A short reading comprehension with a true and false exercise and some questions. Focus past simple tense. Check out the template; it's definitely got the wow factor! I got this from the best EAL site ever - eslprintables. If you are an EAL teacher, join up. It&'ll be the best thing you ever did.

This is a great set of typical British things, and the words for a match-up activity. It makes a great starter, but not beyond year 7. I played Splat! with my students. (Two students come up to the board, then I say an item and the first to touch it is the winner.) Then, I put them in groups and gave each group three images to mind map. Next, the groups moved round to see if anything could be added. We discussed which things they had seen/experienced and which things were a bit old-fashioned or out of date. Thanks to YourJigsawPuzzles for permission to use the montage.

All about trees. Where do we find trees? What lives in trees? What can they do? An activity that you can do off the cuff.

A wonderful picture by the artist Trevor Mitchell, with various exercises on the present continuous tense. When I contacted the artist for permission to use his picture, I found that he lives just a few streets away from me!

A reading passage with language activities, about the wonderfully heart-warming rescue by the Yorkshire Wildlife Safari Park of 13 lions who had been living in cramped cages in Romania. I did this as part of a project on lions and am still trying to arrange to take my students to the safari park. One day! There are plenty of youtube clips about this.

A reading comprehension, with language exercises. This follows on from my reading comprehension 'Snow Day&'. This is differentiated - EAL students can put the verbs in the past simple, while more advanced students can tackle the discussion points.

A reading comprehension, with questions and language activities. Jack and Kelsey brave the journey only to find that the school is closed.

A two page activity to get your students talking and writing about shapes. Parts of this could be used as starters and it could certainly lead to a survey: go onto the street and see how many shapes you can spot and in what circumstances. EAL teachers can use this to teach/reinforce prepositions and the present continuous tense.

Here is a selection of fun starters/ activities using a grid. Only one needs any preparation; you can just go with the others. Adaptable to most subject matter.

There are 25 statements, some true, some false. The students have to correct the false statements. Ask them to shade the true statements and there is a hidden letter N, so you can check if they got it right. Then, ask them to read out or discuss their corrections in pairs and this leads to whole class discussion.

This makes a good starter or filler activity. The first slide explains the activity and the second models it. Then, give each group a picture and ask them to mind map it. For extension, have them compare any two pictures.

This is a short passage in the past simple about a nervous teacher's first lesson. Cloze and match up exercises provided.

This is a heart warming, short ghost story with exercises: a true/false, match-up activity and comprehension questions.

Here are some ideas for starter activities that require little or no preparation. They can be adapted to different subject areas.

A gap fill exercise to practise the question words and a short reading passage with comprehension questions.

A great picture, with activities to practise the present continuous tense.

A great picture, with activities to practise the present continuous tense.

This is a short narrative in the past simple, with language exercises: true or false, cloze, match up and comprehension questions. It will be useful for years 5, 6, 7 and EAL pupils. My thanks to Ravensburger puzzles for permission to use this great picture. Isn't Flame a beaut?

A narrative of the famous county Durham legend, with comprehension questions and language exercises.

Here are some starters/short activities on the language of Maths.