45 FREE Slang Worksheets

FREE Slang Worksheets

While slang is not a common ESL textbook topic, it can be fun to talk about slang with your students. There are now 45 slang worksheets that you can use to help your students sound more like native speakers. Here is a slang worksheet that includes a lot of slang and is cleverly organized. Your students will enjoy the challenging exercises but if you think it is too difficult, consider having them complete the activities in groups. This should make it more manageable for them because they can work together. You can find other worksheets on slang in this section so do not feel like your options are limited.

Slang is not formally taught in most ESL courses but is something that students may enjoy learning. Additionally things like ttyl, lol, and brb would be interesting for students who use SMS or texts as a primary method of communication with friends and family members. While slang is not going to be on their college entrance exams, they will certainly be exposed to it when traveling in an English speaking country or when watching movies or TV shows in English. Remind students that while slang is an important part of the English language, overusing slang, just like overusing idioms, will sound unnatural and it is not appropriate in every situation.

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What Is Slang?
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo (see euphemism). It is often used to identify with one's peers and, although it may be common among young people, it is used by people of all ages and social groups. Few linguists have endeavored to clearly define what constitutes slang. Attempting to remedy this, Bethany K. Dumas and Jonathan Lighter argue that an expression should be considered "true slang" if it meets at least two of the following criteria: Slang should be distinguished from jargon, which is the technical vocabulary of a particular profession, and which meets only the second of the criteria given above. Jargon, like many examples of slang, may be used to exclude non–group members from the conversation, but in general has the function of allowing its users to talk precisely about the technical issues.
Freebase CC-BY
Source: Slang on Freebase, licensed under CC-BY
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Songs and music in the classroom

Songs and music in the classroom

Laura Bindean
  Music is great way to teach vocabulary, boost creativity and learn English in a fun and entertaining way. This worksheet is suitable for teacher development and contains activities and i ...
1 Views 8,308 ElemPre-IntIntAdv
Idiom Activity and Worksheet

Idiom Activity and Worksheet

L.Spence
This activity and worksheet is to be paired with the read aloud Butterflies in my Stomach and other School Hazards. I prepared this for my adult ESL students. Students should read the book as a c ...
1 Views 18,165 All
American Slang for Russian Speakers

American Slang for Russian Speakers

Àëåêñàíäðà Åìåëüÿíîâà
» Slang
American slang is popular all over the world. Native speakers love using it. This dictionary will make your communication easier. It includes six topics: food and drink; mood, feelings and emotio ...
2 Views 17,006 All
Common British Idioms

Common British Idioms

Many of my students who come to work in the UK find that although their English is pretty advanced, they struggle to cope with native speakers' use of idioms. This worksheet includes a dialogue in ...
1 Views 22,332 IntAdvExam
Home Alone (1999) Movie Worksheet for B2+ Levels

Home Alone (1999) Movie Worksheet for B2+ Levels

Elena Taranova
Watch a legendary Christmas movie with your students or assign it as homework, your students will be elated. The tasks include putting events in order, answering questions, working with slang and ...
1 Views 37,306 AdvExam
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Friends TV Show Listening Activity: Joey Breaks Up with Janine

Friends TV Show Listening Activity: Joey Breaks Up with Janine

Nicole
» Slang
Friends TV Show Listening Activity: Joey Breaks Up with Janine Duration: 30 minute activity, clip is approximately 5-6 minutes long -Youtube Link, (on handout) -Comprehension Questions -Grammar Se ...
1 Views 18,786 Pre-IntIntAdv
Song Worksheet: Word Crime

Song Worksheet: Word Crime

Helen Close
Use  this worksheet with You Tube clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gv0H-vPoDc - Weird Al Yankovic's song about bad grammar. At the end of the song, you will find exercises for students ...
3 Views 19,330 Adv
Internet Slang Quiz

Internet Slang Quiz

Nikoletta Jezsó
, Slang
It makes me wonder if students truly understand each other when chatting on an SN site so I made this multiple choice test to prepare them for the latest slang words on the Internet :) You may ass ...
14 Views 27,736 Pre-IntIntAdv
Song Worksheet: Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper

Song Worksheet: Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper

EFRAIN
The song is to develop listening skills  and complete it with some daily vocabulary.
6 Views 20,772 ElemPre-Int
Movie Worksheet: Annoying Walkers (US English Slang)

Movie Worksheet: Annoying Walkers (US English Slang)

Alandra
This worksheet includes a parody news video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOSyuKrcX_Y) introduction about slow walkers in NY City being fitted with collars which deliver electric shocks to slow ...
7 Views 15,321 IntAdv
Song Worksheet: Hello by Adele with Biogrpaphy

Song Worksheet: Hello by Adele with Biogrpaphy

This worksheet is aimed to be used with pre-intermediate students and above. It contains Adele's short biography, as well as activities such as number the verses in correct order, unscramble the w ...
6 Views 30,184 Pre-IntIntAdv
Dating Slang & Idioms

Dating Slang & Idioms

Georgi Pichkhadze
This worksheet is free and "open source" on my website and it's been pretty popular, so I thought it'd be nice to share it with people here since it's free anyway :). It can be used in a 1 on 1 le ...
11 Views 31,364 IntAdv
The Oxford English Dictionary - New Words for 2015

The Oxford English Dictionary - New Words for 2015

The Oxford English Dictionary have just announced their latest additions - this time it's more than 500 words, phrases and meanings that have entered into common use over the last 10 years. I hav ...
7 Views 21,670 IntAdvExam
Movie Worksheet: Hugh Laurie & Ellen DeGeneres Slang Talk Show

Movie Worksheet: Hugh Laurie & Ellen DeGeneres Slang Talk Show

The worksheet is deditcated to advanced students who want to learn about British and American English, more precisely about some slang words. The additional material is a youtube movie (https://ww ...
9 Views 21,500 Adv
Movie Worksheet: Sex in the City (Relationships - Idioms)

Movie Worksheet: Sex in the City (Relationships - Idioms)

Worsheet once used in a summer course with intermediate students. The class is based on relationships using one episode from the "Sex & the City". There are lots of idioms in this lesson refer ...
2 Views 18,370 IntAdv
Movie Worksheet: Shark Tank

Movie Worksheet: Shark Tank

This is the activity I used for my business English students. I used a part of the third episode of the 3d season. You can find this part on youtube (it starts 11.33) https://www.youtube.com/watc ...
4 Views 32,473 IntAdv
List of Some British, American and Australian Words (Edited Version)

List of Some British, American and Australian Words (Edited Version)

It´s an edited list of some words in English from UK, USA and Australia. They are in alphabetic order, so you can find how to say or write different things, places or objects. Some of this w ...
11 Views 29,490 ElemPre-IntInt
Song Worksheet: Cajun Life by Jo-El Sonnier (1)

Song Worksheet: Cajun Life by Jo-El Sonnier (1)

This is a song one of my learners wished to discuss. However, as I could not find the lyrics to it anywhere I had my students listen to the music and write down the text (which is not easy as the ...
2 Views 8,801 Pre-IntIntAdv
Movie Worksheet: Office Space

Movie Worksheet: Office Space

I created this activity to give some comic relief to my advanced business classes. I love this movie and I refer to it all the time when students complain about the trials and tribulations of offi ...
2 Views 19,438 Adv
The Guide to English Slang

The Guide to English Slang

The worksheet provides a list of commonly used slang terms in English (as taken from a native speaker). How many ways of saying “Hello” or “Good” do you know? You can make ...
20 Views 25,956 All
London's Cockney Rhyming Slang Crossword

London's Cockney Rhyming Slang Crossword

A fun crossword to test students' knowledge of London's very own East End Cockney rhyming slang. An every day slang invented in the mid nineteenth century and still used by many Londoners today, w ...
10 Views 21,476 ElemPre-IntIntAdv
Movie worksheet: Die hard (1988)

Movie worksheet: Die hard (1988)

It's a movie worksheet with a lot of screenshots and subtitles to discuss the main characters and the plot of the film including curses and lexis on terrorism and hostages. I used it for an after- ...
7 Views 12,912 Pre-IntInt
American Slang

American Slang

I created this presentation as a supplement to a lesson from the text on slang in general. This PowerPoint is a "quiz." I had my students guess what they thought the meaning of the slang word/phra ...
22 Views 36,946 ElemPre-IntInt
Movie Worksheet: Sex in the City, Season 3 Episode 3 - Vocabulary and Conversation Practice

Movie Worksheet: Sex in the City, Season 3 Episode 3 - Vocabulary and Conversation Practice

If you have a copy of this episode this is a great lesson to run with a group of female only students. The episode looks at the themes of embarassment, feelings of failure, female competition and ...
10 Views 14,839 IntAdv
Intermediate/Advanced Oral Presentation Rubric

Intermediate/Advanced Oral Presentation Rubric

Here is a rubric that is designed to help teachers assess prepared oral presentations by students at the Intermediate/Advanced levels. The rubric contains the following categories to be assessed: ...
18 Views 91,386 IntAdv

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