond to the statements by giving a thumbs-up for a true statement or a thumbs-down for a false statement. This allows you to easily spot the students who are struggling to understand the piece and support them accordingly.

For longer and more complex pieces, you can review the true or false statements at the end of each paragraph or page, instead of the end like you would with simpler pieces.

This could be done as a pre- or post-reading activity and works best in groups.

• Photocopy the passage, and cut it into pieces. Chunks of one or two paragraphs are best.
• Get your students to put the reading together. 

You could also do a cloze reading exercise like so:

• From the reading, choose topic sentences that you want your students to work on.
• Using your word processor software (like Microsoft Word or Google Docs ), type or copy-and-paste the topic sentences into a blank page.
• From the sentences, cut the words you want your students to work on, and paste them at the bottom of the page. Replace the cut words in the sentences with blanks.
• Let your students fill out the blanks using the words pasted at the bottom of the page.

Luckily, here are some ready-to-use cloze activities on different topics you can swipe from. 

Taboo is arguably the best game for practicing vocabulary and livening up your lesson. If you haven’t heard of it before, it essentially involves a student explaining what the key word they’re thinking of means without using the key word itself or synonyms of any kind.

Here’s another variation:

• Put students in groups of four to five members.
• One student goes first. They draw their key word on the board. If the word is “financial,” the student won’t be able to say “bank,” “money” or “financial.” They can only make gestures or add details to their drawing.
• The student who guesses which word fits the drawing gets a point.

Class discussions can take place before or after your ESL reading activities.

If you’re doing it beforehand, your goal should be to engage the students and activate their current vocabulary, getting them to talk in broad terms about the topic they’ll be reading.

For example, if the text will be about tourism, kickstart a discussion with questions like:

• What are the benefits of a strong tourism industry?
• What are the best tourist destinations in their home country, and why?
• What are major problems for tourism for their home country?

You can put these questions on a worksheet with ample space for brainstorming and forming opinions independently.

Alternatively, you could divide students into pairs or small groups to discuss the topic before reading the text. Since you’re already familiar with the text they’ll be looking at, you can skillfully and subtly steer the conversation into issues and areas related to the gist of the text to come.

If you’re doing post-reading discussions, you can use questions from ESL textbooks , come up with your own questions or—if your students are at a high enough level—have them come up with the questions themselves.

• Have them write two to three discussion questions.
• Use the questions as a basis for class discussion.

For some fantastic ESL-oriented discussion questions on a variety of topics, click right here .

If the passage is about something topical, you could use it to organize a debate.

There are many ways to structure a class debate, but the one I usually use is pretty simple:

• One-minute argument
• One-minute rebuttal
• The facilitator (usually you or a capable student) gives feedback.

Suitable for intermediate to advanced students, a debate offers a platform to share opinions about a given topic. Often, with a little imagination, a reading comprehension topic can segue into a debate topic relevant to the students’ own lives.

You know how watching a TED Talk often leaves you with a feeling that you’ve learned something new or even life-changing afterward? Recreate that format in class to further boost reading comprehension.

For example, if the class just read an article about the qualities of a good brand, the students could deliver two-minute presentations about their favorite brand and what makes it special.

To make the most of these in-class TED Talks:

• Show them a relevant TED Talk in class, so they can get the hang of the format.
• Give students time to create their own TED Talks. You could also assign it as a homework assignment instead.
• Decide whether the TED Talk should be done individually or in groups. Both work well enough, in my experience.

Then again, your students might feel intimidated at the thought of having to recreate presentations that are given by big-name personalities and watched by millions of people around the world.

In that case, it’s okay to take a more down-to-earth approach to presentations. Give your students a bit more leeway with the format. Better yet, let them have the freedom to talk about any topic they choose.

This way, they’ll make more of an effort to communicate their passion for something in English. They’ll also have a solid incentive to brush up on the necessary vocabulary and express themselves in colorful ways. Watch them come alive as they talk about the things that matter the most to them.

• Reading doesn’t only teach ESL students grammar, word usage and sentence structure. It also enables them to acquire new information about the culture surrounding their target language.
• Reading helps students see how English is communicated through writing. As you know, good writing and being a good reader go hand in hand.
• Reading comprehension activities help students test their understanding of words in a written context. At the same time, they can get the most out of their reading assignments.

While you’ve undoubtedly used conventional tests to quiz your students, there are ways to make reading comprehension activities effective without relying on the same old methods.

For example, you can:

• Have your students listen to ESL podcasts . Some of them have transcripts, so students could read those first, then listen to the episode afterward and combine listening and reading comprehension.
• Use videos with subtitles in your classroom for a fun twist on reading comprehension. The key is to use videos that have subtitles, like YouTube and FluentU , the latter of which has authentic videos with accurate transcripts. Have students read the transcript first, then play the video in class.

Sure, there’s a time for your students to read for pleasure outside the classroom. However, in-class reading comprehension activities maximize the benefits of reading by making it more relevant and personal to them.

Also, as their teacher, you’ll have opportunities to clarify misunderstandings and ambiguities, as well as enhance students’ vocabulary, word usage and interpretation skills.

With a few dashes of entertainment and creativity here and there, your ESL students will come to love reading in English beyond its educational benefits. 

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Keon Ellis’ defensive disruption has taken him from undrafted afterthought to Kings starter

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Seventeen days ago, when Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane chopped down on Kevin Huerter ’s arm, tearing Huerter’s labrum and effectively ending his season, Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown promoted Keon Ellis to the starting lineup and later announced a plan to keep Ellis in that spot for the remainder of the season.

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Eleven days later, when Luka Dončić toppled over after a drive and fell onto Malik Monk ’s right knee, spraining his MCL , the Kings were in sudden need of an extra guard to close games. Ellis delivered the first opportunity, finding himself on the floor in the consequential moments of a massive game against the Dallas Mavericks .

It’s a rapid ascent that might catch the casual observer by surprise. Ellis went undrafted out of Alabama in 2022 and spent his first 20 professional months on a two-way contract before the Kings elevated him to the roster in February. Ellis is still relatively unknown but is quickly becoming a large part of the Kings’ present picture — averaging 28.5 minutes since March 18 for a potential playoff team — while making a case to become a core piece of their future.

This doesn’t come as a shock to Ellis. It’s consistent with his pre- NBA basketball path, Ellis explained to The Athletic this week. He didn’t get high-profile Division I interest out of high school, opting for the juco route. He spent two seasons at Florida SouthWestern, exploding his second year to earn an offer from Alabama.

“I go to Alabama, and it starts back over,” Ellis said. “First year, I had to feel things out, figure out what I had to do to get on the court. That’s where I found the defensive side of myself.”

Ellis, a patient worker, polished his game, discovered his role and earned a spot on the SEC All-Defensive Team as a senior while also averaging an efficient 12.1 points pre game, generating some buzz on the prospect radar.

Ellis was surprised when his name wasn’t called on draft night. He’d registered interest in the lead-up. But, at 22 without an exploding offensive profile, nobody dialed him up in the second round. The Kings called Ellis in the minutes after the draft and offered him a two-way contract. After a conversation with his agent, he agreed, believing there was an eventual path to his desired career.

Ellis popped in the Kings’ internal analytics draft model. He was a high-deflection, high-steal, high-rebound prospect from the guard position. In a limited role, he made 37 percent of his college 3s and 83 percent of his free throws. The numbers nudged the team’s scouts and staffers to get eyes on him. They loved the film and the background. They identified him as a priority two-way and got it done quickly.

Ellis performed well in his first NBA Summer League, impressed himself in training camp and then put up a productive first professional season for the G League’s Stockton Kings. He averaged 16.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 33 games. He continued to light up the numbers model. The front office loved him. Coaches increasingly raved about all the subtle ways he impacted games. His teammates liked when he was on the court. He’d won over every level of the organization.

The Kings still didn’t have a full-time roster spot for him to open this season, but his elevation out of the two-way contract felt inevitable, especially once Brown started playing Ellis ahead of Davion Mitchell , a 2021 lottery pick, when rotation opportunities appeared early in the season.

Ellis first felt he belonged when he had 10 points in mop-up duty as a rookie. He felt the speed, made some plays and received good feedback. But his breakthrough performance came in early November.

The Kings were in Houston for two games. De’Aaron Fox missed both. The Kings were blown out in the first game and getting blown out in the second, so a frustrated Brown went to Ellis to mix things up. Ellis responded with four 3s, a steal and 15 points in 14 minutes.

“That was the start of it all,” Ellis said. “When I had that performance, it was kind of like, you know, just gave me more confidence I’d be able to do it more often.”

Brown agreed. He rewarded Ellis with several more rotation opportunities over the ensuing weeks, especially when he felt it necessary to get more disruption and defensive length on the perimeter. That, at this stage of Ellis’ career, is his appeal. Brown is trying to reform the Kings’ defensive identity and, in the 6-foot-6 Ellis, he feels he’s found a developing cog.

Brown and other members of his coaching staff use two words to describe Ellis’ defense: hands  and instincts . Since he became a starter after the Huerter injury, his 24 deflections are the eighth most in the NBA. He averaged nearly two steals per game in March. He’s a menace off the ball, jumping passing lanes, while also handling some of the tougher one-on-one assignments.

Here are two examples of his hawking ability and his hands. Ellis, in both instances, is guarding a man in the far corner but sniffs out a cutter and sneaks in from behind to whack away a steal. Track him on both plays starting in the top right corner.

Ellis had a steal in the Mavericks game the other night that looked like a free safety reading a route behind him and adjusting in time to trick the quarterback and leap for the pass with his plus-wing span.

“I know exactly the one you’re talking about,” Ellis said.

This one. The second replay is in slow motion. He is guarding Tim Hardaway Jr. , who is screening Keegan Murray to free up Dončić for a back cut. Daniel Gafford throws the pass. Ellis flips his hips, spins and skies for the interception.

That is an example of Ellis’ rare instincts for a young player.

“We do top-lock off out of the corner,” Ellis explained. “I’m knowing that if the center has the ball and Domas (Sabonis) is up there, we have nobody to protect the rim. So if he backdoors, I’m giving a little bit more protection. I know they want to get it to Luka. Sure enough he threw it and I read it right.”

There’s a growing internal belief within the Kings that Ellis’ defense is real. He’s only 178 pounds, so it might be tougher for him to hang with some of the league’s bigger scoring wings on a nightly basis, but he’s wiry-strong and holds his own. The Kings have the league’s 12th-best defensive rating since the All-Star break (112.1) and the fifth-best in the last 10 games (108.4), coinciding with Ellis’ increased run.

But questions remain on the other end. Huerter is a movement shooter whose gravity pulls defenders. Monk is a lightning scorer who created out of the pick-and-roll, exploded to the rim and shot it off the dribble from deep. Ellis can’t replace either.

But he isn’t a nothing on that end either. Ellis has a sideways spin on his jumper, but he has always made it. After hitting 43.6 percent of his 3s in the G League last season, he is 50 of 127 this season for the Kings (39.4 percent). Defenses are leaving him. He is cashing those opportunities at a respectable rate.

“He for sure better shoot every catch-and-shoot shot that he’s open,” Brown said. “Or he’s going to hear it from me.”

In recent games, Ellis has shown a bit more than that. The Kings were up 104-101 on a key possession late in Orlando on March 23. Harrison Barnes was trapped after a drive that went nowhere. He kicked it out to Ellis. Late in the shot clock, Ellis generated an off-the-dribble stepback jumper and nailed it.

“As we’re playing games, I’m kind of finding out (about his offensive upside),” Brown said. “I mean, he took a floater that he looked pretty comfortable. And if he looks comfortable with it and he’s going to be aggressive, I’m going to let him shoot it. He shot a pull-up that looked pretty comfortable … I’m going to let him shoot it.”

Here’s that big late-game pull-up that helped the Kings escape Orlando with a win.

Monk is an unrestricted free agent this summer who may have played himself out of Sacramento’s price range. Huerter is under contract for two more seasons at $34.7 million total, a fair annual number considering production. Barnes is owed $37 million the next two seasons. Fox could ask for a mega contract extension this summer. Sabonis is already on a huge max. Murray will eventually be extension-eligible.

Playoff teams get pricey quickly in the NBA, which makes bargain production a necessity to sustainably fill out a rotation. That makes Ellis — and exactly what he can become — an important piece to Sacramento’s roster build. Ellis is under contract for only $2.1 million next season, and the Kings have a non-guaranteed $2.3 million team option the following season.

If Ellis can prove to be worthy of a top-seven rotational role down the stretch, that provides an extra level of flexibility as Sacramento reconstructs for the future.

“I come in. I know I’m not going to be the De’Aaron Fox of the team,” Ellis said. “I’m in because I play defense. I’m going to continue to go in and play defense. With guys like Domas, Fox, Keegan, whoever, they’re going to gain much of the attention. I’ll fall into wide open opportunities for catch-and-shoot. Teams will go under. I can accept what I’m out there for. I need to make sure I’m on my assignment on the defensive end.”

(Top photo: Rocky Widner / NBAE via Getty Images)

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Anthony Slater is a senior writer covering the Golden State Warriors for The Athletic. He's covered the NBA for a decade. Previously, he reported on the Oklahoma City Thunder for The Oklahoman. Follow Anthony on Twitter @ anthonyVslater