Autumn is the one topic where the material is already outside the window. The sky, the leaves and the wet street give every student something true to say, from a first A1 lesson to a B2 group. These six no-prep autumn ESL activities for adults use exactly that, so there is nothing to photocopy and nothing to cut.
Each one takes 10 to 20 minutes and works in the classroom or online. Three have an optional board in the free PDF that you can share on screen or print once, and three need nothing at all. Whether your students say autumn or fall, every activity works from September to November, and from March to May if your students live in Argentina or Chile.
The activities at a glance | # | Activity | Level | Print | | 1 | Out the Window | A1-A2 | Page 1 | | 2 | Dress for It | A1-A2 | None | | 3 | Crisp or Damp? | A2-B1 | Page 1 | | 4 | Weather Small Talk | A2-B1 | None | | 5 | The 30-Second Forecast | B1-B2 | Page 2 | | 6 | Cozy or Not? | B1-B2 | None |
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Free · printable PDFAutumn Weather BoardsTwo boards for activities 1, 3 and 5 below, numbered like this post: today's weather words and sentence starters, eight describing words from crisp to freezing, and eight weather phrasal verbs with a forecast frame. Share your screen or print each page once. Nothing to cut.2 pagesShare on screen or print onceA1 to B2A4 and LetterDownload the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
6 no-prep autumn ESL activities for adults
1of 6A1-A210 minSpeakingNo prepFree printable · page 1 Out the WindowHow it works- Ask the class to look out of the window. Online, every student looks out of their own window, which gives you the weather in five cities at once.
- Each student says one full sentence about the weather: It's cold. Not just cold.
- Go round twice. On the second round nobody may repeat a sentence, so students have to reach for the sky, the leaves and the street.
- Push stronger students into two parts: It's cold and it's raining.
| Four true sentences from a gray morningIt's cold.The sky is gray.The leaves are yellow.The street is wet. |
| Why it works It is the fastest way to find out what your class really has. Most A1 groups start with three weather words and use cold for everything. The no-repeat rule doubles that in ten minutes, and every sentence is true, so nobody is guessing what you want to hear. |
| Free printable · page 1 The It's ... words, six sentence starters from The sky is to The street is and five phrases, big enough to share on screen.Download the free PDF |
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2of 6A1-A210 minVocabularyNo prepNo printing Dress for ItHow it works- Call out a weather condition: It's raining. The wind is very cold. The ground is wet.
- In pairs, students have ten seconds to say what to wear or take, with the verb: Put on your boots. Take an umbrella.
- A noun on its own doesn't count. Umbrella! gets nothing.
- After three rounds, the pairs call conditions to each other.
| Write on the boardVerbsput on · take offtake an umbrellawear a scarfdon't forget your gloves |
| Why it works Students who know jacket often can't say put on your jacket, and the verb is what they need on a real cold morning. Ten seconds is too short to translate, so the phrase has to come out whole. |
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3of 6A2-B115 minVocabularyNo prepFree printable · page 1 Crisp or Damp?How it works- Share page 1, or write eight words on the board: crisp, damp, overcast, gloomy, mild, bright, stormy, freezing.
- Each student picks the one word that describes today best, without telling their partner.
- Partners show their words at the same time. If they differ, they argue it out and agree on one.
- Then ask the question that does the real work: which word is wrong today, and why?
| The eight words on page 1crispdampovercastgloomymildbrightstormyfreezing |
| Why it works It moves students past cold and nice into the words that really describe an autumn day. The wrong-word question does more than the right one, because to say It isn't freezing, because the grass is green, a student has to know where each word stops. |
| Free printable · page 1 Eight describing words with a plain meaning under each one, the three steps and four phrases for giving a reason.Download the free PDF |
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4of 6A2-B110-15 minSpeakingNo prepNo printing Weather Small TalkHow it works- Pairs stand up as if they have just met at the coffee machine at work.
- Student A opens with a weather remark: Cold this morning, isn't it?
- Student B has to agree and add one new thing: Freezing. I had to scrape the car. A bare Yes ends the round.
- The pair keeps it going for four turns, then everybody changes partners and starts again.
| Openers and repliesOpenLovely day, isn't it?OpenBit chilly today.Agree and addI know! I needed my scarf.Agree and addYes, and they say it'll rain later. |
| Why it works For adults who work in English, weather talk is the conversation they will have most often, and textbooks rarely practice it. The add-one-thing rule teaches the part that matters: the remark is only an invitation, and the reply decides whether there is a conversation at all. |
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5of 6B1-B220 minSpeakingNo prepFree printable · page 2 The 30-Second ForecastHow it works- Each pair opens a weather app on one phone and picks a city: their own, or one their partner names.
- Share page 2, or write the phrasal verbs on the board. Every forecast has to use at least three of them.
- Pairs write and rehearse a 30-second forecast for the next three days.
- They present it. Listeners tick the phrasal verbs they hear and ask one question: Do I need an umbrella on Friday?
| Four of the eight phrasal verbsset inHeavy rain will set in on Thursday.clear upIt should clear up after lunch.pick upThe wind picks up in the evening.die downThe wind will die down tonight. |
| Why it works The app does your prep. The forecast is real, it is different for every city and it changes every day, so the activity never runs the same way twice. Phrasal verbs are the gap between a B1 student sounding correct and sounding natural, and a forecast is one of the few places where they all belong together. |
| Online or one-to-one Online, every student picks a different city and the class votes on whose weekend looks best. One-to-one, you give a forecast for your own city first, so your student hears the verbs before using them. |
| Free printable · page 2 Eight weather phrasal verbs, each with a meaning, an example and a tick box, plus a forecast frame to fill in and the forecast language.Download the free PDF |
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6of 6B1-B215 minSpeakingNo prepNo printing Cozy or Not?How it works- Read out a scene, like the ones below.
- Students judge it cozy or not cozy and give one reason. Push them to use the words: snug, a draft, comfort food, unwind, curl up.
- Where the class splits, the two sides argue it out.
- Finish with each student describing their own coziest autumn evening in three sentences.
| Scenes to read outa bus stop in the rain at 7 a.m.a café with steamed-up windowsyour kitchen when the heating is brokena long train ride in the raina blanket and a TV series on Sundaythe first cold morning of the year |
| Why it works Cozy is a feeling, not a fact, so the argument is real: is a long train ride in the rain cozy, or just a delay? Students reach for the feeling words that a vocabulary list never gets them to use. |
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Autumn Weather BoardsThe boards for activities 1, 3 and 5 in one free PDF. Share your screen or print each page once.Download the free PDF |
When you have more time: autumn lessons and printables
When you have five minutes to print instead of none, our 8 printable autumn speaking cards give you eight more activities for A2 to B2, one to a page with a phrase bank. For a full hour, 14 autumn ESL lesson plans and worksheets sorts every autumn lesson by level. And at the end of October, our last-minute Halloween activities and Halloween ESL lessons take over.
When you want a full lesson planned for you, these weather and autumn lessons follow on from the activities above.
Final thoughts
The weather is the one piece of material you never have to prepare. It changes every day, every student can see it, and adults talk about it in English more than almost anything else.
Keep this page open on your phone from September to November. When you have a full hour instead of ten minutes, the lessons above are ready to teach.
