english homework ideas year 4

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Year 4 English Printable Worksheets

In year 4, your child will start to learn more complex punctuation, demonstrate good spelling and punctuation, and continue to develop their reading and writing. Our year 4 English worksheets will help support your child in all their literacy learning, including poetry activities, information texts, reading comprehensions, and much more. 

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Keystage 1 (5-7)

Keystage 2 (7-11), general knowledge, religious education, brain training, reading comprehension, vocabulary grammar and punctuation, handwriting, vocabulary cards, information sheets, fun activities.

Harry Potter Word Search

Harry Potter Word Search ActivityEncourage students to find these magical words hidden in the puzzle. It's a great way to celebrate Harry Potter Book Day and engage young fans of the wizarding world!When is Harry Potter Book Day?Harry Potter Book Day takes place on the 12th of October, but you can celebrate on any day that suits you after the 12th of October too!

Woodland Animals Cloze Activity

Woodland Animals Cloze ActivityOur Woodland Animals Cloze Activity can be integrated into classroom lessons or assigned as homework to reinforce reading comprehension skills. As pupils fill in the blanks, they will encounter new words related to wildlife, habitats, and the unique characteristics of woodland animals. Through this activity, pupils will not only enhance their reading comprehension skills but also gain valuable insights into the remarkable adaptations and behaviours of these cute woodland creatures.

Endangered Animals Cloze Activity

Endangered animals cloze activityThis engaging activity is a fantastic way for young learners to explore the importance of wildlife conservation while honing their reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. By filling in the missing words in the sentences, students will uncover fascinating facts about these vulnerable creatures and their struggles for survival. This exercise can be used in the classroom, as homework, or during wildlife-themed educational events, making it a versatile resource for teachers and parents.

Harry Potter Cloze Activity

Harry Potter Cloze ActivityThese fun facts about Harry Potter should spark a child's interest in the magical world created by J.K. Rowling and could provide a great starting point for their journey into the series. This cloze activity offers a spellbinding way to enhance reading comprehension, vocabulary, and critical thinking skills while diving into the world of magic. Beyond simply filling in the blanks, this activity encourages critical thinking by prompting children to consider context and meaning while completing the fun Harry Potter facts. 

C. S. Lewis Cloze Activity

C. S. Lewis Cloze ActivityC.S. Lewis's life and work continue to inspire young readers around the world, and his magical stories are enjoyed by children of all ages. This C.S. Lewis Cloze Activity will help to:Introduce students to key facts about C.S. Lewis's life and work.Develop reading comprehension and critical thinking skills.Encourage active engagement with the provided text.Certain words have been omitted from the passage, creating blanks in the text. Students are tasked with filling in these blanks with the correct missing words from the word bank.

Year 4 Animal Facts Handwriting Workbook

Animal Facts Handwriting WorkbookThis Year 4 Animal Facts Handwriting Workbook is a handy resource to not only improve students' handwriting skills but also introduce them to fascinating facts about creatures from around the globe. Pupils copy each animal fact carefully and neatly on the lines underneath. 

International Peace Day Acrostic Poem

International Peace Day Acrostic PoemAn acrostic poem is a creative and expressive form of writing where the first letter of each line spells out a word or message. In this acrostic poem for International Peace Day, the word "PEACE" serves as the central theme. Each line of the poem represents a different aspect of peace, highlighting the idea of people coming together, embracing diversity, uniting in love, and creating a harmonious world.

Apostrophes - Plural possession

Apostrophes - Plural possessionStudents add the apostrophe in the correct place to mark plural possession. An example is shown to help students complete the activity. 

Adding inverted commas to a sentence

Adding inverted commas to a sentenceWith this handy worksheet, students will practise adding inverted commas and other punctuation to sentences. Remember, when using inverted commas for direct speech, the punctuation goes inside the closing inverted comma. 

Expanded noun phrases

Expanded noun phrasesExpanded noun phrases add more detail to the overall meaning of the sentence. For example:The bee flew around the flowers. The tiny, buzzing bee flew around the vibrant, blooming flowers in the garden.Students have a go at improving the sentences by expanding the noun phrases, making them more interesting to read. 

Using 'did' and 'done' correctly

Using 'did' and 'done' correctlyLearning to use 'did' and 'done' correctly enhances communication skills and helps children become more confident with their writing. This handy English worksheet for lower KS2 asks students to complete the sentences by writing 'did' or 'done'. They must decide whether 'did ' or 'done' is the appropriate verb by writing the correct one in the spaces.  "Did" is used for all subjects (I, you, he, she, it, we, they). "Done" is used with helping verbs (e.g., have, has, had) or as an adjective.

Using 'was' and 'were'

Using 'was' and 'were correctlyUsing "was" and "were" correctly helps convey information accurately and clearly. This handy English resource for lower KS2 asks students to complete the sentences by writing 'was' or 'were'. They must decide whether 'was ' or 'were' is the appropriate verb by writing the correct one in the spaces. "Was" is used for singular subjects (I, he, she, it), while "were" is used for plural subjects (they, we). 

Fronted adverbials - Complete the sentence

Fronted adverbials - Complete the sentence activityUsing fronted adverbials encourages students to start sentences in different ways, adding variety and interest to their writing. It also helps students understand and apply proper grammar and punctuation rules.With this worksheet, children are asked to think of their own fronted adverbials to complete the sentences. This resource can be used at home or in the classroom and is great practice for creative writing. 

Fronted adverbials - How, where or when?

Fronted adverbials sorting activityFronted adverbials are words or phrases that are placed at the beginning of a sentence to describe when, where, or how an action takes place. For example:Very carefully, she painted the picture. Very carefully is the fronted adverbial in this sentence. It tells us how she painted the picture. We use fronted adverbials to add variety and detail to sentences. Students sort the fronted adverbials by writing them in the correct column. 

Fronted adverbials - Missing commas

What are fronted adverbials?Fronted adverbials are words or phrases that are placed at the beginning of a sentence to describe when, where, or how an action takes place. For example:In the evening, we watched a film. In the evening is the fronted adverbial in this sentence. It tells us when they watched a film.Students read the sentences and add a comma after the fronted adverbials. 

Fronted adverbials matching activity

What are fronted adverbials?Fronted adverbials are words or phrases that are placed at the beginning of a sentence to describe when, where, or how an action takes place. For example: In the kitchen, we baked some cookies. In the kitchen is the fronted adverbial in this sentence. It tells us where they baked the cookies.Students draw a line to match the fronted adverbial to the correct sentence.  

Roald Dahl characters word search

A handy Roald Dahl word search for your childrenThis fun word search includes some of the characters in Dahl's most famous stories. Word searches are a great way to reinforce vocabulary, improve spelling and concentration, and are also ideal for small moments of time as they can easily be stopped and started. Just download and print away!   Roald Dahl vocabularyHere is a list of some of the key vocabulary included in our fun word search:MATILDATHE TWITSMUGGLEWUMPWILLY WONKAMISS TRUNCHBULLGRAND HIGH WITCHCHARLIE BUCKETBRUNO JENKINSTHE BFGMR FOX

Roald Dahl cloze activity

Where was Roald Dahl born? Who were his favourite authors? Which children's stories did he write? Children read through the facts about Roald Dahl and fill in the spaces using words from the word bank.Here are 10 fun facts about Roald Dahl:He was a famous children's author who wrote the classics Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more. He wrote many of his books in a shed in the back of his garden. He always wrote using a pencil. He was a Hurricane fighter pilot during World War II.He was a very good footballer at school.His teachers didn’t think he was very good at writing when he was at school.His favourite colour was yellow.He loved chocolate, but not chocolate ice cream or chocolate cake.Some of his favourite authors were Rudyard Kipling and Charles Dickens.He was about 6’6" tall. 

Christmas Mad Libs

This Christmas themed resource can be used to reinforce language arts lessons learned in class. Students fill in the blanks with a type of word e.g. an adjective or a noun. Encourage your students to be as creative as possible and have some fun!

Thank you template

This colourful thank you template is great for supporting independent writing activities and can be used for a variety of different topics.

Write a Christmas story

Improve your child's creative writing skills with this fun activity. Students are asked to write a story and include the words: Santa, stocking, night, chimney, snow in their story. Encourage students to be as imaginative as possible and be creative!

Halloween Picture Crossword

This colourful activity asks students to look at the pictures and complete the crossword puzzle.

Cloze Activity - Rainforest animals

This cloze activity includes some interesting facts about rainforest species. Students read through the text and fill in the missing words using the word bank.

Reading comprehension - What is an ocean?

This short reading comprehension is a fun introduction to the five oceans. Students learn some interesting facts about the oceans and have eight study questions to answer.

Poetry - Breakfast In Bed

Kids read the poem 'Breakfast in Bed' and choose the best word in brackets to complete each rhyme.

Rhyming Words - My Shadow

This poem called 'The Shadow' by Robert Louis Stevenson can be used to practise rhyming and to celebrate Children's Poetry Day on 21 March.

Rhyming Words - At The Zoo

This is a funny poem by A. A. Milne and can be used to practise rhyming and to celebrate Children's Poetry Day on 21 March.

St. Patrick's Day Alphabetical Order

This St. Patrick's Day worksheet is designed to help kids practise putting words in alphabetical order. All of the words are associated with St. Patrick's Day, making it a perfect addition to any St. Paddy's Day themed lesson!

Spelling List - 'ing'

A year 4 English resource including a list of 12 words with words ending in 'ing' for students to learn.

Biography - Albert Einstein

This year 4 literacy resource includes a biography for students to fill in about Albert Einstein.

Compound words 3

This year 4 literacy resource focuses on compound words.

A year 4 literacy resource on choosing the correct adverb to complete each sentence.

A KS2 literacy resource on adverbs.

Nouns and verbs 3

This KS2 literacy resource focuses on nouns and verbs.

Nouns and verbs 2

A KS2 English resource on nouns and verbs.

A year 4 literacy worksheet about adding the correct prefix to the given words.

Rhyming Words 3

A year 4 English worksheet on colouring the words that rhyme the same colour.

Rhyming Words 2

A KS2 literacy resource on colouring the words that rhyme the same colour.

A year 4 English resource on writing 3 different words that rhyme with the given word.

A year 4 literacy resource on writing 3 different words that rhyme with the given word.

To, too or two 3

This year 4 literacy resource includes sentences to complete using to, too or two.

To, too or two 2

This year 4 English worksheet includes the homophones: to, too and two.

Dictionary 3

A primary English resource including a glossary with accompanying questions to answer.

A KS2 English resource on choosing the correct phoneme to complete the word.

A year 4 literacy resource on phonemes.

Suffixes 'or' and 'er' 3

A year 4 English worksheet including the suffixes 'or' and 'er'.

Suffixes 'or' and 'er' 2

A primary literacy resource focusing on the suffixes 'or' and 'er'.

This KS2 English resource is all about creating sentences with similes.

Support your child's English studies with our collection of fun and engaging worksheets

Support your child’s English studies with our collection of fun and engaging worksheets. We have hundreds of year 4 English worksheets that will help encourage your child to think independently, make their own decisions, improve and expand vocabulary, and reinforce punctuation and grammar. Help boost your child’s confidence with our year 4 English worksheets that are fun and enjoyable.

One of the best things about printable worksheets is that they make learning fun and easy. Explore our educational resources based on Year 4 English and keep your children learning through these fun and engaging exercises.

Our Year 4 English printable worksheets are designed for progressive learning. Our engaging content enables a child to learn at their own speed and gain confidence quickly. When we help a child believe in themselves, we empower them for life.

Printable worksheets are a great way to enhance creativity and improve a child’s knowledge. Help your child learn more about Year 4 English with this great selection of worksheets designed to help children succeed.

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Year 4 English

Want to support your child’s English studies in Year 4? This year your child will work with a range of texts, including fiction and non fiction, poetry and plays and information texts and will be expected to demonstrate good spelling , punctuation and handwriting in their written work.

We have hundreds of Year 4 English worksheets , games and activities to help you reinforce English learning at home and help with tricky English homework.

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Year 4 english booster pack.

Put Y4 literacy skills and knowledge into practice the fun way with wordsearches, mix and match activities, play scripts and more. From writing an advert (persuasive text) to designing a Wanted poster (to practise using correct punctuation), the Year 4 English Booster pack is a great way to revise and consolidate all the core learning skills of Year 4 English.

Discover a unique Year 4 English Learning Journey programme

The Y ear 4 English Learning Journey programme covers all the key topics in the curriculum for Year 4, in just two worksheets a week. By following the programme, which closely mirrors what your child is being taught in school, you’ll quickly be able to spot any topics that your child hasn't fully grasped and reinforce learning that is happening in the classroom at home. Your child will feel more confident in their own abilities and you’ll know you are giving your child the very best chance of succeeding in school.  

Year 4 English Progress checks

Homophones, non-fiction texts, using paragraphs correctly and the possessive apostrophe – all part of the literacy curriculum for Y4. You can check your child's progress easily with the Year 4 English Progress checks . Download the three tests (one for each term) now to see the key topics your child needs to master and identify any areas they need to practise and revise.

Grammar Made Easy

The Grammar Made Easy eBook is for every parent who wants their primary child to do well at school, to see them gain top marks for grammar and punctuation and use language as a door to future opportunities. Each chapter of the eBook focuses on a specific area – such as tenses or apostrophes – and provides clear, simple explanations of rules to remember, plus examples of what’s right, what’s wrong and why. Then, there are quiz questions to recap and check that your child has understood everything.

Free Year 4 Worksheets

When it comes to good grades, practice is the only thing that makes children perfect. Our free year 4 worksheets will do the trick. Just one sheet a day will cover all the key skills your child need to rock their Year 4 class. Download a sheet and start practising now.

In line with the national curriculum, each sheet covers arithmetic, reasoning, vocabulary building and, spelling punctuation and grammar skills. These handy printable are perfect to use at home or in school. From fractions to angles,  addition to subtraction, multiplication to the division, rounding numbers to fraction we have covered all the topics your children will do in school.

Also Read: Picture Writing Prompts with Vocabulary

To download free year 4 worksheet, click on the image or the link given below.

Also check: Year 4 targets Bundle

Free Year 4 Worksheets (Maths and English) ​

New worksheets posted daily!

Why not have a look at our daily worksheets for other year groups free worksheets to keep children on track while they are at home:

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Year 4 english, choose the block you wish to teach.

Try our FREE Grammar and Punctuation Powerpoints .

Autumn Blocks

Read a range of fables (Rosen's Aesop's Fables ) explore dialogue through drama, debate moral messages and write letters using extended sentences. Finally children write fables.

Traditional Tales and Fables: Aesop's Fables

Discuss inventions. Imagine the future using Was it Better Now? Explore biography ( Genius of Leonardo ) study verbs, perfect form, adverbs; write an autobiography.

Biographies: Inventors

Read the hilarious How to Train Your Dragon , exploring plot, character, setting & style. Study pronouns, dialogue punctuation and adverbials. Write a new chapter.

Fantasy: How to Train Your Dragon

Get creative with The Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas , exploring instructions & explanations. Study possessive apostrophes and pronouns. Invent and introduce an art machine.

Instructions and Explanations: Art Ideas

Relish in a selection of outrageous Horrid Henry stories. Explore setting, character and plot. Study expanded noun phrases and fronted adverbials. Write a new story.

Familiar Settings: Horrid Henry Stories

Amazing architecture, world landmarks and influential architects inspire this block. Using Cool Architecture (Simon Armstrong) as a starting point, read and write stimulating reports. Revise extending sentences with conjunctions and use apostrophes for possession.

Reports: Amazing Architecture

Using a text in which a child’s worries are encapsulated in a suitcase children express ideas through paper modelling, colours and painting, sculptures and dance, also responding to Save the Children’s global lockdown poem.

Wellbeing: Escapes and Dreams

Spring blocks.

Use versions of Princess and the Pea to explore, compare and write fairytales with a twisted point of view. Study dialogue, tense, pronouns. Role-play, write and perform playscripts.

Traditional Tales and Fables: Fairy Tales and Playscripts

Explore recounts through Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears (Emily Gravett), After the Fall (Dan Santat), The Dark (Lemony Snicket). Study adverbials and possessive apostrophes.

Recounts: Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears

Using rainforest stories, explore the issues confronting indigenous peoples and the environment. Create own stories and learn to correctly use the perfect form and paragraphs.

Stories that Raise Issues: Rainforest Stories

Read Wolves in the Walls (Gaiman) and Wolves (Gravett) for features of non-chronological reports. Use adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions of time/cause. Produce reports.

Reports: Wolves

Using captivating mythical stories of selkies and mermaids, children use higher level reading skills and write their own sea myths. Set out and punctuate dialogue and use paragraphs.

Myths and Legends: Legends of the Sea

Cherish rainforests, persuading others to do so too, with Where the Forest Meets the Sea and The Vanishing Rainforest. Expand noun phrases and revise possessive apostrophes.

Persuasive Writing: Save the Rainforests!

Summer blocks.

Immerse yourselves in wonderful stories from Africa. Read Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters , The Pot of Wisdom and African Tales . Write Ananse stories using extended sentences.

Stories on a Theme: Stories From Other Cultures

Explore issues around animals in captivity, reading texts including Zoo by Anthony Browne and Rainbow Bear by Michael Morpurgo. Study adverbials and expanded noun phrases.

Persuasive Writing: Animals in Captivity

Read The Butterfly Lion over the course of several days, using the opportunity to discuss, compare and analyse it. Perform role-play, write dialogue, use adverbials, and finally produce a new chapter for the book.

Fantasy: The Butterfly Lion

Explore recounts using biographies from the civil rights movement: Henry’s Freedom Box and the story of Rosa Parks' life. Use dialogue punctuation, apostrophes and paragraphs.

Reports: Narratives of Liberation

Using David Walliams’ Mr Stink , children read and write humorous stories with funny characters. They practise dialogue punctuation and using expanded noun phrases for impact.

Modern Fiction: Mr Stink by David Walliams

Using the inspirational Great Realisation and a short message broadcast in Lockdown, children explore any positives to come out of lockdown and think about things to remember. They use art, origami and planting sunflowers to cheer us onward.

Wellbeing: Positive Steps and Ways Forward

Two weeks’ work, focussed on key skills, NO printing required – all do-able by children at home with just a screen. Starts with a fun day; all you need if your class is self-isolating.

Local Lockdown: 2 week lockdown pack

Code-Breakers is a synthetic phonics programme that teaches phoneme-to-grapheme correspondences (PGCs) in a systematic, child-friendly fashion.

Many Hamilton units come with interactive Grammar Presentations integrated into the overall teaching and textual context. Alternatively, these presentations can be used as stand-alone whiteboard sessions. Try your year group below.

Group Readers are charmingly illustrated short books written to facilitate reading and comprehension progression from Reception right through to Year 6.

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Activity: Story mountain

Complete the story mountain to plan your story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Activity: Perform a poem

Read a poem, talk about what it means, and perform it to an audience.

5. Find story inspiration

You can find fun story ideas anywhere! Why not raid your kitchen cupboards or hunt through the attic to find lost treasures? Anything from an old hat to a telescope will do the trick. What could the object be used for? Who might be looking for it? What secrets could it hold? Suggest different genres such as mystery or science fiction and discuss how the item might be used in this kind of story.

Real-world facts can also be a great source of inspiration. For example, did you know a jumping flea can accelerate faster than a space rocket taking off into orbit? What crazy story can your child make out of this fact? Newspapers and news websites can be great for finding these sorts of ideas.

For more storytelling ideas, download our free Story idea generator  or our Character profile activity sheet .

Activity: Story idea generator

Activity: Character profile

6. Draw your ideas first

If your child isn’t sure where to start with a story or even a piece of non-fiction, it can sometimes be helpful to sketch out their ideas first. For instance, can they draw a picture of a dastardly villain or a brave hero? How about a scary woodland or an enchanted castle?

Your child might also find it useful to draw maps or diagrams. What are all the different areas of their fantasy landscape called? How is the baddie’s base organised?

Some children might enjoy taking this idea a step further and drawing their own comics. This is great practice – it stretches your child’s creativity, gets them thinking about plot, character, and dialogue, and is a big confidence boost once they’ve finished and have an amazing story to look back on.

What your child will learn

In Year 4 (age 8–9), your child will be aiming to build upon the goals and expectations they were first set in Year 3. They will be expected to:

• Discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar
• Discussing and recording their ideas.
• Composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures
• Organising paragraphs around a theme
• In narratives, creating settings, characters and plot
• In non-narrative material, using simple organisational devices (for example, headings and sub-headings).
• Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements
• Proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences .
• Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors.

Handwriting, spelling, grammar, and punctuation are all important aspects of writing too. You can find out more about them on our dedicated pages:

Handwriting in Year 4 (age 8-9)

Find out more about handwriting in Year 4 at Primary School.

Find out more

Spelling in Year 4 (age 8-9)

Find out more about spelling in Year 4 at Primary School.

Grammar and punctuation in Year 4 (age 8-9)

Find out more about grammar and punctuation in Year 4 at Primary School.

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Literacy based homework ideas

Subject: English

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Worksheet/Activity

Last updated

21 October 2013

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Really good ideas - just what I needed for year 5/6 homework grid. Thank you for saving my shattered brain at the end of this first week back!!!

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Some useful ideas thank you.

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13 Entertaining ESL Homework Ideas to Keep Your Students Engaged

Homework may not be many students’ favorite thing, but research says it’s truly an effective learning tool that teachers should use .

The trick is assigning great homework.

To help you do this with ease, we’ve compiled an awesome list of 13 homework assignments that will have your ESL students begging for more.

1. Read a Short Story

2. share a passion, 3. start a chat group, 4. listen to a podcast, 5. write a letter, 6. write an amazon review, 7. do a wikipedia edit, 8. write a short story or poem, 9. share their culture, 10. catch a movie, 11. meet new people, 12. analyze a song, 13. go on a photo scavenger hunt, what makes homework effective.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Have students read a short story for homework and then ask them to tell the class about the story in the next session.

I would recommend giving students some suggestions on what short stories to read, depending on the level of your students.

Here are some suggestions of short story collections for each level of ESL learner:

• “The Very First Americans” by Cara Ashrose: This collection of short stories features Native American culture and history, written in simple language.
• “Oxford Bookworms Library: Starter Level” This series offers simplified versions of classic stories, such as fairy tales, adventure stories and more.
• “Classic Tales for ESL Students” by L.A. Hill: This collection of classic stories from literature is retold with easier vocabulary and sentence structure.

Intermediate

• “The Best American Short Stories” This series features contemporary short stories from a wide range of American writers, so there’s something for everyone here.
• “Short Stories in English for Intermediate Learners” by Olly Richards: This collection of engaging stories is designed specifically for intermediate ESL students.
• “Roald Dahl: The Collected Short Stories” This delightful collection of quirky and imaginative tales has become a favorite of many of my students.
• “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri: This Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories explores the immigrant experience, something which many ESL students can relate to.
• “Dubliners” by James Joyce: This classic collection of interconnected stories captures the essence of Dublin in 1914. But it still feels modern to many students.
• “Nine Stories” by J.D. Salinger: This classic collection of short stories is a class favorite when I’ve used it.

What do your students really care about? Give them a chance to talk about it in front of the class. 

Have each person choose something they’re passionate about, something they might consider themselves an expert on.

Challenge students to think of a creative way to present five must-know facts about that subject. They might make a movie, create a poster or brochure, write a song or even put on a skit.

Have each person present their creative project to the class, and then give the class five minutes to ask questions of the presenter.

Set certain parameters like students must speak in complete sentences or require that every student ask at least two questions at some point during the presentations.

Students will love sharing about their passions, and they’ll get some great speaking, listening and discourse information in the process, as well as teach the rest of the class some interesting vocabulary.

Ask for class for a volunteer to start a class WhatsApp chat group. They can also decide to use another messaging app like Telegram, Viber, Voxer or any other app that has a group chat function. 

Encourage them to send at least one message and to respond to a couple others for their homework. 

This text group has the added advantage of students being able to make friends with one another, and a place to ask about missed homework assignments on days when they can’t make it to class.

Note that if a student doesn’t want to be included in the chat group, you should have a back up assignment prepared for them.

Listening is one of the ESL student’s most difficult skills to acquire, so listening to a short podcast episode is ideal homework.

You can ask students to write a little about the podcast to turn in to you, or you can ask them to briefly summarize what they heard for the class in the next session.

Here are some suggestions for well done podcasts:

The English We Speak : Produced by the BBC, this podcast focuses on teaching commonly used phrases and idioms in conversational English.

The Moth : A storytelling podcast where real people share their personal experiences and anecdotes in English.

Stuff You Should Know : Though not specifically designed for ESL students, this podcast covers a vast array of interesting topics, providing exposure to diverse vocabulary and subject matters.

Ask your students to write a letter . The letter can be written to a friend or family member (which they could then actually mail or email), or it could be a fan letter to a favorite musician or actor. They could even write a letter to Santa Claus or a historical figure. 

For example, a student might choose to write a letter to Marie Antoinette, asking her what it was like to be the queen of France at such a young age. 

You can also choose to have students write letters to one another. Then the next homework can be writing that letter writer back.

Ask you students to review a product on Amazon (or any other shopping website that has reviews). Ask them to select a product they have really used, so they have a genuine opinion on the quality of the product and whether it lived up to their expectations.

Then, in the next session, show the reviews on the overhead projector to the class and ask a student to read the review.

You can then go over any errors in vocabulary, grammar or sentence structure and revise the review together as a class.

Since anyone can edit a Wikipedia article, it’s a great place for ESL students to hone their writing and editing skills, and they’ll have a built-in readership, too!

Ask students to select a person that they know a lot about—a well-known figure from history, pop culture, music or film would all work. Then ask them to read the Wikipedia entry to see if they can add anything else to the article.

Perhaps the article on Ryan Gosling is missing a key detail about his recent Ken performance. If so, the student will revise and edit the article. They should take notes on what they changed, so they can explain it to you or the class the next day.

Ask your students to get creative. Have them write a short story or a poem . This can get them to use descriptive language that they don’t always have a chance to use.

One good activity to do before you assign this homework is an adjective bubble chart. For this, you start with one adjective. For example, write “moist” on the board, circle it and then draw 4-5 lines coming off of the”moist” bubble.

Ask your students to come up with other adjectives that are related to “moist” and so on. They may come up with “wet,” “watery,” “soaked” or “damp.” Then draw lines from each of those. This can lead to words that you never expected to come up.

Have your students select 3-4 adjectives from this introduction activity that they’ll use in their story or poem.

Ask your students to prepare a short presentation on an aspect of their home culture to tell the class about in the next session. 

For example, a student from China may explain the Lunar New Year, a student from Vietnam may explain Tet or a student from El Salvador may tell the class about their quinceañera .

They can use photos, art, a PowerPoint presentation or they can just explain in their own words.

Then open the class up for questions.

Can you legitimately send students to the movies for homework? You can when you’re teaching ESL.

Your students don’t have to commit to a full-length movie. Instead, you can use the videos on FluentU to screen mini-lessons using clips from TV shows and movies, movie trailers, news segments, vlogs or music videos.

Use these videos in the classroom or assign homework to watch a few and complete the subsequent quizzes. You can also ask students to complete flashcard quizzes based on vocabulary words you want them to pay special attention to. These quizzes are adaptable so every student will have a unique experience catered to his learning level.

There are plenty of ways to use a movie for language development. And whether students watch a new release or catch an old Elvis flick on TV, they can do any of the following activities as homework:

• Summarize the plot.
• Describe a main character.
• Note new or interesting vocabulary (particularly slang) they hear while watching.
• Write an interview with one of the characters in the movie.

I’m sure you also have your favorite movie-related language activities and many work as homework assignments. So get creative with how you have students share about what they watched.

For the most part, people are willing to help someone in need, and that is doubly true for someone who needs to complete an assignment for school.

That’s why sending students out to interview native speakers on campus is such a fun homework assignment.

Start by helping your students write a list of questions they’ll use for their interviews. Students can choose a topic or you can assign one, like leisure activities or celebrity news.

Tell students to list five to ten questions they might ask on that topic that will elicit specific answers. 

As a class, discuss how students might introduce themselves to a potential interviewee. 

Then send students out to their interviews after class. They can share the answers they got in the next session.

Music is great for English learners since it stresses many aspects of language that can otherwise be hard to isolate, like the emotion of language, intonation and stress.

Have students choose their favorite English language song to listen to for homework and then ask them to do the following:

• Practice the lyrics to learn intonation and rhythm.
• Note slang and cultural references in the songs.
• Summarize the theme of the song, or just what it’s about.
• Have students share their favorite lyrics and what a particular song means to them.

Give individual students or groups of up to three students a list of items to find on their homework scavenger hunt. But instead of being specific in your list (for example, including items such as cat), be descriptive in your list.

You might include items such as something frightening, something beautiful, something quiet, something cool.

Students find items they think fit the description. For example, someone who is claustrophobic might choose an elevator for something frightening. They then take a picture of it.

The next day, have each person get with a partner and show them the pictures they took for each item on the list.

If the connection is not obvious, students should ask their partner to explain why they chose a particular item, such as the elevator.

Assigning homework that works isn’t as hard as you might think, especially if you focus on the following points.

• Put your homework in writing. It can be tempting to just announce homework assignments to students at the end of class, but language learners benefit when you reinforce what you say with what they can see. So take a minute to write any homework assignment on the board so students can read it as well as listen to it.
• Let students know what goals you have for a particular assignment. Is it practicing a certain grammar point ? Improving their listening skills ? Pronunciation practice ? When students know why they’re doing something, they’ll be able to tell on their own when they’ve successfully completed their homework assignment.
• Keep your homework practical . Your students may not find themselves planning out a menu for Thanksgiving when they leave your ESL classroom, but odds are they’ll have to order food at a restaurant at some point. Think about realistic ways students will have to use English in the real world and try to make your homework practical.
• Let your students be creative . Give your students choices on how they express themselves or present information. It’s okay for students to make a home movie, put on a one-man play or paint a picture to present to the class. Just because you prefer a particular type of creative expression doesn’t mean your students do, so give them choices and let them express themselves.
• Make homework fun! Every class has its own personality, so what’s fun for one might not be fun for another. Tailor your assignments to the personality of your class. Think about what they would think is fun, and go with that.

No matter what you believed in your student days, homework doesn’t have to be boring. With a little creativity when assigning homework, you might find that the activities you assign for outside of class become the highlights of your students’ days.

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WEEKEND RUNDOWN: Here's the biggest news you missed this weekend

Your last-minute guide to Monday's total solar eclipse

A total solar eclipse will cross North America on Monday , offering millions a rare opportunity to see afternoon skies temporarily darken as the moon blocks the face of the sun.

Tune into NBC News NOW as Lester Holt hosts a two-hour special at 2 p.m. ET Monday from Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The eclipse's path fortuitously cuts across Mexico, 15 U.S. states and a small part of eastern Canada. In all other states in the continental U.S., viewers will be treated to a partial solar eclipse, with the moon appearing to take a bite out of the sun and obscuring part of its light.

Here’s everything you need to know about the rare celestial event.

What is a solar eclipse?

Solar eclipses occur when the sun, moon and Earth align. The moon passes between Earth and sun, temporarily blocking the sun’s light and casting a shadow on Earth.

A total solar eclipse is when the moon fully obscures the sun, whereas a partial solar eclipse means it blocks just a portion of the sun’s face.

Solar eclipses occur only with the new moon. Because the moon’s orbit around Earth is tilted, the three bodies don’t always line up in a way that creates an eclipse.

“Imagine if the moon’s orbit were in the plane of Earth’s orbit around the sun — if that were the case, then every new moon, you’d have a total solar eclipse and every full moon, you’d have a lunar eclipse,” Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, told NBC News. “So, because things don’t always align, it lends to the rarity of the event and the specialness of the event.”

Where and when will the eclipse be visible?

This year’s eclipse will follow a slightly wider path over more populated areas of the continental U.S. than other total solar eclipses have in the recent past.

NASA estimates that 31.6 million people live within what’s known as the path of totality, where the total solar eclipse will be visible. An additional 150 million people live within 200 miles of the path, according to the agency.

The path travels through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Tiny parts of Michigan and Tennessee will also be able to witness totality if conditions are clear.

After the eclipse crosses into Canada, it will pass over southern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton, at the eastern end of Nova Scotia.

Those outside the path of totality can still take part in the astronomical event by viewing a partial solar eclipse — visible throughout all 48 states of the contiguous U.S. — or a NASA livestream.

The timing, including how long totality lasts, depends on the location, but some spots will see the moon fully cover the sun for up to 4 minutes and 28 seconds.

Below is a list of timings for some cities along the path of totality, as  provided by NASA . A number of other resources, including NationalEclipse.com  and  TimeandDate.com , can also help people plan.

• Dallas: Partial eclipse begins at 12:23 p.m. CT and totality at 1:40 p.m.
• Little Rock, Arkansas: Partial eclipse begins at 12:33 p.m. CT and totality at 1:51 p.m.
• Cleveland: Partial eclipse begins at 1:59 p.m. ET and totality at 3:13 p.m.
• Buffalo, New York: Partial eclipse begins at 2:04 p.m. ET and totality at 3:18 p.m.
• Lancaster, New Hampshire: Partial eclipse begins at 2:16 p.m. ET and totality at 3:27 p.m.

How to safely view a solar eclipse

It is never safe to gaze directly at the sun, even when it is partly or mostly covered by the moon. Special eclipse glasses or  pinhole projectors  are required to safely view solar eclipses and prevent eye damage. Failing to take the proper precautions can result in severe eye injury,  according to NASA .

Eclipse glasses are thousands of times darker than normal sunglasses and specially made to enable wearers to look at the sun during these kinds of celestial events.

Sky-watchers should also never view any part of the sun through binoculars, telescopes or camera lenses unless they have specific solar filters attached. Eclipse glasses should not be used with these devices, as they will not provide adequate protection.

However, during the few minutes of totality, when the moon is fully blocking the sun, it is safe to look with the naked eye.

Beware of fake eclipse glasses. On legitimate pairs, the lenses should have a silver appearance on the front and be black on the inside. The manufacturer’s name and address should be clearly labeled, and they should not be torn or punctured. Check, as well, for the ISO logo and the code “IS 12312-2” printed on the inside.

If you don’t have eclipse glasses, you can make a homemade pinhole projector, which lets sunlight in through a small hole, focuses it and projects it onto a piece of paper, wall or other surface to create an image of the sun that is safe to look at. 

All you need is two pieces of white cardboard or plain white paper, aluminum foil and a pin or thumbtack. Cut a 1- to 2-inch square or rectangle out of the center of a piece of white paper or cardboard. Tape aluminum foil over that cut-out shape, then use a pin or thumbtack to poke a tiny hole in the foil.

During the eclipse, place a second piece of white paper or cardboard on the ground as a screen and hold the projector with the foil facing up and your back to the sun. Adjusting how far you hold the projector from the second piece of paper will alter the size of the image on the makeshift screen.

What to look for while viewing the total solar eclipse

For people along the path of totality, there are some fun milestones to keep track of as the total solar eclipse unfolds.

As the eclipse progresses and the sun gets thinner in the sky, it will start to get eerily dark, according to Tyson.

When the last beams of sunlight are about to become obscured, look out for the “diamond ring effect”: The sun’s atmosphere will appear as an illuminated halo, and the last light still visible will look like the diamond of a giant ring.

As the sunlight decreases even further, an effect known as Baily’s beads will be created by the moon’s rugged terrain. Tiny “beads” of light will be visible for only a few seconds around the dark moon, as the last bits of sunlight peer through the moon’s mountains and valleys.

When the moon is fully blocking the sun, it is safe to remove eclipse glasses and look at the total solar eclipse with the naked eye.

Some lucky sky-watchers may even catch a glimpse of a comet .

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks — nicknamed the “ devil comet ” because an eruption last year left it with two distinct trails of gas and ice in the shape of devil horns — is currently visible from the Northern Hemisphere as it swings through the inner solar system.

The comet can be seen in the early evenings by gazing toward the west-northwest horizon. During the eclipse, when skies darken during totality, it may be possible to see the comet near Jupiter, but its visibility will depend on whether it’s in the middle of an outburst and thus brighter than normal.

Most likely, all eyes will be on the alignment of the moon and sun.

“Most people won’t even notice,” Tyson said. “But if you know to look, it’s there.”

When is the next solar eclipse?

The next total solar eclipse will be in 2026, but it will mostly pass over the Arctic Ocean, with some visibility in Greenland, Iceland, Portugal and northern Spain. In 2027, a total solar eclipse will be visible in Spain and a swath of northern Africa.

The next total solar eclipse visible from North America will be in 2033, but only over Alaska. Then in 2044, a total solar eclipse will cross Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, parts of Canada and Greenland.

The next total solar eclipse to cross the continental U.S. coast-to-coast in will occur in 2045. The path of totality for that eclipse will cut through California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Denise Chow is a reporter for NBC News Science focused on general science and climate change.

Lucas Thompson is a content producer for the NBC News Climate Unit.