Describing Places ESL Games, Activities & Worksheets

ESL Describing Places Worksheet - Vocabulary and Grammar Exercises: Matching, Listing, Categorising, Error Correction, Gap-fill, Sentence Completion In this comprehensive describing places worksheet, students learn and practice describing a town or city using singular and plural nouns and 'There is/are'. First, students match places in a town or city to pictures. Students then write five more things they might find in a town or city, e.g. factories, a train station, etc. Next, students list the things that are in their town or city. Students then move on to categorise the places from the exercises into singular and plural nouns. After that, students complete rules on how to use singular and plural nouns with 'There is/are'. Students then read sentences containing errors in the use of 'There is/are' and rewrite them, correcting the mistakes. Finally, students describe their own town or city by completing sentences and then reading them to the class. show less

ESL Describing Places Game - Speaking: Describing, Forming Sentences, Guessing, Controlled Practice - Pair Work In this enjoyable describing places game, students describe places in and around towns and cities for a partner to guess. In pairs, one student begins by taking a card and describing the place shown in bold in three sentence clues using the other words provided on the card. The first clue begins with 'I'm...' The second clue starts with 'There is...' or 'There are...' The last clue begins with 'I'm here to...' The student then asks their partner, 'Where am I?' Their partner listens to the description and guesses the place. If the guess is correct, their partner wins and keeps the card. If not, the card is removed from the game. It is then the other student's turn to pick up a card, and so on, until all the cards have been used. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Describing Places Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill, Sentence Completion In this inventive describing places worksheet, students use a set of adjectives to describe places in Tokyo and then plan a one-day trip to the city. First, students match two adjectives from a box with each place in Tokyo. Students then complete sentences about the places with the adjectives. Next, in pairs, students plan a one-day school trip to Tokyo by selecting four places to visit and writing sentences about them using appropriate adjectives to explain their choices, e.g. 'First, we are going to the Hello Kitty theme park because it's fun and exciting.' Finally, pairs tell the class about their school trip by reading their sentences. show less

ESL Describing Places Game - Vocabulary: Gap-fill, Guessing - Pair Work Here is a fun describing countries game to help students practice vocabulary for describing places. In two groups, students complete descriptions of countries with words from a box. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group. Students then take turns reading each description to their partner, who has one chance to guess the country by choosing one from a box on their worksheet that they think matches the description. If the country is correct, the student puts a tick in the box next to the sentence. The student with the most correct guesses at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Describing Places Activity - Speaking: Describing, Guessing - Pair Work In this free describing places speaking activity, students describe places in a town or city by saying what you can do there. In pairs, students take turns asking about one of the missing places on their map. Their partner then describes the place by saying what you can do there, e.g. 'It's a place where you can meet your friends and drink beer.' The student then guesses the place being described from their partner's description. If the student guesses correctly, they write the name of the place on the map. If not, their partner continues to describe the place until the student guesses what it is. Afterwards, students check their answers by comparing maps. show less

ESL Describing Places Worksheet - Vocabulary: Gap-fill, Categorising, Binary Choice, Unscrambling - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions - Pair Work In this productive describing places worksheet, students practice a range of vocabulary and language related to describing places in a town and city. First, students read and complete descriptions of places where two people live with words from a box. Students then put words in bold from the descriptions in the correct categories. Next, students review the two descriptions and underline the correct person's name in the sentences. After that, students complete sentences with the prepositions: to, on, in, from, and by. Following that, students underline the correct grammatical forms in each sentence. Lastly, students unscramble conversation questions about where they live and then ask and answer them with a partner. show less

ESL Describing Places Activity - Speaking and Writing: Describing, Asking and Answering Questions - Pair Work In this engaging describing places activity, students describe a place in half of a picture to their classmates in order to find someone who has the other half and then write a description of the place. First, students go around the class, describing their picture half to various classmates until they find the student who has a matching description. The two students then confirm they have the right person by asking and answering questions about their picture. If the replies are positive, the two students show each other their pictures. If the two halves of the picture match, the two students sit down together. Next, pairs imagine that they are on holiday in the place in their picture and that it shows the view from the room in their accommodation. Pairs then write a description of the view, inventing additional details about the place. Pairs then exchange their description with another pair without saying which picture it refers to. Pairs read the description they have received and match it to one of the pictures on the cards. This process continues until each pair has matched a description to each picture. show less

ESL Describing Places Board Game - Speaking: Describing, Guessing - Pair Work In this fun describing places board game, students describe places in a town or city for a partner to guess. Teams take turns rolling the dice and moving their counter along the board. If a team lands on a picture square, one student in the team picks up a card without showing it to their teammate. The student then describes the place shown in bold to their teammate by completing three sentences on the card, e.g. 'This place is busy. There are lots of seats. People come here to travel to places far away.' Their teammate then has one chance to guess the place, e.g. an airport. If the student guesses the place correctly, the team stays on the square. If not, they move back two squares. If a team lands on a 'Name two' square, they name two places that fit the description before picking up a card. The first team to reach the finish wins the game. show less

ESL Describing Places Activity - Reading Exercise: Comprehension Questions - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions, Discussion - Pair Work In this free talking about places activity, students describe their ideal holiday destination and find out about their classmates' holiday destinations, discussing which one they would prefer to visit and why. First, students read a text describing a holiday destination and answer questions about it. Students then make notes about their ideal holiday destination in a table, including information like the location, climate, landscape, historical sites, etc. Next, students take turns asking two classmates about their ideal holiday destinations, recording their answers in the table. Afterwards, students find a new partner and discuss which of the six destinations from their two worksheets they would prefer to visit and why. Finally, as a class, students discuss which holiday destinations they liked the most and the similarities and differences between them. As an extension, students create a short promotional talk about their ideal holiday destination, describing it and explaining why it's ideal. show less

ESL Describing Places Game - Speaking: Writing Clues, Describing, Guessing - Group and Pair Work In this useful describing places game, students use adjectives to write clues describing different places in a city and then read them to a partner who tries to guess each place. In two groups, students write clues to describe the places on their worksheet. Students complete the first clue with two or three adjectives from a box and the other clues with what you can and cannot see there. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group and take turns reading the clues to their partner, who has two chances to guess the place correctly. If their partner guesses correctly the first time, they score two points. On the second try, they get one point. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Describing Places Games - Vocabulary and Speaking: Matching, Gap-fill, Describing, Guessing, Freer Practice Here are three fun describing places games to help students practice adjectives that describe places. First, students play a matching game where they take turns picking up a sentence card and reading it out. Students then race to find an adjective to match the sentence. The first student to find the right adjective picks up the adjective card and reads out the complete sentence. If the adjective is correct, the student wins and keeps the cards. The student with the most pairs of cards at the end of the game wins. Next, students use the cards to play a pelmanism game where they take turns turning over one adjective card and one sentence card. If the adjective matches the sentence, the student reads the sentence aloud, keeps the cards and has another turn. The student with the most pairs of cards at the end wins. After that, students play a describing game with the adjectives. In teams of two, students take turns picking up a card and making a sentence describing the adjective using the word 'blank' for the adjective. Their partner then has one chance to guess the adjective. If the guess is right, the team keeps the card. If not, the other team has one guess to try to steal the adjective. The team with the most cards at the end of the game wins. show less

ESL Describing Places Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Guided Discussion, Controlled and Freer Practice - Pair Work In this insightful describing places activity, students discuss their preferences about different places and practice adjectives that describe places. First, students complete 'Which do you prefer...?' questions with adjectives related to places. In pairs, students then discuss each question and come to an agreement on which option is the best and why, writing their answers in the column on the right. After that, students pair up with a different partner and compare their answers. Finally, students give feedback to the class on their answers. show less

ESL Describing Places Worksheet - Vocabulary and Writing Exercises: Vocabulary Search, Writing Descriptions In this handy describing places worksheet, students learn adjectives that describe places, famous landmarks and buildings, and practice writing descriptions of places. First, students write synonyms and antonyms for adjectives using a dictionary. Students then think of a famous landmark or building and write a description of it without naming the place in their description. Students then take turns reading their descriptions to the class, who try to guess the famous landmark or building being described. Students then move on to name famous landmarks in pictures, write adjectives to describe them and use the adjectives to write descriptions of the landmarks. Next, students think about the worst place they have ever been to and write down six negative adjectives to describe it. Students then write a description of the place. After that, students write about the same place, but as if they were a travel agent and had to sell it as a holiday destination to tourists using six positive adjectives. Finally, students read out their two descriptions to the class. show less

ESL Describing Places Game - Speaking: Describing, Guessing - Group Work In this enjoyable describing places game, students describe and guess words related to different types of places and areas. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and describing the place-related word in bold to the other students without saying any of the words shown or variations of the words. For example, if the word was 'city', a student might say, 'It is a densely populated place where many people live and work, featuring numerous buildings, businesses, and public spaces.' The first group member to guess the word wins the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner. show less

ESL Describing Places Activity - Vocabulary: Writing Clues, Describing, Guessing - Group and Pair Work In this rewarding describing places crossword activity, students define and guess adjectives that describe places. In two groups, students invent and write down clues for the adjectives written on their crossword. Students then pair up with someone from the other group and take turns asking their partner for a clue to one of their missing words. Their partner reads out the clue for that adjective, and the other student tries to guess what it is. If the student guesses the adjective successfully, they write it on their crossword. If not, their partner continues to give more clues until the student is able to guess the word. Afterwards, students check their spelling by comparing crosswords. show less