1,314 FREE Reading Comprehension Worksheets, Games and Tests
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FREE Reading Comprehension Worksheets

Reading is a very important part of learning a language. It's considered a receptive skill, otherwise known as a passive skill, which means that students don’t necessarily have to produce language - just receive it. But more often than not, students have difficulty reading because of vocabulary and/or the context involved. BusyTeacher.org offers 1,314 reading comprehension worksheets that are sure to help your students stay engaged in their reading, by providing interesting stories and effective exercises.

We as teachers don’t always have the time to make up our own stories, or go through books to pick out excerpts to present in our lessons. The reading worksheets on BusyTeacher.org offer a variety of different stories and texts in different categories and genres to help your students improve their reading ability and learn the language, all the while enjoying the stories they're reading. Depending on what you're aiming to teach, you can use these worksheets in a whole variety of different ways in the classroom. If a worksheet has a story that contains dialogue, you could assign roles to students and have them act out what the characters say. You can also use the stories on the worksheets to create comprehension questions. Some worksheets can even make for classroom discussion topics. After reading a passage, you can present a question to students, and ask them to give their opinions of where the story is going. These are just some of the many things you can do to make use of these worksheets in the classroom.

Whether you're teaching scanning, skimming, critical thinking, or reading for gist, BusyTeacher.org has the worksheet(s) you need for your lessons. There are worksheets on just about any topic you can think of - sports, business, history, and holidays to name a few. Another handy feature on BusyTeacher.org is that each worksheet has the level shown in the description, which makes it easy for you to find an appropriate worksheet for your students. The thumbnail can be opened to full page view, so you can check if the worksheet is right for your lesson. Some worksheets you'll find here are appropriate for several - or even for all levels, which means they're reusable for a future lessons with students at different levels.

No registration or subscription is necessary to download our worksheets. They’re all free to download, copy, and use in your lessons. Plus, all of them were created and uploaded by fellow ESL teachers from all around the globe, and have helped other ESL teachers in their lessons. In addition, if you have a worksheet you've created and would like to submit it to this site, you can do so by clicking the “Submit a worksheet” link at the bottom of this page. Join thousands of other ESL teachers using BusyTeacher.org, and bookmark us as your number-one stop for worksheets to use in your lessons daily! With 1,314 reading worksheets, planning your lessons has never been easier. Get started by checking out the most popular worksheets below. Try downloading one and using it in your lesson today!

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How to Teach Conversational English: 9 Best Practices

How to Teach Conversational English: 9 Best Practices

When other teachers, even other ESL teachers, hear I’m teaching an ESL conversation class, they often say it sounds “relaxing,” or “fun” or “easy.” Most ...
114 Views 977,398 All
How to Teach the Present Simple Tense

How to Teach the Present Simple Tense

When teaching the Present Simple, the ultimate goal is to make sure your students understand that it’s used to describe routines, habits, daily activities, and general truths. It is ...
96 Views 789,434 All
Conjunctions

Conjunctions

  This grammar guide teaches conjunctions. Pages 1-2 are a summary of the most common conjunctions: coordinating conjunction, subordinating conjunctions, and conjunctive adverbs. On pages ...
1 Views 17,205 IntAdv
Simple present negative - Practice

Simple present negative - Practice

Grammatics.education
  Young learners watch an animated video and then work in small groups to order the story cards to practice the Simple Present Negative and improve their cooperation and communication skil ...
1 Views 15,274 BegElem
/ɔ/ Pronunciation

/ɔ/ Pronunciation

Anastasiia
  You can use this list to practice the /ɔ/ pronunciation sounds, or as a list of words to be careful when pronouncing. There is a list of word phrases that vary only by one having th ...
1 Views 9,970 BegElem
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Teach The Future Continuous – Free ESL Lesson Plan

Teach The Future Continuous – Free ESL Lesson Plan

Nathan Martin
  When should you teach the Future Continuous to ESL students? It’s important to teach this topic at the right time. This lesson is designed for pre-intermediate students (B1 Level o ...
1 Views 8,227 Pre-Int
Comic Strips

Comic Strips

Hertin Riantini
  A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. ...
1 Views 14,986 Elem
Are You At Your Level Of Incompetence? The Peter Principle

Are You At Your Level Of Incompetence? The Peter Principle

Anna Mataro
    This listening comprehension activity: Are you at your level of competence? is for Intermediate and Upper-intermediate levels to practice vocabulary relating to jobs in the wor ...
1 Views 4,671 IntAdv
Spooky Halloween Fun for Your ESL Class

Spooky Halloween Fun for Your ESL Class

There probably isn’t a youngster who is not looking forward to Halloween. And most adults want to join in the fun too! Halloween is a great holiday to celebrate in the ESL classroom, as wel ...
10 Views 331,869 All
Give Your ESL Students a BOOst with These Halloween Themed Language Activities

Give Your ESL Students a BOOst with These Halloween Themed Language Activities

Halloween is just around the corner, and it’s a great excuse to share some American culture with your ESL students. Here are some fun ways to bring the celebration of all hallows eve into ...
1 Views 27,885 All
How to swap a paper clip for a house

How to swap a paper clip for a house

Alison Rostetter
Reading Comprehension
  This is the true story of a man who wanted a house but had no money. He started by swapping a paper clip for another object. After many swaps, he finally found his house. The story is in ...
1 Views 7,164 Elem
Confusing Words - Part 17

Confusing Words - Part 17

  This worksheet no. 17 is to practice confusing words in a fun way to learn or review your vocabulary. There are 10 pages, 40 exercises, and over 160 sentences (homophones, phrasal verbs, ...
1 Views 7,748 Pre-IntInt
International Phonetic Alphabet With Expressions

International Phonetic Alphabet With Expressions

  This resource shows each of the 44 International phonetic alphabet symbols with phrases or sentences illustrating each example. It can help to practice speaking each IPA symbol as it's u ...
1 Views 7,174 Pre-IntIntAdvExam
King Charles III Cloze Activity

King Charles III Cloze Activity

, , , Reading Comprehension
  Download and print this handy worksheet and teach your children some interesting facts about the King of the United Kingdom. Children read through the facts about King Charles III and fi ...
2 Views 7,225 ElemPre-Int
9 Absolutely Essential ESL Games for Vocabulary Review

9 Absolutely Essential ESL Games for Vocabulary Review

Well, it is that time again. You have finished your unit on (insert topic here) complete with vocabulary, listening, speaking, reading and writing activities, but you are not entirely done. The te ...
49 Views 441,470 All
Anybody, Nobody - Free ESL Lesson Plan

Anybody, Nobody - Free ESL Lesson Plan

Nathan Martin
  This new ESL Lesson Plan teaches how to use two important indefinite pronouns – Anybody and Nobody.  The plan has clear descriptions, examples, and practice opportunities to h ...
1 Views 5,516 Pre-Int
Simple present positive - Practice

Simple present positive - Practice

Grammatics.education
    Young learners watch an animated video and then work in small groups to order the story cards as a way to improve their cooperation and communication skills.  When young le ...
1 Views 8,397 BegElem
International Phonetic Alphabet Symbols With Example Words

International Phonetic Alphabet Symbols With Example Words

  This resource shows each of the 44 International Phonetic Alphabet symbols with phrases or sentences illustrating each example. It can help to practice speaking each IPA symbol used in E ...
1 Views 4,343 ElemPre-IntIntAdvExam
Queen Elizabeth II Cloze Activity

Queen Elizabeth II Cloze Activity

, , , Reading Comprehension
  Queen Elizabeth died on 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Children read through the facts about Queen Elizabeth II and fill in the spaces using words from the word bank. A ...
2 Views 6,521 ElemPre-Int
How to Make Better Decisions - B2

How to Make Better Decisions - B2

ESL Pals
    Lesson Overview:  This ESL decision-making lesson starts with a fun warm-up game that involves making a decision about different paintings. It includes interactive vocabular ...
1 Views 5,071 Pre-IntIntAdv
Phonemic Grouping of the Letters of the Alphabet

Phonemic Grouping of the Letters of the Alphabet

Diana Joyce Renke
    Students classify the letters of the alphabet into their respective vowel sounds (monophthongs & diphthongs, there are no consonant sounds). You may want to ask them to do it ...
1 Views 3,890 Pre-IntIntAdv
Fun Birthday Quiz

Fun Birthday Quiz

Joanna
  This fun Powerpoint quiz can be used as a classroom tradition for students' birthdays. The presentation includes questions and answers illustrated with funny pictures. Students can enjoy ...
1 Views 5,766 BegElemPre-Int
From ESL Zero to Hero: How to Teach Absolute Beginners

From ESL Zero to Hero: How to Teach Absolute Beginners

In today’s globalized world, most beginner ESL students have had some contact with the English language, usually through the Internet, movies or TV. Many ESL students, often referred to as ...
64 Views 470,584 All
Top 10 Ways to Teach Vowel Pronunciation in English

Top 10 Ways to Teach Vowel Pronunciation in English

Every ESL student should have a pronunciation element to their language studies. Sometimes, though, a student may need more than one strategy for tackling English pronunciation. By making sure yo ...
40 Views 514,782 All
Music

Music

This five-page worksheet about ‘Music’ features ten exercises: match the musical instruments to the pictures; complete the idioms; fill in the crossword; fill in the missing words ...
1 Views 7,554 ElemPre-Int

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