English as a Second Language (ESL) Checkpoint Practice

Students demonstrate ability to understand the global intent of short-to-medium texts.

• Identifying main topic of a paragraph or whole text
• Recognising writer purpose (inform, explain, invite, request, advise, complain)
• Distinguishing general topic vs specific focus
• Understanding titles and headings as meaning predictors
• Identifying opening statements that signal purpose
• Recognising concluding summaries
• Understanding layout conventions (email format, notice format, article format)
• Matching text types to communicative goals
• Selecting appropriate summary statements
• Eliminating distractors that only partially match meaning

This targets precision scanning.

• Locating names, dates, places, quantities
• Identifying stated reasons and outcomes
• Matching statements to paragraphs
• Completing tables from text
• Selecting correct answers based on explicit evidence
• Tracking pronoun reference (he/she/they/this/that/it)
• Extracting multiple details from one sentence
• Distinguishing similar numerical or factual options
• Identifying sequence markers (first, next, finally)
• Recognising paraphrases of original text

Students must interpret vocabulary inside meaningful situations.

• Guessing word meaning from context clues
• Identifying synonyms and paraphrases
• Recognising antonyms in contrast structures
• Understanding collocations (make/do/take/have; heavy rain; strong opinion)
• Working with word families (success/succeed/successful/successfully)
• Recognising common phrasal verbs (look after, give up, turn on)
• Identifying meaning shifts caused by prefixes/suffixes
• Choosing correct vocabulary based on register (formal vs informal)
• Understanding high-frequency academic words (describe, explain, suggest, compare)
• Avoiding false friends and literal translation errors

This is grammar used for real communication.

• Verb systems
• Present simple vs continuous
• Past simple vs past continuous
• Basic present perfect
• Future forms (will / going to / present continuous)
• Modals
• Ability: can / could
• Obligation: must / have to
• Advice: should
• Possibility: might / may
• Structure
• Affirmative / negative / interrogative forms
• Short answers
• Question word order
• Auxiliary verbs
• Students must choose forms based on meaning, not memorisation.

This section drives clarity.

• Articles: a / an / the / zero article
• Countable vs uncountable nouns
• Quantifiers: some / any / much / many / few / little
• Prepositions of time/place/movement
• Demonstratives: this/that/these/those
• Comparatives and superlatives
• Adverbs of frequency
• Connectors: because, although, however, therefore, so
• Basic conditional forms (real vs hypothetical situations)
• Choosing grammar based on communicative intention

Students show control over sentence-level meaning.

• Building simple and compound sentences
• Combining sentences logically
• Using relative clauses (who/which/that)
• Identifying grammar mistakes
• Correcting tense, agreement, article, and preposition errors
• Completing gap-fill sentences
• Rewriting sentences without changing meaning
• Avoiding run-ons and fragments
• Maintaining logical word order
• Choosing appropriate connectors
• This area produces many objective question formats.

Students write short, purposeful texts.

• Emails/messages for:
• requests
• invitations
• complaints
• apologies
• thanks
• Writing instructions or directions
• Writing short reports
• Writing notices or announcements
• Writing reviews (simple evaluation + reason)
• Including required content points
• Maintaining appropriate tone (polite, neutral, friendly)
• Using opening and closing conventions
• Staying concise and relevant
• Focus: communication clarity, not literary style.

Controlled creative expression.

• Writing short stories from prompts or pictures
• Sequencing events logically
• Using time markers (then, after that, suddenly)
• Describing people, places, experiences
• Selecting relevant details
• Avoiding repetition
• Maintaining consistent tense
• Using basic paragraphing
• Ending stories clearly
• Narratives remain simple but coherent.

Text-level control.

• Beginning–middle–end structure
• Logical progression of ideas
• Paragraph separation
• Use of linking words
• Maintaining topic focus
• Clear conclusions
• Avoiding abrupt transitions
• Organising information for reader ease
• Grouping related ideas

Technical precision under exam conditions.

• Spelling of common words
• Capitalisation
• Sentence boundaries
• Basic punctuation (full stops, commas, question marks)
• Grammar consistency
• Vocabulary appropriateness
• Avoiding mother-tongue interference
• Self-editing strategies
• Improving clarity through correction