ESL Exit Tickets: 12 Printable Templates and Answers

By The Kingdom of English · Published 3 October 2026

An exit ticket is a short task at the end of a lesson that helps you decide what to teach next. Choose one of these 12 original checks for teen or adult English learners, allow about three to five minutes, and look at the response before planning the next lesson.

These resources are free to read and print without an account. Choose a ticket that matches what you have taught; a difficult unfamiliar task tells you little about whether that lesson worked.

Download the classroom pack

Use one check, then act on the evidence

  1. Match the objective. If the lesson practised questions with did, use ticket 2. Do not use a general confidence rating as a substitute for seeing a question.
  2. Let learners respond independently. Read instructions aloud or allow another accessible response format when reading or handwriting is not the target skill.
  3. Look for the stated evidence. Each ticket has a goal, model response and next step. Open questions have several acceptable responses.
  4. Follow up. Briefly revisit a shared difficulty, provide another example, or check the same skill in a new context later.

A ticket samples one small task. It is not a placement test, a CEFR level assessment or proof of lasting mastery. If the task was unclear, improve the task before concluding that learners did not understand.

Grammar exit tickets

1. Build a question

Learning goal: Use does with a base verb in a present-simple question.

Your task: Complete the question: Where ___ Lea work? Then write a complete question asking what time she starts.

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: Where does Lea work? What time does she start?

Look for: Does comes before the subject; work and start stay in the base form.

Next step: If a learner writes does she starts, contrast the statement She starts at nine with the question What time does she start? Then try a different verb.

2. Repair a past question

Learning goal: Use the base form after did.

Your task: Correct this question: Did you went to the library yesterday? Explain the change in a few words.

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: Did you go to the library yesterday? Did marks the past, so the next verb is the base form go.

Look for: Both the corrected verb and an explanation of the did + base-verb pattern.

Next step: If the correction is right but the explanation is unclear, ask the learner to make a new question using see. Accept a brief explanation in another shared language.

3. Choose the subject

Learning goal: Replace a noun phrase containing the speaker with we.

Your task: Maya and I are late. ___ missed the bus. Choose We, They or Us. Explain who the word refers to.

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: We missed the bus. We refers to Maya and the speaker.

Look for: We as the subject, rather than object-form us or a pronoun that excludes the speaker.

Next step: If the learner chooses they, compare Maya and I with Maya and Leo before trying another example.

Reading exit tickets

4. Find the changed detail

Learning goal: Locate the revised information in a short notice.

Your task: Read: Friday's workshop starts at 10:00 as planned. Please go to Room 6, not Room 2. Bring a notebook. What has changed? What time should participants arrive for the start?

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: The room has changed to Room 6. The workshop still starts at 10:00.

Look for: Room 6 and the unchanged start time; no invented change of date.

Next step: If learners select Room 2, underline not and ask them to explain what that word changes.

5. Find evidence

Learning goal: Support an interpretation with words from the text.

Your task: Read: Jo packed an umbrella after checking the forecast. The sky was clear when she left. Can we be certain that it was already raining? Give evidence from the text.

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: No. The text says the sky was clear when she left. Packing an umbrella does not prove that rain had started.

Look for: A distinction between what the text states and what the reader assumes.

Next step: If a learner says yes only because of the umbrella, ask them to separate a stated fact from a possible explanation.

6. Read an arrangement

Learning goal: Distinguish an offer from a confirmed agreement.

Your task: Read: I can help at four, but not before. Shall we meet by reception? Has the other person agreed to the meeting yet? Explain using the message.

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: We do not know. The message proposes a meeting; it does not include the other person's reply.

Look for: Recognition that Shall we meet is a suggestion, not evidence that both people have agreed.

Next step: If learners assume agreement, ask them to write a short reply that would confirm it.

Vocabulary exit tickets

7. Borrow or lend?

Learning goal: Choose a verb for receiving something temporarily.

Your task: Complete: Can I ___ your charger for ten minutes? Choose borrow or lend. Who receives the charger if the request is accepted?

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: Can I borrow your charger for ten minutes? The speaker receives it temporarily.

Look for: Borrow describes receiving; lend describes giving something temporarily.

Next step: If the verbs are confused, reverse the viewpoint: Can you lend me your charger? Keep the same people and object.

8. Late or lately?

Learning goal: Distinguish after the expected time from recently.

Your task: Choose late or lately: I have been very busy ___. Replace your chosen word with another word or phrase that keeps the meaning.

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: I have been very busy lately. Recently is a suitable replacement.

Look for: Lately means recently here; late concerns an expected or scheduled time.

Next step: If a learner chooses late, compare I arrived late with I have been busy lately. Ask which sentence needs a schedule.

9. Make a decision

Learning goal: Use a common verb-noun combination in context.

Your task: Choose make or do: We need to ___ a decision today. Add one sentence explaining what the decision could be about.

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: We need to make a decision today. Example: We need to choose a date for our class trip.

Look for: Make a decision plus a plausible second sentence. Many different decisions are possible.

Next step: If the combination is wrong, practise the whole phrase make a decision. If the second sentence is unclear, ask the learner to name two possible choices.

Functional language exit tickets

10. Make a polite request

Learning goal: Make a clear request with wording suited to a shared space.

Your task: You are studying beside someone whose music is too loud. Write one polite sentence asking them to lower the volume.

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: Example: Could you turn the music down a little, please?

Look for: The listener can tell what action is requested. Could you, Would you mind and other appropriate forms are possible; do not require the model sentence.

Next step: If the request is too vague, ask what the listener should do. If it sounds abrupt, compare two phrasings in the same setting.

11. Ask for clarification

Learning goal: Ask a question that resolves a missing detail.

Your task: A classmate says, Please bring it tomorrow. You do not know what it means. Write a question that asks for the missing information.

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: Example: What would you like me to bring tomorrow?

Look for: A question about the object, not just an apology or an unrelated question about time.

Next step: If the response is only Sorry?, accept it as a general repair request, then ask for a more specific question about what to bring.

12. Suggest another time

Learning goal: Decline an arrangement and offer a clear alternative.

Your task: A partner suggests meeting at 3:00. You have a class then but are free at 4:00. Write a short reply with your reason and an alternative.

Model response and teaching notes

Model response: Example: I have a class at three. Could we meet at four instead?

Look for: The reply explains the problem and offers 4:00. Accept different appropriate wording.

Next step: If the learner only says no, ask them to add an available time. If the meaning is clear, choose only one language point for later feedback.

Choose the next step without turning everything into a grade

For example, a learner writes Did you went? on ticket 2. You model Did you go?, ask for a new question with see, and check that new response. A learner who gives a clear polite request on ticket 10 needs a different next step: try the request in another relationship or setting. The response determines the follow-up.

Connect the check to useful practice

Question errors can lead to the auxiliary verb chart and practice or the WH-question worksheet. For polite requests and changes of tone, use the register activity.

If you already use The Kingdom of English, the assignment guide explains how to set follow-up practice and review completion. These printable tickets are teacher-reviewed activities; downloading them does not import them into the platform or score them automatically.

Common classroom questions

Should every learner complete all twelve tickets?

No. Choose one that fits the lesson, or offer a second task when you need more evidence. The pack covers different goals; it is not a twelve-question test.

Do I have to collect names?

Use your normal classroom practice. A name or agreed code can help you follow up individually; anonymous responses can reveal a shared difficulty. Keep only what you need for that purpose.

What if an answer differs from the model?

Check the learning goal and the “look for” note. In open tasks, a different sentence may do the job just as well. Do not mark a valid response wrong simply because it is not the example.

Source and reuse

The British Council TeachingEnglish assessment handout describes designing exit tickets around a lesson's learning outcomes. The twelve prompts, model responses and teacher notes here are original materials by The Kingdom of English.

You may print or copy these materials for your own teaching and personal study. Keep the source credit on copies. For redistribution as a published pack or commercial resale, contact us.