Grade 7 ESL Reading Activity: Asking for Directions

About This Resource

A two-character dialogue in which a student new to town asks a local for directions to the library, followed by seven comprehension questions that mix literal recall, sequencing, language identification, inference, and a short creative response. Written to model natural direction-giving language in context, using the same town map as the rest of this topic.

Overview

The reading text is a short, realistic dialogue between Nadia, who has just arrived in town, and Somchai, who gives her step-by-step directions to the library. The comprehension section goes beyond simple recall: students sequence four direction steps in the correct order, find and copy a sentence that uses a preposition of place, and explain what a phrase like "you can't miss it" tells them about the library's visibility — closing with an open question that asks students to extend the conversation themselves.

Resource Details

Subject: ESL
Topic: Asking for Directions
Category: Reading
File Type: PDF
File Size: 44.2 KB
Published: 06 Sep 2026
Downloads: 9

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Grade 7 45-55 Minutes Reading Asking for Directions

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to answer literal comprehension questions about a short dialogue.
Students will be able to put a sequence of spoken directions back into the correct order.
Students will be able to identify a sentence in a text that uses a preposition of place.
Students will be able to draw a reasonable inference from a speaker's word choice.

How to Use This Resource

Read the dialogue aloud once as a class with two volunteers taking the parts, then have students reread it in pairs before answering the comprehension questions independently. Questions 1–3 can be checked quickly as a class; question 4 (sequencing) is worth reviewing together since it's easy to make a small ordering mistake; questions 5–7 work well as a short independent or homework task.

Classroom Activity Ideas

In pairs, have one student read Somchai's lines and the other read Nadia's lines aloud from memory (or with the book closed) as a fluency and listening challenge, then switch roles.

Differentiation

SUPPORT: Allow students to underline direction phrases and preposition phrases directly in the dialogue text before starting the questions; read the dialogue aloud a second time before independent work begins; allow question 4 to be completed by matching pictures/numbers on a printed map instead of relying on the text alone.
ON-LEVEL: Complete all seven questions independently after one class reading and one paired reading.
CHALLENGE: For question 7, ask students to write Somchai's likely response to their new question as well, continuing the dialogue for one more exchange.

Assessment

Collect the completed comprehension questions and check against the answer key; question 6 and 7 responses can be assessed more loosely for reasonable reasoning and grammatical accuracy rather than a single fixed answer.

Teacher Tips

Before students read question 4, cover the four steps and ask the class to try to recall the order from memory first — it's a quick way to check whether they were really following the dialogue's sequence of events, not just reading the words.