Idioms: kindness
Worksheet overview
With this ESL worksheet, students will learn and practise 12 idioms related to kindness. It includes plenty of communicative activities to encourage students to talk about kindness in their lives and the benefits of showing kindness to others. You can combine it with the following idiom worksheets: “Idioms:gratitude“, “Idioms: positivity, optimism and hope”, “Idioms: empathy and compassion”, and “Idioms: forgiveness and acceptance”.
The first 7 idioms and expressions (e.g. to go out of one’s way, to make someone’s day, to pay it forward, to make a difference) are introduced through a short text about kindness. Students work out the meaning of the idioms from context and match them to their definitions. Then, students take a look at 4 situations and decide which idiom is illustrated in each one.
Next, the rest of the idioms (e.g. actions speak louder than words, best things in life are free, put yourself in someone else’s shoes) are introduced through a dialogue between 2 friends.
To practise all of the idioms, students complete 6 short dialogues with the correct idiom.
The last 2 activities are focused on speaking. First, students complete 6 sentences with their own ideas and share them with a partner, giving more information. Finally, students are given 4 topics to discuss or debate, related to kindness.
For further speaking practice, you can use the printable conversation cards, which contain 12 conversation questions.
You can combine this lesson with other lessons related to kindness and helping others.
