{"id":46929,"date":"2016-06-22T19:42:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-22T23:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/?p=46929"},"modified":"2025-06-02T06:58:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T10:58:06","slug":"esl-cloze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/educator-english\/esl-cloze\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Unique ESL Cloze Activities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cloze activities are a teaching technique where words are omitted from a passage and students must fill in the blanks with the missing words. These exercises can help improve comprehension, vocabulary and grammar skills<\/a> for ESL learners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They can be implemented as individual, pair or group work<\/a>. And best of all, they can be used with virtually any topic you choose.\u00a0Try out these 10 topic-based cloze activities and see how they can engage your students and reinforce what you’ve taught them.<\/p>\n

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1. Holiday Vocabulary<\/h2>\n

If you’re teaching a holiday-themed lesson, why not add cloze reading<\/a> to engage your students and reinforce vocabulary?<\/p>\n

Below you’ll find a sample cloze exercise<\/a> about\u00a0Thanksgiving<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Word Bank:<\/strong>\u00a0feast, turkey, parade, football, cranberry, pumpkin pie, thanks<\/p>\n

Thanksgiving is a special time of year when families come together and give<\/p>\n

______ for all they have. There is a popular ______ in New York, and you can<\/p>\n

also enjoy the ______ games on TV. Thanksgiving dinner is a ______ that<\/p>\n

includes ______, potatoes, ______ sauce and much more. There are also<\/p>\n

many desserts after Thanksgiving dinner, including the most popular<\/p>\n

______.<\/p>\n

Once your students have successfully completed this short cloze exercise, you can go over the answers and discuss any issues you may find. Then have the students read their cloze out loud to reinforce the new words and context.<\/p>\n

2. Seasons and the Weather<\/h2>\n

Discussing the weather and seasons is a great way to teach something tangible with vocabulary that your students will probably use often. For more advanced students, you can also teach some English idioms about the weather<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can find great seasonal cloze activities online<\/a>. Here’s one example of a cloze activity for the winter season:<\/p>\n

Word Bank:<\/strong>\u00a0season, skating, skiing, year, snowmen, sled, cold, snow, Christmas, winter<\/p>\n

After the fall ______ ends, winter begins. Depending on where you are, it can<\/p>\n

be very ______, and ______ may fall in large amounts. This is a wonderful<\/p>\n

time of ______ for kids. They build ______ and ______ down hills with<\/p>\n

friends and family. During the ______ season, many people celebrate a<\/p>\n

special holiday called ______. Winter is also the time of year for ______ and<\/p>\n

also ______ on ice.<\/p>\n

Once your students have completed this short cloze exercise, have them pair up<\/a> and compare answers. Then have each pair discuss what they do in the winter season for fun, helping them build essential communication skills.<\/p>\n

3. Irregular Verbs<\/h2>\n

Irregular verbs<\/a> can be tricky for ESL students, and require lots of practice<\/a> for them to stick. Cloze activities can work well for reinforcing irregular verbs the way native English speakers use them in everyday speech.<\/p>\n

Here’s an example using some common irregular verbs:<\/p>\n

Word Bank:<\/strong>\u00a0began, sat, met, ran, was, thought, bought<\/p>\n

Since she is training for a marathon, Sally ______ around her local park<\/p>\n

before she ______ with her friend Caroline. While running, she ______ about<\/p>\n

the gift she had ______ Caroline yesterday. Sally ______ excited to give it to<\/p>\n

her. When Sally arrived at the coffee shop, Caroline was sitting at a table, so<\/p>\n

she ______ down next to her and they ______ to talk.<\/p>\n

After your students complete this short cloze activity, have them use the same irregular verbs to construct their own paragraph. For more advanced students, provide the infinitive forms of the verbs and have your students conjugate them before filling in the blanks.<\/p>\n

4. Food and Restaurants<\/h2>\n

You can find many\u00a0printable food<\/a>, restaurant<\/a> and cooking<\/a> cloze activities online. Here’s a short one to reinforce a variety of food-related vocabulary:<\/p>\n

Word Bank:<\/strong>\u00a0main, dinner, cook, takeout, Italian, meal, spaghetti, dine out, order, appetizer<\/p>\n

Most days I eat _____ at 7 in the evening. I normally _____ dinner myself, but<\/p>\n

when I don’t have time I order _____ from an _____ restaurant not far from<\/p>\n

my home. My favorite _____ to order from there is _____. If I do _____, I<\/p>\n

_____ a small _____ before my _____ course.<\/p>\n

Once your students have filled out the worksheet, have them get into groups and develop a short script using the words in the cloze activity. They can then\u00a0act out their scripts in front of the other groups, making the activity more fun and bringing\u00a0restaurant vocabulary to life.<\/p>\n

5. Historical Events<\/h2>\n

Historical cloze activities<\/a> will allow your students to pick up the English words and phrases they’ll need to explain events that have happened in their home country and around the world.<\/p>\n

Here’s an example cloze activity that discusses the Titanic:<\/p>\n

Word Bank:<\/strong>\u00a0ocean, United States, iceberg, set, Atlantic, sink, amenities, lifeboats, ship, famous, starring,\u00a0luxury<\/p>\n

The Titanic was a massive ______ liner that ______ sail from England to the<\/p>\n

______ in 1912. The ship was noted as a ______ cruise ship that had many<\/p>\n

______ for passengers. One day it hit an ______ in the ______ Ocean and<\/p>\n

began to ______ rapidly. Passengers had to rush to ______ in order to<\/p>\n

escape the sinking ______. There was also a ______ movie made about the<\/p>\n

Titanic ______ Leonardo DiCaprio.<\/p>\n

After your students have filled out the worksheet, open the floor for discussion about the historic event. You may even want to go deeper into the story or even watch a few clips from a movie<\/a> covering the historic event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

6. Family and Relationships<\/h2>\n

Before handing out a cloze activity on family<\/a>, you may want to draw a family tree on the board and have your students create their own family trees to practice family words.<\/p>\n

Here’s an example cloze activity about family and relationships:<\/p>\n

Word Bank:<\/strong> cousin(s), aunt(s), grandparent(s), uncle(s), sister(s), brother(s)<\/p>\n

My younger ______ is named Sarah and my older ______ is Jason. My<\/p>\n

mom’s parents are my ______. They live nearby and we visit them often. My<\/p>\n

dad’s parents live far away. I have an ______ \u00a0named Lisa, who is my dad’s<\/p>\n

sister. Her son is my favorite ______. He’s a year older than me. I also have<\/p>\n

an ______ named David. He is my mom’s brother. He tells funny jokes and<\/p>\n

makes us laugh. We have a great time when we all get together for family<\/p>\n

gatherings!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once they’ve completed this activity, you can have your students write a similar passage about their family. They can even leave gaps in it to create their own cloze activity that their classmates will have to complete.<\/p>\n

7. Animals and the Environment<\/h2>\n

You can continue to talk about animals and the environment<\/a> with your students, no matter what their level is. Just keep advancing the vocabulary and grammar so they stay challenged.<\/p>\n

This example cloze activity about wildlife and the environment is suitable for intermediate to advanced students:<\/p>\n

Word bank: <\/strong>protect, species, pollution, habitat, endangered, ecosystem, forest, wildlife<\/p>\n

The ______ is home to many different types of animals. It provides them<\/p>\n

with food, water, and shelter. We need to take care of their ______ to<\/p>\n

ensure their survival. Unfortunately, some animals are in danger of<\/p>\n

becoming ______. This means they are at risk of disappearing forever. It’s<\/p>\n

important to ______ these animals and their habitats. Human activities,<\/p>\n

such as deforestation and ______, can harm animal ______ and their<\/p>\n

homes. We need to work together to protect our planet and the amazing<\/p>\n

______ that inhabit it!<\/p>\n

Before or after your students complete this exercise, have them practice the pronunciation of these more challenging words.\u00a0<\/p>\n

8. Clothes and Accessories<\/h2>\n

Clothes vocabulary words<\/a> are fun to teach (and learn) because you can use visual aids including the clothes you and your students are wearing and other items you bring into class.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To reinforce the vocabulary, you can mix in cloze activities like the example below:<\/p>\n

Word Bank:<\/strong> shirt, pants, dress, shoes, hat, jacket, socks, skirt<\/p>\n

I love shopping for new ______! My favorite item to wear is a colorful<\/p>\n

______. It’s perfect for warm weather. When it gets colder, I like to wear a<\/p>\n

cozy ______ and a warm pair of ______. For special occasions, I enjoy<\/p>\n

wearing a pretty ______. It makes me feel elegant and fancy. To complete<\/p>\n

my outfits, I always choose the right accessories. I wear comfortable<\/p>\n

______ and matching ______.\u00a0 Oh, and let’s not forget about my favorite<\/p>\n

accessory \u2014 a stylish ______. It protects me from the sun and adds a trendy<\/p>\n

flair.<\/p>\n

9. Sports and Equipment<\/h2>\n

Sports are a universally popular topic that can be used to engage the athletes and fans in your ESL class<\/a>.\u00a0You can use cloze activities to reinforce the names of sports, then advance on to equipment, action verbs and more!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here’s an example cloze activity focusing on some popular sports:<\/p>\n

Word Bank:<\/strong> net, tennis, basket, racket, soccer, basketball, goals, volleyball<\/p>\n

______ is a popular sport played with a ball and two ______ on either side<\/p>\n

of the field. It requires good footwork. Another exciting sport is ______. The<\/p>\n

objective is to dribble and shoot the ball into the opponent’s ______.\u00a0 If you<\/p>\n

enjoy individual or pair sports, you might like ______. It’s played with a<\/p>\n

______, a small ball and a net. If you prefer a team sport, try ______. Teams<\/p>\n

try to hit the ball over the ______ without letting it touch the ground.<\/p>\n

10. Movies and Entertainment<\/h2>\n

Movies are a widely popular topic and one that provides many opportunities for engaging activities, such as showing movie scenes or trailers with interactive learning tools on a platform like FluentU<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

<\/p> \r\n

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n \"FluentU\r\n

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