Tiger tesl

Conversation topics and questions for adult ESL Lessons

2010-08-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

I am currently working as a TEFL teacher in South Korea and have been slowly amassing a list of conversation lesson topics and questions that I have found invaluable. These are excellent for both classroom and one to one private lessons.

Click the links on the left or use the letters below for a list of Conversation topics and questions for adult and young adult ESL lessons.
Alternatively use the links below to explore other areas of the site or the search box in the top left hand corner to find something specific.

If you have any suggestions for questions please submit them using the comments box below.

You can also contact me at Tigertesl@gmail.com

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Articles:

Why use Games in the ESL classroom? + Six excellent games.

Teaching Young Adult Literature in Advanced ESL Classes

ESL Games:

Hundreds of simple and effective games and activities for use in the ESL classroom.

Quiz Questions:

Easy (lower intermediate)
Medium (intermediate)
Hard (advanced)

These can be found listed by category here

Korean - English ESL quiz questions online

Commonly-used Abbreviations

CALL = Computer Assisted Language Learning
EFL = English as a Foreign Language (Studying English in non-English-speaking countries)
ELT = English Language Teaching (or sometimes Training)
ESL = English as a Second Language (Studying English as a non-native speaker in a country where English is spoken. Depending on where you are from, the term ESL may be more inclusive and includes EFL. For some people the reverse seems to be true.)
ESOL = English to Speakers of Other Languages (Note: ESL and EFL are often used interchangeably. This acronym is an attempt to make a generic term and then assign more limited meanings to ESL and EFL.)
L1 = "Language 1" = the student's native (primary or first acquired) language.
L2 = "Language 2" = the language being learned or studied
TEFL = Teaching English as a Foreign Language
TESL = Teaching English as a Second Language
TESOL = Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (It is also the name of an association, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.)
TOEFL = Test of English as a Foreign Language
TOEIC = Test of English for International Communication

Useful links

ESL QUIZ QUESTIONS - A huge collection of quiz and trivia questions for use when teaching TEFL / ESL. Arranged by category and difficulty

TEFLPEDIA - The wikipedia of Teaching English as a second Language.

ESL TEFL TESL TESOL Conversation and Discussion Questions on Swine Flu H5N1

2010-06-01T11:31:00.000-07:00

In your country, is the current pandemic called "swine flu" or "H1N1"?
What (if anything) do you think you can personally do to reduce your chance of being infected in the current pandemic?
What do you think you should do if you get an infection? Should you go to work (or school) or not?
How would you react if a colleague came in to work who seemed to be infected?
What (if anything) do you think the government should or could do to reduce people's chance of infection?
What difference (if any) do you think that closing borders would make?
How many food scares/health scares can you think of over the last few years? Which ones turned out to be serious?
Are you buying any medicines in case a pandemic strikes?
Do you think that wearing a mask makes much difference to your contracting an infection or does it just give psychological support?
How much difference do you think that washing your hands would make?
The most recent pandemic seems to have started in pigs. Would not eating pork make you safer?

Predictions

What is the present swine flu situation in your country?
Do you think you will experience a deadly pandemic or do you think there is a lot of exaggeration?
Which of the following do you think is most likely to happen within the next fifteen years?
- An earthquake in Los Angeles.
- An asteroid strike.
- A deadly pandemic.

Consequences

Did people travel less to Asia because of the bird flu and SARS scares? How long did the scares last?
How would you feel about travelling to a country with a significant outbreak?
In what ways do you think a pandemic would effect the world's financial systems?
Which business do you think would be helped by a pandemic and which business would be damaged?

Vaccination

Do you think that vaccinations are useful or dangerous?
Can you explain how vaccinations work?
Do you usually receive a vaccination for flu in the winter? How is the vaccination given to you?
Are you going to receive a swine flu vaccination?
How much would you be prepared to pay for a vaccination?
Often vaccines are developed by governments and not drugs companies. Why do you think this is?
Is it moral for companies to make big profits by selling life-saving drugs? Would they develop them if they couldn’t make big profits?
What is the difference between an antibody and an antibiotic? Will they both have an effect on the flu virus?

Vaccine rejection

While the only to be sure that you won't get swine flu is to have a vaccination, some people don't like the idea of being vaccinated. All the following statements can be found on the web. Rate them as: (a) I believe this very sensible statement. (b) There could possibly be some truth in this though it seems improbable. (c) This is absurd.

Although the WHO has distributed the vaccine to the whole world it has not been properly tested and could kill people.
Eating vitamin D and garlic and avoiding sugar will be more effective than the vaccine.
Only the weak need vaccines so I'm not having one.
If you only eat organic food then you will be safe.
Vaccine companies will make money out of the vaccine so I'm not going to take it even though my government has already paid for it.
The vaccine is toxic, and it's a plot by the UN who want to reduce the world's population.

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Swine Flu H5N1for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TESL TESOL TEFL Conversation Discussion Questions - Standardised exams

2010-06-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Do you have standardised exams for students in your country?
Have you taken a standardised exam?
Do you think they are useful?
Do you think they are fair?
Do you think they are a good assessment for how well a student is learning?
Should there be exams or tests at all?
Which is more important to you?
- Results from a standardised exam.
- Results from teachers' evaluation.
Do you know of students who are currently studying for exams?
How do they feel about the exam?
Should exams be so important that they can determine a student's future?
If exams are no longer used, what do you think should be used?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Standardised Exams for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

S

2010-05-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Saint Patrick's Day
School
School Life
Science and Technology
Science Fiction
Seasons
Service charges
Seven Wonders of the World
Shopping
Silly questions
Single Life
Sleep
South Korea
Sports
Standardised Exams
Stock Markets
Stress
Super-heros
Supernatural
Sustainable Development
Swine Flu

ESL TEFL TESOL TESL Conversation Questions - Generation Gap

2010-05-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

What is a generation gap?
Have you ever felt a generation gap with your friends?
How do you over come the generation gap?
When do you feel the generation gap the most?
Is it possible to overcome a generation gap?
At what point in life does the generation gap seem to be the largest?
Do you think you can be a better parent than your own parents in future?
Do you think it is OK to date or marry someone of a different gereration to yourself, either older or younger?
Some people think it is OK to marry a much older man but not a much older woman? Do you agree?
How would you feel if your father was a generation older than your mother? Do you know a family where this is the case?
What could be some problems with a partnership or marriage of different generations?
Do you think your generation's fight is similar to your parents generation's fight.
What do you think are some of the advantages or disadvangtages of another generation?
When did you first become an adult in your mind?
What roll does music play in generation gaps?

Back Home

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ESL questions and discussion topics on Generation Gap at home for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL TESOL TESL Teachin English Questions and Conversations - Single Life

2010-04-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Why do you think some people remain single?
Would you like to be single all your life?
Is it better to be single or married? Why?
What are the advantages of being single?
Do you think that single people are happier?
Do you think it is easier for man or woman to be single?
Why did you think some people prefer to be single?
How do you think single people feel on Valentine's Day?
Do you think that there is a soulmate somewhere for everyone?
Do you think that single people like being single?
In your country, what do people think about a woman in her 30s who is unmarried?
In your country, what do people think about a man in his 30s who is unmarried?
In your country, do single people of opposite sex ever live together as roommates, not as boyfriend/girlfriend?
Do you think it is fair that in some countries married people get tax benefits and single people don't?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on United Nations for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TESL TEFL EFL TESOL Conversation Topics and Questions - Credit Crunch, International Finacial Crisis

2010-03-23T02:31:00.000-07:00

Who do you think is most responsible for the credit crunch?

The banks

George Bush

Alan Greenspan

Somebody else

Do you think that some companies should be "bailed out" (given money) by governments? Under what circumstances should this happen?

Some companies are called "too big to fail." What do you understand by this?

Some say that if a company is "too big to fail" it is also "too big to exist", and should be broken up into smaller units. What is your opinion?

One of the main reasons for the existing crisis is the fact that cheap money was pumped into the economy. Governments have responded by reducing interest rates even further and by trying to persuade banks to lend more money. What is your opinion of this policy?

Governments have invented ways of simply creating money to fight the crisis and increase the quantity of money in the system. What do you think the consequences of this will be?

Instead of the well-known problem of inflation (where prices increase), during the crisis some countries faced deflation (where prices fall). Why should falling prices be a problem?

House prices are now falling in many parts of the world. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

Is it the governments obligation to try to maintain full employment in their countries?

Which problem should governments be most concerned about - unemployment or inflation? What actions can they take to control these two problems?

Stock markets have performed very badly during the crisis. What difference, if any, do you think that makes to average people?

ESL questions and discussion topics on Credit Crunch International Financial Crisis for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more about the Credit Crunch, International Finacial Crisis.

ESL TEFL TESL Conversation questions and discussion topics - Politics

2010-03-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Who is the current leader of your country?

What are the strongest political parties in your country?
Do you believe in democracy?

Did you vote in the last election?
How often do you have elections in your country?

What are your views on communism?
Are there any women politicians in your country?

What is the average age of politicians in your country?
Where are your houses of parliament?

Are women allowed to vote in your country?
How old do you have be to vote in your country?

What do you think about politicians?
Who did you vote for in the last election?

What makes a good leader?

Who is your favourite past government official?

Would you like to have so much responsibility as a politician?
Do you think the current official is popular with the people? Why/why not?

What would you do if you could run the country for a day/week/month/year/term of office?
What qualities do you think are most important for a leading government official?

Why do you think it's important to vote?
At what age do you think people should be able to vote?

Should voting be compulsory?
Who should be allowed to vote?

T

2010-01-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

Technology
Terror
Terrorism
Thanksgiving
Things that annoy you
Tipping
Transplants
Transportation
Trauma
Travel
Tsunami

ESL TEFL TESL Conversation questions and discussion topics - Paris

2009-04-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

Which country is Paris in?

What famous monuments are there in Paris?

What is Paris famous for?

What language do most people in Paris speak?

What famous people are from Paris?

How far is Paris from here?

How long would it take to get there?

Have you ever been to Paris?

Would you like to go to Paris?

What is the famous river called that runs through Paris?

ESL TEFL TESL Conversation questions and discussion topics - New York

2009-04-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

What images spring to mind when you hear ‘New York’?

What are the good things and bad things about New York?

What is New York famous for?

What do you know about New York’s history?

What images of New York do you have that are exciting?

What do you think about New York?

Why is New York described as a world city?

Would you like to visit New York, or live there?

What do you think of New Yorkers?

What adjectives would you use to describe New York and why?

How different is New York from other American cities?

What would you do if you could spend one day in New York?

What movies do you know that are set in New York?

What do you think New York will be like 50 years from now?

What do you know or remember about 9/11?

What do you think about New York’s nickname, the ‘Big Apple’?

What is your idea of a typical New Yorker?

What things about New York do you think New Yorkers are proud of?

What news stories do you know of that are about New York?

What would you like to ask a New Yorker about New York?

EFL ESL TEFL TESL Conversation questions topics - London

2009-04-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘London’?

Do you think London is the greatest city in the world?

What are your favourite images of London?

What do you know about life in London?

What is your image of Londoners?

Would you like to live in London?

What things can tourists do in London?

What do you think of the different London accents?

Do you think the 2012 London Olympics will be good?

What do you know about the London Underground?

Do you think London is a good place for shopping?

How tolerant and cosmopolitan do you think London is?

What do you think of London weather?

Do you think London is a cheap or expensive city?

Is London a dangerous place to visit?

What do you know about the history of London?

What do you think London will be like fifty years from now?

Do you think London is a good place to eat?

Did London Bridge really fall down?

Is London the best place to live in the UK?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on London for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Harry Potter

2009-04-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

Do you like the Harry Potter series?

Do you think the Harry Potter series is a literary classic?

Have you read any of the Harry Potter books in English?

Are you surprised that the Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is the highest-earning novelist in history?

What would you do if you were a witch or wizard?

Religious groups say the Harry Potter books are dangerous as they promote witchcraft among children. What do you think of this?

Do you think J.K. Rowling should write an eighth Potter book?

Why do you think the Harry Potter books are so popular?

What do you know about the author of Harry Potter?

Which is better, the Harry potter books or the movies?

Have you ever been caught up in Pottermania?

Did you buy the Harry Potter books the day they went on sale?

Who is your favourite Harry Potter character?

What is the best book?

Would you like to study at Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?

Have you ever bought any Potter merchandise?

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, "I think JK Rowling has done more for literacy around the world than any single human being." What do you think of this?

What impact has Potter made in your country?

The Harry Potter books took 17 years to write. Can you imagine spending so long on a creative project?

What questions would you like to ask J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter creator?

ESL questions and discussion topics on Harry Potter for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - United Nations

2009-04-04T05:26:00.000-07:00

What comes to mind when you hear the words ‘United Nations’?

Are the nations united?

Does the United Nations work?

Does your country respect the United Nations and follow all of its decisions and resolutions?

What should happen to countries that ignore UN decisions and resolutions?

What is the alternative to the United Nations?

What are the good things and bad things about the United Nations?

What makes you angry about the United Nations?

How has the United Nations changed the world?

Former General Secretary Kofi Annan said: "More than ever before in human history, we share a common destiny. We can master it only if we face it together. And that, my friends, is why we have the United Nations." Do you think all nations will master this common destiny?

How has the United Nations changed the world?

Do the big nations have too much power in the United Nations?

Would you like to work for the United Nations?

Is the Secretary General of the United Nations the world’s most powerful and important person?
In which countries should the United Nations do more right now?

Do you think the headquarters of the UN should be in New York?

What do you know about the different parts of the UN?

Is the United Nations the world’s most international organization?

Would you like to be the next UN Secretary General?

The 33rd US President Harry Truman said: "The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members." Do you think these will come one day?
Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on United Nations for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - India

2009-04-02T10:59:00.000-07:00

Adult ESL conversation questions and topics relating to India

On which continent is India?

Roughly what is the population of India?

What is India famous for?

Have you heard of the brain drain effect? What effect do you think this has on India?

What are some of the most widely spoken languages in India?

What are some of the major religions in India?

What famous Indian people can you name?

Would you like to Visit or live in India?

Do you know of any Indian products or companies?

- What do you think of these?

Can you think of any famous Indian foods?

Do you enjoy Indian foods?
What images do you conjure up when you think of India?

Does your country have good relations with India?

What cities can you name in India?

Which countries border India?

What do you think of the political situation in India?

What problems has India faced in the past?

Back Home

ESL questions and discussion topics on India for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Volunteer work

2009-04-02T03:39:00.000-07:00

What is a volunteer project?

Why do people volunteer?

Would you like to work as a volunteer?

Is volunteering worth the time it takes?

Why would you enjoy volunteering?

Do you know anyone who has done volunteer work?

Where and why did they volunteer?

Could you and would you like to work as a volunteer in the same way?

What could you do to help if you had no money?

What is volunteer work?

What is your definition of "volunteer work"?

What is the dictionary definition of "volunteer"?

Have you ever benefitted by someone's volunteer work?

What is volunteer screening?

Have you ever done any volunteer work?

What organizations do volunteer work?

What kind of work do they do?

What situations need volunteer workers?

Can you think of different types of volunteer work?

Can you think of examples of professional and amateur volunteering?

Have you and your family ever worked on a volunteer project together?

What did you do?

What are volunteer activities that people do?

Can you think of ways to help people who need help?

Have you ever done any volunteer work?

Did you do it alone, with friends or with your family?

Did you make new friends while you were doing the work?

Have you ever volunteered to help victims of natural disasters? Why?

Would you volunteer to help people outside your community?

Would you volunteer to help people outside your country?

Have you ever volunteered to help victims of natural disasters? Why or why not?

What are some organizations through which you can volunteer?

Why benefits do you get personally by volunteering?

How did you feel about volunteering before you started work?

How did you feel during the work?

How did you feel after you had finished the work?

What are some organizations through which you can volunteer?

What kind of work did they do?

What are some websites maintained by volunteer organizations?

Have you read a book about volunteer work?

Can you list some reasons why people volunteer?

How can volunteers benefit from their work?

Why would you enjoy certain types of volunteer work?

What types of volunteer work would be unpleasant for you?

What benefits other than personal satisfaction could you personally get by volunteering?

Is volunteering worth the cost to you?

In what situations and at what times in your life could you afford to volunteer?

Do you know anyone who has done volunteer work?

Where did they work and why did they volunteer?

Is there a history of volunteerism in your country?

Can you find information about volunteering in your country and two other countries?

Can a volunteer be treated the same as paid staff?

Should you volunteer if your main reason is to benefit monetarily or materialistically? (ie. Getting first pick at donated merchandise. Underpricing merchandise for your friends or family.)

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Volunteer Work, Volunteering for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TESL TEFL Conversation Questions - Traffic Accidents

2009-04-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a road traffic accident?
Have you been involved in a road traffic accident?
Do you know someone who has been involved in a road traffic accident?
Have you been injured in a road traffic accident?
Do you think talking on cell phones can be resonsible for road traffic accidents?
Do you think a motorcycle rider be required to wear a helmet?
Do you think a person should be required to wear a seat belt?
What kind of insurance do you have on your car?
Have you ever hit an animal at night when you were driving your car?
What kind of safety features in a car would help you if you had a road traffic accident?
Are traffic accidents a major cause of death in your country?
Who dies in traffic accidents more? (young, old, etc.?)
How can traffic accidents be prevented?
What are people not doing that they should to prevent deaths in road traffic accidents?
What are *you* not doing that you should to prevent deaths in road traffic accidents?
What should be done in order to reduce or prevent traffic congestion in your city?
How do you feel about spending time in rush hours?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Road Traffic Accidents for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Trauma

2009-04-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

How can you help someone who has suffered if you are not a professional counsellor?

When should we seek professional counseling help?

Can trauma be mental and physical?

Do you think disasters can help build a community?

What are some ways of helping people who are suffering from PTSD?

What is the biggest disaster that has ever struck your country?

Do you know anyone who's ever been in a disaster?

What is the most stressful or traumatizing situation you've ever been in?

What is Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome?

o What causes it?
o What are the symptoms?
o What are some situations that cause PTSD?
o What are some ways of dealing with it?

Have you ever been in a traumatic situation?

o How can you avoid it?
o Why is it difficult to deal with?
o Why is it important to deal with it?
o How does it affect your lifestyle?
o How does it affect the lifestyle of those around you?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Trauma for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

TEFL ESL TESL Conversation questions discussion topics - Evolution

2009-04-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

Do you think that evolution is "just a theory"?

What does the word "theory" mean to a scientist? That is when scientists talk about "the theory of relativity", "the theory of gravity" or the "theory of evolution".

What does the word "hypothesis" mean to a scientist?

Many schools in the USA teach creationism – the idea that God put humans on Earth as we are today. What do you think of this?

What do you understand by the term ‘natural selection’?

What do you think of the term ‘survival of the fittest’? Is it the best description of evolution?

If an animal survives, but doesn't reproduce, is it helping the evolution of the species?

Does evolution always produce animals which are "better"? What about cave-living fish which lose their eyes? Or island-living birds which lose the ability to fly?

Did we evolve from monkeys, did monkeys evolve from humans or did we both evolve from something else?

Why have humans we evolved into different looks and colours?

Should we attempt to clone Neanderthals?

If Neanderthals had survived to this day how do you think out species - Homo sapiens - would treat them?

Are humans in any way “special”? How exactly?

Is humanity the pinnacle of evolution? In other words are we the "best evolved" species - the objective of the evolutionary process?

If intelligence is so useful why are we the only species to have evolved it?

Are we still evolving or does science and technology do it for us?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Evolution for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL EFL TEFL Conversation questions - Meditation

2009-04-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘meditation’?

Have you ever tried to meditate?

Would you like to go to meditation classes?

Do you feel jealous of people who can find peace through meditation?

Why or how do you think meditation works?

Do you know anyone who meditates?

What benefits do you think meditation brings?

Do you think everyone should try and meditate for twenty minutes each day?

Do you think Asian people are better at meditating than people from other continents?

What do you think of people who meditate?

What is meditation?

Do you think meditation is a part of all religions?

What do you think people think about during meditation?

Do you think meditation helps you live longer?

Do you think people need lessons to be able to meditate?

Is meditation more for men or women?

How is meditation different from other relaxation techniques?

What’s the best time of the day and the best place to meditate?

Do you think there are any dangers to meditation?

How do you think meditation was first discovered?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Meditation for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Favorites (Favourites)

2009-04-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

What is your favorite animal?

What is your favorite city in the United States?

What is your favorite color?

What is your favorite country? And why?

What is your favorite day of the week? Why?

What is your favorite drink in the summer?

What is your favorite food?

What is your favorite kind of food?

What is your favorite holiday? Why?

What is your favorite kind of book?

What is your favorite kind of ethnic food?

What is your favorite kind of movie?

What is your favorite kind of music?

What is your favorite magazine?

What is your favorite memory of childhood?

What is your favorite movie?

What is your favorite radio station?

What is your favorite season? Why?

What is your favorite sport?

What is your favorite time of day?

What is your favorite TV program?

What is your favorite Web site?

What is your favorite vegetable? Why
fruit, meat, salad dressing, etc.)

What's your favorite smell?

What's your favorite word in English? Why do you like it?

Who is your favorite actor?

Who is your favorite actress?

Who is your favorite athlete?

Who is your favorite baseball player?

Who is your favorite soccer player?

Who is your favorite character from literature?

Who is your favorite musician?

Who is your favorite singer?

Who is your favorite super-hero? Explain why.

What is your best friend's name?

Who was your favorite teacher? Why?
....in high school?
...in junior high school?
...in elementary school?

What was your favorite subject in school?
....in high school?
...in junior high school?
...in elementary school?

Who was your favorite singer when you were younger? How about now?
In place of singer: actor, actress, baseball player, athlete, ...

Note: Many of the above questions can be changed from "What is" to "What was."

ESL questions and discussion topics on Favourites for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL TESL Converstation Questions Topics Adventure

2009-04-01T05:11:00.000-07:00

If you could go back to another time and place, what time and place would you choose and why?

Do you have any tatoos? If so, tell about how you got them. If not, would you ever consider getting a tatoo? Why or why not?

Who's the most adventurous person in your family? Describe what they do.

If you were offered a trip on the space shuttle, would you go? Why or why not?

Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker? If so tell about it.

How much is life an adventure?

Tell about a road trip that you've taken.

Have you ever tried any of the following: bungee jumping, snowboarding, parachuting, hanggliding? If so, tell about it.

When you visit other countries, do you go as a tourist or a traveler?

Tell about an adventure you've had on public transit.

Would you want to climb Mt. Everest? Why or why not?

Have you ever moved to a place far from your family and friends? If so, where did you go and why?

Do you consider yourself an adventurous person? Why or why not?

What's the most exciting thing you've ever done? Tell about it.

How has your idea of adventure changed with age?

Do you think that adreniline is addictive? Why or why not?

What's your favorite adventure story, movie, or book? Tell about it.

What countries (other than your own) would you like to live in? Why?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Adventure for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Stock Markets

2009-04-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘stock market’?

What job do stock markets do?

Would you like to work in a stock market?

What’s the difference between the Dow Jones and the NASDAQ?

Do you think it’s risky to invest in the stock market?

Is the stock market in your country healthy?

What causes stock market crashes?

What do you think when you see pictures of people working inside a stock market?

what are the differences between stocks and shares?

What companies would you like to have shares in?

Did you like reading this article?

What kind of person do you need to be to work on a stock market?

Do you pay any attention to the ups and downs of the stock market?

How important are stock markets to the world economy?

What are the differences between a bull market and a bear market?

What’s happening to the stock markets today?

Would you prefer to work at the New York or London Stock Exchange?

Some people say stock market, others say bourse. Which do you prefer?

What questions would you like to ask a trader on a stock market?

What happens in a stock market crash?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Stock Markets for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Fruits and vegetables

2009-04-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

Do you like to eat fruits? What's your favorite one?

How often do you eat fresh fruit?

In your opinion, what's the most delicious fruit?

Do you like vegetables? What's your favorite one?

Do you think that fruits and vegetables are good for your health? Why or why not?

Are you or would you like to be vegetarian?

How often do you drink fruit juice? What kind of fruit juice do you drink?

Do you like to eat fruit salad?

What kind of vegetables and fruits do you buy at the supermarket?

What the means the saying: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away?"

What are the most common fruits and vegetables in your country?

Can fruits and vegetables help you cure diseases?

Can fruits and vegetables help you lose weight if you are on a diet?

Do you cultivate fruits or vegetables in your garden?

Do you like to use things that have a fruit smell? ( E.g: Perfumes, erasers, etc)

ESL questions and discussion topics on Fruit and Vegetables for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Wishes

2009-03-31T03:43:00.000-07:00

What are three wishes you have for your life?

If you could choose only one of these to come true, which would it be and why?

What would be some positive and negative consequences (results) if each of these wishes came true?

What other wishes do you have for yourself? What wishes do your parents have for you? Are they the same?

What wishes do you have for your country? For your family members? For your classmates? For your roommates?

How have your wishes changed since you were young?

When you were young, how did you answer this questions: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Have you ever had a wish come true? Was it what you always wanted?

Why do we wish for things we don't have?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Wishes for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Tsunami

2009-03-24T03:38:00.000-07:00

Language

What language is this word?

Why is this word used internationally?

What is the difference between a "tsunami" and a "tidal wave"?

What is another word for tsunami?

What is the origin of the word tsunami?

What does it mean?

Assistance

What could your class do to help victims of a tsunami?

How can people help victims of a tsunami?

Have you ever volunteered for a group that helps victims of a natural disasters?

What are some groups or organizations that help the victims of natural disasters?

What outside aid might come in cases of a tsunami emergency?

How might people be educated to understand the dangers of a tsunami?

What methods might be used to help family get back together after a tsunami? To identify corpses?

How might a family prepare for a tsunami emergency?

Should assistance in preparing for disasters such as typhoons have priority over an early warning system for tsunami?

Emergency

Why is a tsunami an emergency?

Why is a tsunami so dangerous?

How should countries respond to natural disasters?

What are some essential things that are needed after a natural disaster?

Is the newspaper (tv) always correct?

Why is it so hard to get accurate information after a tsunami?

Personal

Have you ever experienced a tsunami?

Do you know anyone who has experienced the tsunami disaster?

Do you know someone who has been affected by a tsunami?

Has a tsunami ever hit the area where you live?

Tsunami

What causes a tsunami?

Is there an early warning system for tsunamis in the area you live?

What are some areas of the world that have many tsunamis?

How do you know that a tsunami is going to hit soon?

How fast do tsunamis travel?

Can you surf on a tsunami?

What are you suppose to do when you know a tsunami is coming?

Why does the sea water level go down very low right before a tsunami hits?

What are the immediate health effects of tsunami?

What are the secondary (short term) health effects of tsunami?

What are the long term health effects of tsunami?

When do you know it is safe to return to your home?

What kind of ecological damage do tsunamis cause?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Tsunami for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

F

2009-03-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

Fads and trends
Family
Fashion
Favourites
Fears
Feelings
Films
First lesson
Food
Food and eating
Free time
Freedom
Friends
Fruits and vegetables
Future

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Future

2009-03-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

What does the future hold?

What will the future be like?

Who invented the very first computer?

What is AI?

What is the definition of a 'robot'?

What is robotics?

Where did the word 'robot' come from?

Can robots tie shoes?

Will robots replace humans?

Will robots take our jobs?

How will the development of robots that think change your future?

Imagine the job you wish to hold when you get older - could a robot be programmed to
do that job as well as you?

A film like The Matrix has explored the idea that we might be living in virtual reality. But what evidence is there for or against this hypothesis? And what are its implications?

Do you know ISAAC ASIMOV? What did he do?

Can you think of movies that have robots in them?

Did you enjoy this movie?

Do you think we create a new problem with each invention? Think of examples.

Is there anything that does not yet exist that you would like to see invented? What
is it?

Where do you plan on going to college?

What type of job would you like to do in the future? How do you get that type of job? Will you make much money in that job?

Do you want to get married?

Do you know who you are marrying?

What high school are you going to go to?

How can we preserve the future for the next generation?

How will computers change in the future?

How will cellphones change in the future?

How will transportation develop in future times?

How old will people live to be in the future?

What kind of developments might happen in health care in the future?

Could there be another world war in the future? How can we prevent a world war from
happening?

Where do you plan on going in the future?
Can fortune-tellers predict the future?
Is it possible to know the future?
Where do you hope to travel before you die?
What do you hope to do in your life?
How will technology change?
Do you think life will be more difficult or easier for our grandchildren? In what ways?
How do you think (your country) will change in the future?
How will the United States and the world order change in the future?
How do you think YOU will change in the future?
Do you think the future will be better or worse for your grandchildren?
Do robots go to college?
Would you marry a robot?
Do you think that one day robots will serve as childcare providers?
How would you feel if you child liked the robot better than he/she liked you?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Future for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - War, Combat, Civil War

2009-03-12T03:44:00.000-07:00

Do you want to become a soldier?

Is being a soldier compulsory in your country?

Would you volunteer to become a soldier?

Why does your country have an army?

Which army would you join if you had to?

Will you be a conscientious objector?

Which job would you have in the army?

Is having an army a waste of money in your country?

Which jobs do soldiers do?

Would you fight for another country other than your own?

How can countries prevent conflicts when other nations are not trying to bring peace?

Do you think women should be soldiers?

Is there a special day to honor veterans in your country?

Have you been in the army?

Have you ever lived in a country at war?

What is military service? Is it compulsory in your country?

Do you know of any countries where military service is compulsory?

Do many young people in your country join the army? Why/why not?

Do you know anyone who is in the army or who has been? Tell me about him/her.

What do you think of people whose job is in the army?

Do you think soldiers are well paid?

If you were the partner of a soldier who had just been sent to fight in a war, what
would you include in his luggage?

What things would you like to send your partner in the army?
What do you think soldiers in miss the most?

What do you think soldiers in find the most difficult to get used to?

What do you think is the average age soldiers in the world?

Why do you think people want to become soldiers?

Has anyone in your family ever fought in a war?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on War, Combat, Civil War for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Freedom

2009-03-11T07:16:00.000-07:00

What does the word freedom mean?

What is the translation into your language?

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘freedom’?

Do you think that you have a lot of freedom?

Do people have as much freedom as they would like in your country?

In what ways does your country restrict your freedom?

Was there a time in your life when you had less freedom than you do now?

Is everyone in your country equally free?

Can you think of any times or places when a persons freedom is restricted?Do you think this is fair? Think of examples such as prison.

Do men or women have more freedom in your country?

Can freedom damage a country?

Where in the world do you think is the greatest freedom?

What is freedom?

How important is freedom for you?

What would you be prepared to do for your freedom?

Is working 40 hours a week closer to freedom or slavery?

What does freedom feel like?

Do you agree we must be free to bear arms (have a gun)?

How often do you think about your personal freedom?

What kind of stories do you hear in the news related to freedom or the fight to obtain it?

Do you think many people misunderstand the concept of freedom?

A philosopher by the name of Rousseau once said; “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains". What do you think of this?

ESL questions and discussion topics on Freedom for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.
ESL questions and discussion topics on freedom for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.

ESL TEFL TESL Converstaion Topics Questions on Sleep

2009-02-25T05:44:00.002-08:00

Why do we sleep? Is it to rest our bodies? - but we could do that sitting in a chair!

Do we sleep to rest our minds? - but our unconscious minds keep working!

Is the purpose of sleep to allow us to dream?

Do you have any techniques to help you to get to sleep if you have trouble dropping off?

Do you or any of your family sleepwalk? Is it dangerous to wake people who are
sleepwalking? Do you know anybody who sleeps with their eyes open?

Do “answers” to problems you have been thinking about come to while you are asleep? Can you think of any examples?

How many hours sleep do you normally have? How do you feel if you don't get your expected amount?

A siesta is popular in some countries. Do you take one? What do you think of this custom?

What’s the longest you’ve gone without sleep? Why? How did you feel?

Back Home

ESL questions and discussion topics on Sleep for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Behaviour

2009-02-13T01:41:00.000-08:00

What is good behavior?

What is bad behavior?

What should you do with a child who has very bad behavior?

Should some parent give medicine to their children to calm them down?

What is the right behavior to use in a restaurant? At school? At a party?

Would you teach your child to "hit back" at school if somebody hits them?

Can bad behavior lead to crime?

How should we punish children who commit crimes?

Should parents be held responsible for their children's behavior?

Can you think of a behavior that is 'good' behavior in one culture and a 'bad' behavior in another culture?

Can we teach our children good behavior?

How can we teach our children good behavior?

How do children acquire good behavior?

What would you do if your child behaves badly in public?

What would you do if you saw somebody else's child behaving badly in public?

Would you spank your child for bad behavior?

What would you do if you saw somebody spanking their child for bad behavior?

What behavior is not acceptable among friends?

How should movie stars behave in public?

Should you always be on your best behavior?

Is it OK to show negative types of behavior when you are angry?

What behaviors make you feel good?

What behaviors make you feel angry?

What behaviors are expected from children towards their parents?

What behaviors are expected from university and college students?

Is it acceptable for parents to spank their children?

Should corporal punishment be illegal?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Behaviour for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL TESL Conversation questions & topics - Super-heros

2009-01-31T05:39:00.000-08:00

Who would win a fight Batman or Superman?

Which super-hero is most like you?

What qualities do you need to be a super-hero?

Who is the the most popular super-hero in your country?

What super-hero should have a movie made about him/her?

Who is the most popular comic book hero in your country?

What real life person could be a super-hero?

If you could make your own super-hero what would his or her name be?

What would his superpower be?

Do we need more super-heroes?

If you could have one superpower what would it be?

What is the best superpower to have?

What are some complaints that some parents have about comic books?

Why do people like to read comic books?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Super Heros for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

TEFL TESL ESL Questions & Conversation Topics on Vegetarianism, Vegitarian, Vegans

2009-01-25T05:26:00.002-08:00

Which of these people would you say is a vegetarian?

Somebody who only occasionally eats red meat - Sheep, beef, deer etc.

Somebody who eats no red meat, but who does eat chicken, fish and drink milk.

Somebody who eats no red meat or chicken, but who does eat fish and drink milk.

Somebody who eats no red meat, chicken or fish, but who does drink milk.

Somebody who eats no red meat, chicken, or fish and drinks no milk.

These are some of the reasons people give for being vegetarian. Do you agree or disagree with them?

Moral.Keeping animals in captivity is inherently cruel and killing them is pretty obviously unpleasant for the animal. Therefore we should not do it.

Religious. Some people belong to religion which do not allow them to eat meat.

Environmental. It takes a vastly greater input of water, fertiliser and energy to produce a kilo of meat than it does to produce a kilo of vegetables. So some people are vegetarian becasue they want to save the environment.

Health. In most western countries people eat far too much meat.

Are you a vegetarian? Do you know many vegetarians? Do you think that vegetarians are more or less healthy than the average person?

Back Home

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Vegetarianism Veganism for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL TESL Conversation Questions Discussion Topics - Global Warming and Climate Change

2009-01-25T02:41:00.000-08:00

What is Global Warming?

What are some of the things that can lead to Global Warming?

Do you think that there is sufficient education to tackle the problem of Global Warming?

What effect is Global warming currently having on the worlds ecosystems?

What effects do you think Global warming will have in the future on both Humans and Animals?

Do you think it is true that human actions are fully responsible for global warming?

How can recycling slow the rate of Global Warming?

Is it fair for developed countries to tell developing countries that they should not create and use heavy industry, as the developed countries did to get to where they are now during the industrial revolution?

Are there any long-term climate changes apparent in your country?

What actions is your government taking to address the problem?

Have you heard of the "Greenhouse Effect"? What is it and how does the process work?

What actions could we personally take as individuals to improve the situation?

Are you taking any personal actions to affect the problem?

There are three gasses mainly responsible for global warming. Carbon dioxide, water vapour and methane. Methane is a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. A lot of methane is generated by rearing animals for meat. Should we all eat less meat?
What is the difference between the greenhouse effect and the hole in the ozone layer?

Nuclear power produces much less carbon dioxide then burning coal. Is increasing nuclear power a good way to slow the rate of global warming? Why, why not?

If cars and industry produce the greatest amount of carbon dioxide, is it good news when the price of oil goes up?

What is the Kyoto agreement?

What is your opinion of the Kyoto agreement?

Should governments tax fossil fuels more than they currently do so as to reduce demand for them?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Global Warming and Climate Change for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Comics

2009-01-13T01:44:00.000-08:00

Do you like comics?

Do you like American comic books?

Do you like comics from other countries?

Do you like fantasy comics?

Do you like funny comics?

Do you like realistic comics?

What do you like about comics?

What comics do you like?

What comics do you love?

What comics do you hate?

Do you play any video games based on comic books?

Have you read any anime?

What is manga?

what are some of the characteristics of manga?

Have you read any Japanese manga?

Have you read any comics in English?

How are comics different from one country to another?

How are comic books different in this country from those in your country?

How have comics changed over time?

How many comics do you read a week?

How much time do you spend reading comics?

How often do you read comics?

How often do you read comics in English?

Should comics have a rating system like the movies (G, PG, R)?

What comics have you read in English?

What can you learn from comics?

What is more important to you, the story or the pictures?

What is the best comic book you've ever read?

What type of comic appeals to girls?

What types appeal to boys?

What types appeal to adults?

What was the last comic book you read?

Can you remember the first comic book you read?

Where do you usually read comic books?

Who do you think reads comic books?

Do you think boys read more comic books than girls?

Why do you think more ___ (boys) read comics than ___ (girls)?

Do you think people in this country read more comic books than in your country?

Who has better comics DC or Marvel? (Or ask about two other comic book publishers.)

Why are comics so popular?

Why do people like to read comics?

Why do you think Hollywood makes so many movies from comic books?

Why don't more people read comic books?

Are comic books better than (regular) books?

At what age is a person too old to read comics?

Do violent comics make people think more about violence?

Cost

About how much do you spend on comics in a month?

How much do you spend on comic books?

How much should a comic book cost?

Is collecting comics a good investment?

Who is the worst comic book character?

When you read comics, who is more interesting the hero or the villain?

Who is your favorite villain?

Who would your arch enemy be?

Super-heroes

Who would win a fight Batman or Superman?

Which super-hero is most like you?

What qualities do you need to be a super-hero?

Who is the the most popular super-hero in your country?

What super-hero should have a movie made about him/her?

Who is the most popular comic book hero in your country?

What real life person could be a super-hero?

If you could make your own super-hero what would his or her name be?

What would his superpower be?

Do we need more super-heroes?

If you could have one superpower what would it be?

What is the best superpower to have?

What are some complaints that some parents have about comic books?

Why do people like to read comic books?

ESL questions and discussion topics on Comics for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Adoption

2009-01-13T01:39:00.000-08:00

What is adoption?

Do you know anyone who was adopted as a child?

Do you know anyone who has adopted a child?

What are some of the reasons people choose to adopt?

What is the difference between domestic and international adoption?

What are the views of adoption in your country?

How would someone interested in adopting a child go about doing so?

Where do children available for adoption come from?

What happens to children that are not adopted?

How do you go about adopting a child?

Would you want to adopt a boy or a girl? Why?

Do you think brothers and sisters should be separated in adoptions?

Are adoptions common in your country?

What are some organizations that help with adoptions?

Should you tell the child that he or she was adopted? If so at what age? Or when?

Should adopted children have the right to know their biological parents?

Should families with birth children also adopt?

Is the real parent the birth parent or the adoptive parent?

Should adoptions be between children and families of the same race and or culture?

How or should the adoptive parents maintain the adopted child's cultural identify?

In your country are the legal rights of an adoptive child different from that of a birth child?

What are the legal consequences of adopting a child from a different race or country?

Why don't more people adopt a child?

What makes a family, genetics or environment?

Do you support an open adoption policy where the birth parents can choose to be involved in the child's life?

Do you believe there is discrimination within the adoption organizations?

Do you think a person should be able to adopt a child of a different race?

Should a gay or lesbian couple be allowed to adopt a child?

Should there be an age restriction for the adoptive parents?

Should a single man or woman be able to adopt a child?

If you were to find out that you were adopted and not really from the country where you are a citizen, which nationality would you hope would be your true mother country? Why?

When is the right time for a child to be told that he/she was adopted?

Do you think it is preferable to adopt or to use artificial reproduction technology?

Would you agree to an open adoption or closed adoption? Why?

What is an open adoption?

Would you want to find your birth family? Why or why not?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Adoption for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

Fads and Trends ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions

2009-01-11T03:33:00.000-08:00

What is a fad?

Do you pay attention to fads?

What were some fads when you were in high school?

What were some fads when you were in college?

What are some fads now?

Are fads the same as popular culture?

What are some of the fads in your home country? Are they the same as where you are living now?

Why do you think people pay attention to fads?

What fad influence your life the most?

What portion of the general population do you think creates or follows fads?

How do fads start and who starts them? Today? In the past?

What media influences how fads evolve?

If you wanted to start a trend, how would you go about it?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on Fads and trends for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Basketball

2009-01-11T03:29:00.000-08:00

Are you interested in basketball?

How many players are on a basketball team?

What are the positions on a basketball team?

How long is a basketball game?

Who is your favorite basketball player?

Why are basketball player usually tall?

Can short people be good basketball players?

Have you ever played basketball? How was it?

Do you follow professional basketball?

Have you ever been to a professional basketball game?

Are there any basketball players from your country in the NBA?

ESL questions and discussion topics on Basketball for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

TEFL ESL TESL Conversation topics questions and discussion - GM Genetically Modified Food

2009-01-09T02:59:00.000-08:00

What advantages does Genetic Modification have?

What disadvantages does it have?

Would could happen in years to come in a "worse case senario"?

Will there always be enough food for all of the people in the world? How could GM food help lessen this problem?

What does Genetic Modification mean?

Do you know how it is done?

Is there much (or any) debate in your country about GM food? What are the arguments for and against?

Have you also heard of genetically modified animals or insects? What reasons could scientists have for genetically modifying them?

Does GM experimentation represent interference with the "balance of nature"?

Is it “unnatural”? Are all “unnatural” things bad?

Some GM traits can also be produced by conventional crop breeding. In such a case is the GM crop bad and the conventional one good?

Back Home
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ESL questions and discussion topics on GM Foods Genetically Modified Food for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Home Schooling

2008-12-29T16:34:00.000-08:00

Do you think home schooling is a good idea?

What are the advantages of hone schooling?

What kind of children benefit from home schooling?

Would you have preferred home schooling or going to school?

Do you think home schooling hinders a child’s development?

Do children who are home schooled get the social skills they need?

How do parents get all the materials they need for home schooling?

A report found that 58.9% of adults who were home schooled are "very happy" with life, compared with 27.6% for the general U.S. population. Is this a good reason to encourage home schooling?

Would you be different today if you’d been home schooled?

Is home schooling gaining popularity in your country?

Would you consider home schooling your children?

Parents home school their children because they think they can educate their children better than schools. Do you think they can?

An American report says home schooled children do much better academically than school children. What do you think about this?

Home schooling avoids many problems such as bullying. Should governments encourage more home schooling?

A U.S. report stated: "Where possible, children should be withheld from formal schooling until at least ages eight – ten." Do you agree?

Would you know how to home school children?

Do you think governments should pay parents for home schooling?

Do you think home schooled children would easily adapt to school?

Do you think kids who go to school would like home schooling?

Do you think children would prefer home schooling or regular schooling?

Back Home

ESL questions and discussion topics on Home Schooling for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.
ESL questions and discussion topics on home schooling for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Transplants

2008-12-29T16:21:00.000-08:00

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘transplant’?
What would you think if you needed a transplant?
Would you ever consider having a face transplant?
Will you donate your organs to medicine so they can be transplanted after you die?
Do you think people are different after a heart transplant?
Do you think people would be less human if they had the organ of an animal transplanted into their body?
Do you think scientists will be able to transplant any human organ in the future?
How would someone change after a brain transplant?
If you needed a brain transplant, whose brain would you like?
Barry Switzer joked about his son: "It was like a heart transplant. We tried to implant college in him but his head rejected it." What does this mean? Do you think it’s funny?
Do you think there’ll ever be such things as personality transplants?
Why do you think hair transplants rarely work?
Do you think transplants are a bit like playing Frankenstein?
Would you ever say no to an organ transplant?
Would you agree to hospitals using your DNA to grow spare organs for later use in your life?
Would you accept a transplant organ from someone you hated?
Is donating an organ for transplant the greatest gift you can give?
What do you think of the idea of skill, talent and ability transplants?
Could transplants one day change humans and make a new species?
Pioneering heart surgeon Dr. Christian Barnard said: "It is infinitely better to transplant a heart than to bury it so it can be devoured by worms." Do you agree?

ESL questions and discussion topics on transplants for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Sustainable Development

2008-12-29T16:17:00.000-08:00

What springs to mind when you hear the term ‘sustainable development’?

What is sustainable development?

In which countries is sustainable development most important?

How is sustainable development linked to standard of living?

What is your country’s policy on sustainable development?

What organizations think that sustainable development is important?

How often do you hear or read about sustainable development in the news?

What happens if countries ignore issues related to sustainable development?

Do you know of any sustainable development projects that have worked?

Is sustainable development more important for the developed or developing world?

Is sustainable development possible in today’s world in which people are becoming richer and consuming more of the Earth’s natural resources?

Is sustainable development real or is it just theory and a topic for inter-governmental meetings?
Would you be able to sustain yourself?

How important is sustainable development in relation to issues like climate change, poverty, terrorism, etc?

What problems does a lack of sustainable development lead to?

What roles do countries like the USA, China, Russia and India have in sustainable development?

How can there be sustainable development when the world’s population is moving from the countryside into cities?

What questions about sustainable development would you like answered?

Do you think sustainable development is an interesting an important topic?

Do you think people will be talking about sustainable development 50 years from now?

ESL questions and discussion topics on sustainable development for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Parenting

2008-12-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

Your Children
- How many children do you have?
  - How old are they?
- Are your children involved in clubs such as Girl Guides or Boy Scouts?
- What kind of chores do you require your child (or children) to do?
- Tell us one special thing about each of your children. (What are their strong points?)
- Do you prefer to have a daughter or a son?
Raising Children
- Do you think boys are more expensive than girls or vice versa? Why?
- Do you think boys are easier to take care of than girls or vice versa? Why?
- Do you help your children with their homework?
  - How much help do you think is appropriate?
- Would you allow your son or daughter to pierce body parts?
  - If so, what parts of the body would you allow to be pierced?
- Would you allow you child to get a tattoo?
- What are some things that you would not allow your children to do?
  - What are some things that you would allow your children to do that you think other parents may not allow their children to do? Why do you think it is okay to allow this?
- Are there any sports that you consider too dangerous to allow your child to try? If so, what sports?
- Do you spoil your child?
  - In what ways do you spoil your child?
  - What are some ways that you have seen others spoil their children?
- Are you careful about your child's diet?
  - Are there any foods that you do not let your children eat?
  - Is there any food that you force your children to eat even though they don't like the food?
Parenting Skills
- Do you think that you are a good parent? Why?
  - Do you think your parents were good parents?
  - Do you think your children will be good parents?
- What are some things that your parents did that you would never do?
- What are some things that you have seen other parents do that you would never do?
- What do you think are some of the most difficult problems faced by parents?
- Have you ever changed cloth diapers with safety pins and rubber pants before?
- How do you cope with sibling rivalry?
- How do you reward your children for the good things that they do?
- Are all couples who can have children qualified enough for being parents?
Opinions
- Should a good mother give up her job to stay at home with her children?
  - Do you think it is OK for a father to stay at home with the children and have the mother work instead?
  - Do you think a mother is a better "stay at home parent" than a father? Why or why not? Does the age of the children matter?
- Should women always get custody (keep the children) after a divorce? Why or why not?
- Do you think it is okay for children to call their parents by their first names?
  - Do you call your parents by name?
  - Do your children call you by name?
  - Do you know anyone who does?
- Do you think there should be a maximum age for parents to have a new child?
- Should children work? Do you agree or disagree?
- Do you think its OK to use drugs while pregnant?
- Should criminals and morally corrupt people be prevented from having children by law?
- Does biological parenthood necessarily mean that the parents are also qualified enough for bringing the child up?
Activities
- Do you often read to your children? / Did you often read to your children?
  - How often?
  - For how long each time?
  - What kinds of books?
- What kinds of things do you do with your children?
  - What kinds of things would you like to do with your children?
  - What kinds of things did you do with your children?
- About how many hours a week do you spend doing things with your children?
  - Do you spend more time doing things with your children now than you did last year?
Punishment
- How do you usually punish your children?
- What would you do if you found out your child was shoplifting (stealing)?
- What would you do if your child lied to you?
- What would you do if you found out your child jigged (skipped) school for a day?
- How do you deal with your children when they fight with each other?
- Do you think spanking is an appropriate form of punishment? Why or why not?
- Have you ever rinsed your child's mouth out with soap as punishment for swearing?
Some of the following should perhaps be avoided in some classes.
- Do you think it is OK to breast-feed in public?
  - What do you think when you see a mother breast-feeding her child in public?
- Would you have your son circumcised? Why or why not?
- Do you think gay couples can be good parents to adopted children?
- What do you think about single mothers?
- Should pregnant women that are unwed consider abortion?
  - Should any women consider abortion?
  - In what cases do you think abortion is acceptable?
  - When do you think abortion is unacceptable?
- If you were a mother or father, would you allow your son or daughter to listen heavy metal music?

ESL conversation questions and discussion topics about parenting for use in when teaching English as a foreign / second language

Back Home

ESL questions and discussion topics on Parenting for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Money, Shopping

2008-12-29T03:23:00.000-08:00

About how much did you spend on presents last year?

About how much do you usually spend each day?

Are you a price conscious shopper?

Are you good at saving money?

Are you saving money to buy something?

If so, what are you planning to buy?

How much will it cost?

How much longer will you need to save before you can buy it?

Do banks pay a higher percent of interest here or in your country?

Do you compare prices at different stores when you shop?

Do you enjoy shopping?

Do you ever buy second-hand things? ("used things")

Do you ever give money to charity?

How often do you give to charity?

How much do you give?

Do you gamble?

Do you give tips at a restaurant in your country? How about to taxi drivers?

Do you haggle when you shop ?

Do you have a credit card?

Do you have a credit card? If so, do you have more than one?

Do you have more than one bank account?

Do you have to pay a sales tax in your country?

Do you invest in the stock market?

Do you often put money in the bank?

Do you sometimes buy things that you don't need?
If so, give some examples.

Do you sometimes give money to charities?

Do you think that money can buy love?

Do your parents give you an allowance? (Did your parents give....?)

How much? (Maybe not a good question to ask.)

What do you use it for?

How often do they give it to you?

Have you ever been in debt? (Have you ever owed money to people?)

Have you ever bought a lottery ticket?

Have you ever found any money? If so, what did you do with it?

Have you ever given money to a beggar?

Have you ever given money to a homeless person?

Have you ever had any money stolen from you?

How important is money to you?

If you had no money, do you think you could be happy?

How many different kinds of coins are there in your country? What are they?

How much did you spend last week?

How much did you spend yesterday?

How much do you have to spend to eat a good meal at a restaurant in your country?

How much do you spend on food each week?

How much do you think it costs to fly to Guam?

How much do you think it costs to stay at a hotel in London?

How much do you usually spend each month on entertainment?

How much do you usually spend each month on food?

How much do you usually spend each month on transportation?

How much does it cost to get a haircut in your country?

How much does it cost to ride a bus in your country?

How much is a liter of gasoline in your country?

How much money did you make on your first job?
(How much money do you think you will make on your first job?)

How much money did you spend yesterday?

Where did you spend it?

What did you spend it on?

Do you often spend that amount in one day?

How much money did your parents give you for an allowance when you were ten years old?

How much money do you have on you now? (Maybe not a polite question to ask.)

How much money do you have with you now? (Maybe not a good question to ask.)

How much time did you spend the last time you went shopping?

How often do you go shopping?

If someone gave you a lot of money, what would you do with it?

If someone gave you a million dollars, what would you do with it?

Some people say that "money makes the world go around." Do you agree? Why or why not?

What bank do you use?

What do you need to buy next?

What do you spend most of your money on?

What do you want to buy next?

What is something that you have bought recently that cost a lot of money?

What is something that you have bought recently that was a good bargain?

What is something that you have bought recently?

What is something that you want to buy, but don't have enough money to buy.

What is something that you want to buy, but think you never will.

What is the average salary in your country?

What is the most expensive thing you've ever bought?

How much did it cost?

What is your opinion of discount stores?

What kind of things do you often shop for?

What kinds of things are you saving your money for?

What store did you like best and what store did you like least?

What was the last thing you bought for someone else?

What was the last thing you bought for yourself?

Where did you buy it?

why did you buy it?

What was the last thing you spent money on?

What's the most expensive thing you have ever bought?

What's the most expensive thing you've ever bought?

What's the most money you have spend on one thing?

What's the most money you have spent on something to eat?

What's the most money you have spent on something to wear?

What did you buy?

What's your favorite place to shop?

What's your favorite shopping area or store?

Where did you buy ___? (your shoes / your watch / etc.)

How much did you pay?

When did you buy it/them?

Where do you keep your money?

Where do you usually buy food?

Where is your favorite shopping area?

Which costs more, a hamburger in America or a hamburger in your country?

Which costs more, your telephone bill or your electric bill?

Which do you prefer, large stores or small stores?

Which do you think is more important, love or money?

Which store do you go to the most often?

Where is it?

Why do you like to go there?

Who do you often go shopping with?

Who do you spend money on?

In a marriage, do you think one person should handle the finances, or both?

How do you think money helps make us happy?

Do you think money is more important than love?

How much money do you want to earn each month?

What qualities must a person have to make BIG money?

Should children get an allowance (pocket money) from their parents?

When do you get your allowance?

How long does it last?

Is it enough money?

How do you usually spend your money? What do you usually buy?

How much should you give to your children?

How much do you give to your children?

Do you ever give money to beggars on the street? Why or why not?

Do you ever give money to charity? Why or why not?

If you found 100,000 won (or local currency) in a bag on the street, what would you do? Keep it?
What are you saving your money for?

Do you want to buy something special?

Who takes care of the money in your house?

When you buy something, do you "shop around" and go to many stores to compare prices?

When you buy something, what is most important to you: price, quality, fashion trend, status/image?

Explain these proverbs: What do they mean? Say them in other English words.
The best things in life are free.
Time is money.
Save your pennies for a rainy day.
Money talks.
You can't take it with you when you go.
Money doesn't grow on trees

Your rich uncle just died and gave you 50,000,000 won. (or local currency)
How would you spend it?

What would you buy?

Would you spend it on yourself, put it in the bank or buy something for your family?

Would you spend it all?

What is the most you have ever spent on a gift?

What was it?

Who did you give it to?

What was the occasion?

If you had to save money, what can you do without?
I would stop spending money on ___.

If you needed to earn some extra money, how would you do that?

If you had a large amount of money, what would you do with it?

Have you or your family ever won any money in a lottery?

How much money would you have to win to be happy?

Why do people often want more money, no matter how much they have got?

Why are poor people in many cases more generous than rich people?

What are some reasons for people being poor? Can poverty be avoided?

How do people become rich?

Do you think that riches can have a bad effect on a person? How?

What do you do if you can't get the clerk's attention at the store?

Is it easier to return items in the U.S. or in your country?

If you can't find an item at the store, do you find a clerk and ask for help, or do you leave and go somewhere else?

If you don't want help when the clerk asks if you need help, what do you say?

Is it OK to bring children to the market or the department store?

Is it bad if one person or company controls the market that it specializes in?

For example, is it wrong for Microsoft to control most of the operating system software in the world?

Do you consider companies like Microsoft and people like Bill Gates smart and shrewd?

Some questions about Taxation.In New Zealand at the moment the government is thinking of imposing a "flatulence tax" on farmers for the livestock they own, as the flatulence contributes to Ozone depletion (supposedly).

What is the most ridiculous tax in your country, past, or present?

Do you think taxes in your country are too high/low?

What about New Zealand Taxes? / What about taxes here?

What is the effect on the economy of high taxation?

What is the effect on the economy of low taxation?

What are some of the different kinds of taxes your country has?

If you were the ruler of your country, what would you do to change the taxation system?

What is the funniest tax you can think of to introduce?

Are you good at saving money?

What do you like spending money on? What don't you like spending on?

What would you love to buy but you can't afford?

What is the next "big" thing you are going to buy?

Have you ever given money to people who beg in the streets?

Do you have a credit card? How many?

Is it better to pay cash or by credit card?

What things do you pay cash for?

What things do you pay by credit card?

Do you pay your credit card on time?

Have you ever paid late your credit card? What happened?

Are credits cards a good thing?

Do/Did your parents give you an allowance? How much?

Have your parents ever given you a credit card to pay for something? What did you buy?

Should parents give a credit card to teenagers?

Have you ever lent money to someone? Who? What did he/she need the money for?

Have you ever borrowed money from someone? Who? What did you need the money for?

Who wouldn't you lend money to?

Do you play the lottery?

What kind of lottery do you play?

Do you play football pools?

Do you play slot machines?

Would you buy shares using only your own judgement? Do you have any experience with shares?

Would you give up your existing job without having another already arranged?

Do you think it is easier to find a job if you are employed or unemployed?

How would you feel about taking a job in a research laboratory which was doing research into dangerous diseases?

Do you like to gamble?

Do you buy lottery tickets?

Would you buy a house near a nuclear power station?

What is your opinion of the danger of nuclear power?

Back Home

ESL questions and discussion topics on Money for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.
ESL questions and discussion topics on money and shopping for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Astrology

2008-12-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

What is your star sign?

Which animal represents the year of your birth?

Do you believe in astrology?

Which other star signs are you compatible with?

Do you believe there is any link between the position of the stars when you were born and your fate?

Do you ever read your horoscope?

What would you like the stars to hold for you?

Do you think astrology can be useful?

Do you think anyone can prove that astrology works?

Would you like to learn astrology?

Do you know all the signs of the zodiac in English?

Do you think astrology is an art, a science or something else?

Why do you think many religions frown on astrology?

What’s the difference between astrology and astronomy?

Would you ever going or paying to see an astrologist?

If you had a consultation with an astrologist, what would you want to know?

Why isn’t astrology a commonly taught university subject?

What would it take to convince you that astrology works?

Do believe in other fortune telling, such as palm reading or determining character by blood type, etc?

Back Home

ESL questions and discussion topics on Animals, Pets for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL topics, discussions and questions about astrology for use whilst teaching English as a foreign or second language.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Alphabets

2008-12-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

How many letters are there in the alphabet of your country?

What are the differences between the English alphabet and that of your country?

What is the most frequently used letter of the English alphabet?

- What is the most frequently used letter / symbol of your alphabet?

How many vowels are there in the English alphabet?

- How many vowels are there in your alphabet?
- What are they?

How many consonants are there in the English alphabet?
- How many consonants are there in your alphabet?
- What are they?

What is the difference between consonants and vowels?

Where does the word 'alphabet' come from?

What is Alpha and Beta?

Does your language have an alphabet?

What are the differences between the English alphabet and your language’s writing system?

Which letters of the alphabet do you not like or have problems with (writing or pronouncing)?

Are the letters of the English alphabet pronounced the same in British, American, Australian, Canadian and South African?

Was it difficult learning the letters of the alphabet?

What is the International Phonetic Alphabet?

How did you learn the alphabet?

What do you think of other alphabets (Russian, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit, etc)?

Why do you think each letter has so many different pronunciations and uses?

How do you think the alphabet could me made easier to use and understand?

Would you like to learn a character-based system like Chinese?

What is alphabet soup?

What does “the ABCs of” mean?

Back Home

ESL questions and discussion topics on Alphabet for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.
ESL questions and discussion topics about alphabet

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Seven Wonders of the World

2008-07-29T16:10:00.000-07:00

What images spring to mind when you hear the phrase ‘Seven Wonders of the World’?

Do you think the ancient wonders of the world are better than the modern ones?

What do you think the seven modern wonders of the world are?

What wonders of the natural world do you like best?

Do you think they should try to rebuild those of the Seven Wonders of the World that have disappeared?

Which do you think is more impressive – building the Pyramids or the world’s tallest building (the Burj Dubai in the UAE)?

Do you think sites like the Taj Mahal, the Sydney Opera House, the Eiffel Tower, etc are real wonders?

If you could design a wonder of the world, what would you design?

In what ways are you a wonder of the world?

What are the seven wonders of the sea?

What are the seven wonders of the world?

What are the wonders of your daily world?

What makes a wonder a wonder?

Why do you think that there are only seven?

Which of the Seven wonders of the world do you think is the most impressive?

Why do you think mankind let most of the Seven Wonders of the World disappear?

Why did whoever decide on just (or as many as) Seven Wonders of the World?

Who decides what the wonders of the world are?

Is it important to have an official list of the wonders of the world?

What will the future Seven Wonders of the World look like?

Which people are wonders of the world?

What are some of the worst sites of the world?

ESL conversation questions and discussion topics on the seven wonders of the world for use in the ESL classroom when teaching English as a second language / teaching English abroad.

Medium (intermediate) quiz questions for the ESL classroom

2008-06-16T20:55:00.000-07:00

Medium difficulty EFL, TEFL, English as a foreign language trivia and quiz questions (INTERMEDIATE)
Please use the comments link at the bottom of the page to suggest some more quiz questions.

FOOD AND DRINK (intermediate ESL TEFL English as a foreign language food and drink quiz questions)
1. Apples, Bananas, Pears and Oranges are all what type of food? Fruit

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (intermediate ESL TEFL English as a foreign language general knowledge quiz questions)

1. How many dots are there in total on one dice? 21
2. What is the square root of 81? 9
3. What S is glass made from? Sand
4. What is the most common hair colour in the world? Black
5. Who invented the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell or Thomas Edison? Alexander Graham Bell
6. How many weeks are there in a year? 52
7. How many days are there in a year? 365

GEOGRAPHY (intermediate ESL TEFL English as a foreign language geography quiz questions)

1. In which country is Mount Everest? Nepal
2. Which continent has the biggest population? Asia
3. What is the capital city of New Zealand? Wellington
4. In which continent is the Sahara desert? Africa
5. Name the two longest rivers in the world. Amazon and Nile
6. Which ocean is to the east of Africa? Indian Ocean
7. How many continents are there on Earth? 7
8. What country do Dutch people come from? Holland
9. Which one of the following countries is in South America, Mexico, Spain, Madagascar or Peru? Peru
10. What is the capital of Japan? Tokyo

LANGUAGE (intermediate ESL TEFL English as a foreign language language quiz questions)

1. Which of these is a Vowel, G E B or C? E
2.What do we call a book of words and meanings? A dictionary

MUSIC (intermediate ESL TEFL English as a foreign language music quiz questions)

1. Which pop singer married British movie director Guy Ritchie? Madonna
2. Which rock group did George Harrison belong to? The Beatles
3. Which classical composer became deaf near the end of his life? Beethoven
4. How many strings does a bass guitar usually have? Four
5. In what country did reggae music originate? Jamaica
6. How many instruments are there in a string quintet? Five
7. How many strings are there on a violin? 4

NATURE (intermediate ESL TEFL English as a foreign language Nature quiz questions)

1. How many arms does a starfish usually have? 5
2. What food comes from bees and tastes good on toast? Honey
3. What is a baby frog known as? A tadpole

SCIENCE AND MATHS (intermediate ESL TEFL English as a foreign language science and math quiz questions)

1. Blood is filtered by which pair of organs? The Kidneys
2. Which planet is the fifth from the sun? Jupiter
3. Who developed the theory of relativity? Albert Einstein
4. Which chemical element is represented by the symbol N? Nitrogen
5. In which part of a living cell is DNA found? Nucleus
6. Which travel faster, light or sound waves? Light waves
7. Which sign means equals in Maths? =
8. Name a planet that has rings around it. Jupiter / Saturn
9. True or False, The sun is a star. True
10. What does the earth revolve around? The Sun
11. What revolves around teh earth? The moon
12. Which of these is NOT a primary colour, Red, Yellow, Orang, Blue? Orange

SPORTS (intermediate ESL TEFL English as a foreign language sports quiz questions)

1. What is longest running race in the Olympic Games called? The Marathon
2. In snooker, what is the colour of the last ball potted? Black
3. In which sport can you throw a 'curve ball'? Baseball
4. Name two sports played on a pitch. Football, Cricket etc. etc.

TECHNOLOGY (intermediate ESL TEFL English as a foreign language technology quiz questions)
1. Who makes 'Playstation' Games consoles? Sony

TV and FILM (intermediate ESL TEFL English as a foreign language film and TV quiz questions)

1. Who is Batman's sidekick? Robin

2. In which Country do the Simpsons live?

WHO, WHERE, WHAT AM I? (intermediate ESL TEFL English as a foreign language who am I? quiz questions)

1. I am black, white and look like a horse. What am I? A Zebra
2. I am a cold place where Santa lives. Where am I? North Pole
3. I am pink, I live on a farm, I like mud and I give you bacon, what am I? a pig
4.Sometimes I am a breakfast food, I go in cakes, cookies, and many other things. I come from many animals but normally chickens. I have a hard shell. What am I? An egg
5. I am full of Ink and used to write, what am I? A pen
6. I am worn on your wrist and used to tell the time. What am I?
7. I start life as a caterpiller, then become a cocoon, what am I now? A butterfly
8. I start life as a tadpole, What am I now? A frog

Easy (lower intermediate) quiz questions for the ESL classroom

2008-06-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

A collection of quiz questions for use when teaching English as a foreign language. Please submit your own using the comments link at the bottom of the page.

ANIMALS (easy ESL TEFL quiz questions about animals)

1. What is the fastest land animal? Cheetah
2. What is the largest land animal? African Elephant
3. What is the largest animal? Blue whale
4. How many legs does a butterfly have? Six
5. Does a zebra have spots or stripes? Stripes
6. Does a leopard have spots or stripes? Spots
7. How many legs does an octopus have? 8
8. What is the lightest bird in the world? Humming bird
9. What is the biggest snake? Anaconda
10. What animal has four legs, eats grass, makes the noise Moo and makes milk? A Cow
11. How many legs do 2 spiders have? 16

FOOD (easy ESL TEFL quiz questions about food)

1. What are French Fries made from? Potatoes
2. What is cheese made from? Milk
3. What can you buy at a butchers shop? Meat
4. In what room of your house would you cook food? Kitchen
5. What does a baker bake? Bread
6. Which country does pizza and pasta come from? Italy

GEOGRAPHY (easy ESL TEFL quiz questions about geography)

1. Which is bigger, a lake or an ocean? an ocean
2. Which country has the most people? China
3. What is the capital city of Norway? Oslo
4. What is the biggest state in the U.S.A.? Alaska
5. Which country has the biggest land area? Russia
6. In which ocean is Hawaii? the Pacific Ocean
7. What is the capital of England? London
8. In which country is the Eiffel Tower? France
9. Name a country beginning with the letter R. Russia, Rwanda, Romania
10. What is bigger, a hill or a mountain? mountain
11. Which country has the longest wall? China (The Great Wall)
12. Where are the great pyramids? Egypt
13. Which is larger, a river or a stream? A River
14. In what country do people speak German? Germany

GENERAL (easy general knowledge EFL TEFL English as a foreign language quiz questions)

1. Who flies an airplane? a pilot
2. How many letters are there in the English Alphabet? 26
3. In what room of a house would you sleep? Bedroom
4. If Mike came first in a race and Jane came second, who won the race? Mike
5. What does a singer sing? Songs
6. What do reporters report? News
7. Which Q is a kings wife? Queen
8. Which word beginning with U is useful in the rain? Umbrella
9. If the time is 7.00AM, what time will it be in four hours? 11.00AM

MUSIC (easy ESL TEFL quiz questions about music)

1. How many strings does a violin have? Four
2. What do you use to listen to music? Ears
3. What colours are the keys on a piano? Black and White
4. Which singer usually sings rap music, Mariah Carey or Eminem? Eminem
5. Which instrument is often used in jazz music, a saxophone or a tuba? a saxophone
6. What nationality is Robbie Williams? English or British

SCIENCE AND MATHS (easy ESL TEFL science quiz questions)

1. What does your heart pump? Blood
2. Which is the nearest star? the Sun
3. Which is heavier, gold or silver? Gold
4. How many sides does a triangle have? Three
5. What is H20? Water
6. What is the furthest anybody has been from America? The moon
7. Which is the biggest planet (in our solar system)? Jupiter
8. How many sides does a cube have? 6
9. Where does paper come from? Trees
10. Fire needs two things, fuel and what gas? Oxygen
11. If you mix together the colours yellow and blue, what colour do you make? Green
12. If you have 12 Chocolate bars and you eat half of them, how many do you have left? 6
13. What would you use to ring somebody? A telephone
14. If you have £5.00 and you buy 3 apples for £0.50 each and a bannana for £1.00, How much money do you have left? £2.50

SPORTS (Easy sports ESL TEFL quiz questions)

1. What sport is played at Wimbledon, England? Tennis
2. Name 3 sports that have the word ball in the title. Basketball, Baseball , Football, Netball etc.
3. In which country was the 2008 Olympic Games be held? China
4. What country does the football player Rivaldo come from? Brazil
5. What is the most popular indoor sport in the U.S.A.? Basketball
6. In which sport was Muhammad Ali the world champion? Boxing
7. What sport uses rackets, shuttlecocks, a net and a court? Badminton

TV and Film (Easy TV and Film ESL TEFL quiz questions)

1.What children's television show are the following names from: Donatello, Michaelangelo, Leonardo, and Raphael? The teenage mutant ninja turtles
2. Who is Homer Simpson's boss? Mr Burns

Easy ( beginners ) trivia and quiz questions for use in ESL classrooms. Teaching English as a second language/ TEFL / TOIC Trivia and quiz questions.
english quiz questions easy.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions -Endangered Species

2008-05-29T16:25:00.000-07:00

Do you worry about the world’s endangered species?

Which animals, fish and plants do you think are most endangered?

What do you think the growing list of endangered species says about humankind?

Which endangered species would you least like to see disappear?

Are there endangered species in your country?

Do you do anything to protect endangered species?

Forty percent of all organisms are endangered. What do you think about this?

Why are so many species becoming endangered?

Do you think the list of endangered species can ever get shorter?

Do you like actors from other countries?

Do you think humans will ever be an endangered species?

What should governments do to protect endangered species?

What do you think of the sale of products made from endangered species and how can we stop it?

Do you think endangered species can be bred in zoos or captive breeding programmes and then released into the wild?

Would you like to work for an agency that protects endangered species?

Do you know of any endangered species success stories?

How important is it to teach children about endangered species?

Which countries do you think are most guilty for endangering life?

Do you think honest politicians are an endangered species?

What question would you like to ask an endangered species?

Back Home

ESL questions and discussion topics on Endangered Species for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Ramadan

2008-05-27T07:34:00.000-07:00

How do people celebrate Ramadan in your country?

How do you feel the week and the day before Ramadan starts?

What do you like most about Ramadan?

Are you sad when Ramadan is over?

What’s your best Ramadan memory?

Do you think each Ramadan changes you as a person?

What would you like non-Muslims to understand about Ramadan?

Do you think Ramadan is hard on your body?

What’s your favourite Ramadan food?

Who do you think enjoys Ramadan more, children or adults?

What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘Ramadan’?

Do you say special prayers during Ramadan?

Are there medical benefits to Ramadan?

Do people in different countries celebrate Ramadan differently?

Do you think all countries with Muslim population should have special national holidays to celebrate Ramadan?

How would you explain what Ramadan is to someone who didn’t know?

Do you ever feel Ramadan interrupts your daily schedule?

Do you think the way people celebrate Ramadan today is different to how they celebrated it in the past?

Would you like to go to another country to celebrate Ramadan?

Would you prefer Ramadan to be at the same time every year or do you like the Ramadan period moving forward each year?

ESL, teaching English as a foreign / second language conversation questions relating to Ramadan. For us in the ESL classroom or for one to one conversation based lessons.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Backpacking

2008-05-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

What is backpacking?
Why is this form of travel called backpacking?
Have you ever been backpacking?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of backpacking?
Is backpacking better than taking a package holiday?
Would you like to go backpacking around your own country?
Do you think that it's normal for older people to go backpacking, why or why not?
In which countries would you most and least like to go backpacking?
Would you prefer to go on a 2-week luxury cruise or go backpacking for six months?
Who would you choose to go backpacking with?
Do you think that you would argue with somebody if you spent a year backpacking with them?
- What would you argue about?
What is your image of backpackers?
What are the essential items to put in a backpack?
What are the negative points or dangers of backpacking?
Which is better, a backpack or a suitcase?
Do you think backpackers are similar to hippies?
Is it better to go backpacking alone or with friends?
How do you think backpacking around the world could change a person?
Do you think backpacking is done only by those with little money?
Is backpacking generally something for younger people?
Have you ever stayed at a backpackers or similar budget accommodation?
Do you ever see backpackers in your country?
Do you know what couch surfing is?
- Do you think that this is a good idea?
- Do you think it is safe?
What do you think when you see backpackers in your country?

ESL questions and discussion topics on Backpacking for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - South Korea

2008-04-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

How different are North and South Korea from each other and from other Asian countries?

What do you know about the Korean War?

Why isn’t North Korea as rich and as advanced as South Korea?

What do you think North and South Korea will be like 50 years from now?

Does your country have good relations with the two Koreas?

What do you think about North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il?

What is your idea of a typical Korean person?

What things about Korea do you think Korean people are proud of?

What do you know about North and South Korean politics?

What would you like to ask a North and South Korean person about North and South Korea?

What images spring to mind when you hear the country Korea?

What are the good things and bad things about North and South Korea?

What are North and South Korea famous for?

What do you know about North and South Korean history?

What images of North and South Korea do you have that are sad?

What do you think about the fact that North and South Korean families cannot write to, telephone or see each other?

What has North and South Korea given to the world?

Would you like to visit North and South Korea, or live there?

What do you know about the geography of North and South Korea?

Who are the most famous North and South Korean people you know?

Back Home

ESL questions and discussion topics on South Korea, North Korea for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

Questions and discussion topics about Korea for ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

Games for TEFL TESL, ESL classrooms

2008-03-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

Simple educational games that can be used in the ESL classroom.

Headmaster Game

Level: Medium to Difficult

Have each student take out a piece of paper and their dictionary. Write on the board:

You are the new headmaster of this school. You have two years to make this the perfect school. You can have as much money as you want, but you must spend it all in 2 years.
What changes would you make immediately?
What changes must be gradual?
What would you do to make it a better school?
What changes would you make?
Be specific. For example, don't say hire better teachers. You must say how you would find better teachers or what kind of teachers you would hire. Also, remember you must think like a headmaster, not like a student! Making school easy and letting the students do no exams or homework will not make parents happy!

Give the students 15 minutes to work alone. Then put them in groups of 3-5 with a leader to organize their thoughts. Each group's leader will give its "report" to the other students during the following class period.

If your students have a small vocabulary you can help them out by listing on the blackboard areas of discussion: teachers, buildings, classrooms, activities, dorms, lunchrooms,curriculum, sports, playground, library, bathrooms,schedules,music, art,etc.

This is a great activity for all ages. We always run out of time!

Can You Find What Is Different?

Level: Easy

Ask a volunteer to go out of the classroom. While the student is out of the room, the other students change their sweaters, shoes, coats and so on. Bring the student who went out of the classroom back inside. He/she has to guess the differences (speaking in English, of course.)

Guess the Letter on Your Back

Level: Easy

This game is used to practice the alphabet. Divide students into groups and ask them to stand in line and give the students in the front of the line a piece of chalk to write on the blackboard. Then write with your finger a letter on the back of the students at the end of the line. They must do the same with the student in front of him/her and so on. The students with the chalk try to guess the letter and write any word that begins with that letter on the board.

Fold-over Stories

Level: Any

This is an old favorite. Give each student a sheet of blank paper. Write the following words on the board in a vertical line: WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHERE, WHEN, WHY. Explain that everyone will be writing a sentence story. Write an example on the board, explain, asking for suggestions.

Tell them to write someone's name at the top of their paper, i.e., their own, a classmate's, the teacher's, a famous person that everyone knows; fold the paper over once so no one can see it, then pass the paper to the person on their right.
Write on the received paper what the subject did (suggest funny or outrageous actions), fold it over and pass it on to the right.
Continue to write one line, how they did it (adverbs), fold and pass; where-pass; when-pass; and last of all, why (because...) and pass it one more time.
Have the students unfold their stories, and read them silently. Help anyone who cannot read what the others wrote, or doesn't understand.
Ask one student at a time to read "their" story aloud, or turn the stories in for the teacher to read. Funny!

Descriptions

Level: Medium

Write down names of every student in your class on pieces of paper.
Give the names to students. Try to make two students describe each other.
Ask them to describe the person whose name is on the paper.
After they finish, give the description to the person who is described. He/she has to find any writing mistakes on the paper.
Students work in pairs to correct the two papers.

Guessing the Word from a Drawing

Level: Any

Ask one student to be in front of the class. Give him/her a word that can not be seen by other students.
He/she will draw (on the blackboard) a picture expressing the concept of the word.
The rest of the class have to guess the word.
If you are keeping score, the one who drew the picture gets the point if the class can guess the word.

Reviewing Tenses

Level: Any

Preparation:

Print out three sentences (negative, positive, and question) of the tense you want to review.
Cut each sentence into words.

The Activity:

Students work in groups.
Give each group of students words of a sentence and ask them to make the sentence.
Draw a table on the board and ask students to tick sentences at suitable positiions, positive, negative, or question.
Ask students to make rules of the tense.

Example:

Three Sentences:
- I am a student.
- I am not a student.
- Are you a student?
The Rules:
- TO BE at the present simple
  I am a student.
- Positive: S + am/is/are + O.
  I am not a student.
- Negative: S + am/is/are + not + O.
  Are you a student?
- Question: (Ques words) + am/ is /are + S + O?

Find Parts of Speech of Words in a Sentence

Level: Any

Prepaire cards with parts of speech. Give these to your students.
Write the sentences on the board.
Ask your studnets to find parts of speech of words in the sentences.
You can divide the class into teams to make the games more fun.

Example: Your sentence:

I        WENT       TO       SCHOOL   YESTERDAY. 
pronoun   verb   preposition    noun     noun

Think Fast

Level: Any

A game for revision (review). It also works well for the last 5 minutes of class

The teacher prepares a list of items for revision e.g. word fields, grammar, facts. In class he/she explains the procedure. Three to five volunteers leave the classroom and wait till their turn has come. The teacher appoints a student to take the exact time and another to take down a tick for every correct answer. No repetitions! (Set up or negotiate rules on pronunciation.) Then the first player is called in.

Teacher: You have 20 second to name as many things as come to your mind.
Your topic: Parts of the body / London sights / plays by William Shakespeare / the places in a town / traffic signs / weekend shopping-list / etc.
Ready, steady, go

Once all volunteers have done their bit, award a small prize (e.g. a sticker) to the winner of the round. Then ask the class for additions before you pick the next item. Then pick the next item.

Allow more time (30 or 40 seconds) for longer answers: What have you done so far today? / What did you do last weekend? / School rules: What do students have to do? What are they not allowed to do? / etc.

If this game is played in groups, they should be evenly balanced.

Alphabet Liar Game

Level: Any

Take a pack of letter cards, mixed up. It is better if it is not a complete alphabet, and there are some duplicate cards.
Deal all the cards out to the players
Students take it in turns to play cards face down. They must go through the alphabet, starting from 'A', playing one card face down and saying the letters in Alphabetical order.
Even if they do not have the card to be played for that turn, they must play any card and pretend it is the card they said. Say the sequence has gone A,B. The next player must play a card and say C, even if he has not got an C.
If any player does not believe that someone has played the real card, he can say: "You're a liar" and turns the card over. If the card has the letter which was said, the challenger picks up all the cards. If it is not, the liar picks up all the cards in the pile. The winner is the first one to finish all their cards.

Survivor Spelling Game

Level: Any

Use this activity to review vocabulary:

Make a list of vocabulary covered in previous lessons. Have students stand. Call out a vocabulary word. The first student begins by saying the word and giving the first letter, the second student the second letter of the word, the third student the third letter, and so on until the word is spelled correctly. If somebody makes a mistake they must sit down and we start from the beginning again until the word is spelled correctly. The last student must then pronounce the word correctly and give a definition in order to stay standing. The student who is left standing is the "survivor" and wins the game. I usually give them some type of prize. If all the students remain standing we have a pizza party at the end of the week.

The students love it and it is a great way to practise vocabulary!!!

What's Your Name?

Level: Easy

One student sits in the front of the classroom (usually in the teacher's comfortable chair) with his back to the other students. The teacher then points to students in the class and asks "What's your name?" The student indicated must respond "My name is__________" with either his own name or the name of someone in the class. The student in the front cannot see who is speaking. The teacher says to him, "Is it___________?" and he must say "Yes, it is" or "No, it isn't". If the student in front is correct, he gets to stay there, but if he's mistaken, he changes place with the student who fooled him.

To make the game more interesting, the students are encouraged to disguise their voices.

I always do this with my beginners at the beginning of the year, but always at the end of the class, and for not more than 5 to 10 minutes. (My beginners are elementary age.)

Human Bingo - Getting to Know You Activity

Level: Any

Have the students divide an 8.5" x 11" paper into 9 squares (two vertical lines / two horizontal lines. The middle square is the "free" space. Next, put a list of 5 questions on the board (these can vary in difficulty). For example:

What is your name?
Where are you from?
How long have you been in the USA?
What is the strangest thing you have eaten here?
(they make a question)

The students must then interview 8 different people in the class to fill in the bingo page. Each square on the paper represents one person's answers. When they have written all the answers from one person, they go on to someone else until all of the boxes on the paper are filled. When everyone has finished, the teacher uses the class list to call off names. For example, if the teacher says, "Who has Rodrigo?", the students who interviewed Rodrigo would then provide the answers he gave to the bingo questions. It's a fun game that gets students speaking right away. It usually takes a while to complete.

Ball Game

Level: Any
Students stand up in a circle around the teacher. A ball is tossed to a student and the teacher asks a question, e.g.: "Say a color". The student then responds and throws the ball back to the teacher.The teacher then throws the ball to another student and asks another question. For higher levels, you can ask such questions like "Give me the past participle of an irregular verb". This is a fast game, and it is great for reviewing vocabulary.

Getting to Know a Little More about Your Classmates

Level: Any

The teacher gives every student a piece of paper on which they write a sentence about their personal life. This sentence can be about school, family, music, friends, the last vacation, etc. For example "I went to the beach last vacation" or "I always study for my exams" or "I have two brothers" etc. When they finish writing their sentences they fold the paper and give it to the teacher.

It is very important to tell students before writing the sentence that the information they are going to write is "a secret" and not to show it to their classmates. If they have a question about something, they should ask it to you instead of a classmate. Tell students to write their names on the papers.

After collecting all the papers, ask the students to write the numbers from one to 10 (or 20, depending on the number of students you have in that moment in the classroom) in their notebooks. After that, the teacher reads the sentences in random order (without saying the name of the student), and the students write the names of the people they think wrote sentences.

After reading all the sentences, say the question number and read the sentence again for each piece of paper and ask the students to name who they thought wrote it.

Then tell the students the name from the student who wrote that sentence. Students should write (C) for correct guesses and (I) for incorrect guesses.

This is one way for studnets to start knowing a little more about their classmates.

Draw the Teacher

Level: Any

This game helps to teach children the names of facial parts.

Divide the class into two teams. Then draw 2 ovals shapes on the board. Then yell "Draw the teacher's eyes!" and the two leading students from each team run up and draw your eyes on the oval. Then yell "Nose!" which is drawn by the next two students. And so it goes. The student get a ball out of this as they have permission to make fun of their teacher, and your image can get to look pretty distorted. You can add other features, such as nose or ear hairs. This will also work if you want to do body parts as well. Just draw the basic torso instead of ovals.

If the kids are unsure as to which facial/body part you're talking about, just point to it.

At the end say both images look pretty good and call it a tie.

Another variation on this could be for naming parts of animals. The resulting picture would be a monster. i.e. peacock's tail, snake's head, elephant feet, bat's wings, etc.

Acting Adverbs

Level: Easy to Medium

This activity is a great way to introduce the idea of how adverbs affect the way a verb action is done. Divide the blackboard in two and write as many verbs on one side and as many adverbs on the other as you can (get the class to come up with them). At this stage you can also teach how adjectives 'turn into' adverbs by writing down adjectives e.g. angry, happy, and adding the 'ily'. Then divide the class into two teams and perhaps give them goofy team names (I find they enjoy giving each other names). Then get one team to choose a verb and adverb combination and the other team has to act it out, e.g. talk crazily.

My experience with this activity has been with younger learners where some kind of reward is offered at the end like stamps or being the first team to leave at the end of class. You can think of your own reward (or penalty) to motivate your class. It can be a lot of fun with both the actors and the 'directors' enjoying making fools out of themselves or watching others make fools of themselves.

Suppose That

Level: Easy to Medium

This works well as a fluency activity

You are the black sheep of your family. Explain to us why.
You won a motorcycle and you are planning to embark on a voyage. Explain where you go.
You arrive face to face with a person who you owe 100 dollars to. What do you say?
You help an old woman across the street. It turns out that she is a magician. To thank you, she offers you four wishes. What do you ask for?
You arrive home at midnight, you open the door and ......

Cut-Up Sentence Kabadi

Level: Any

This is a combination of a basic TEFL game and the Indian game Kabadi.

Prepare some cut up sentences from the grammar or vocab area you've been working on and place them on a table at the front of the class. Arrange the students into teams, standing behind a line or marker. They have to run to the table and arrange the words into correct sentences, however, they are not allowed to breathe in. To prevent this the students have to repeat 'kabadi' over and over. If they stop saying the word they have to return to their teams. The first team to correctly arrange all their sentences is the winner. This can get a bit wild but it's fun.

Writing Idea

Level: Medium to Difficult
I asked my students to write in their daily journals what rules they would like to see implemented in our classroom and which rules they beleived would benefit our class the most. I then asked them to imagine how it would be if we had no rules in our class, in our school, and in the world. I asked them to weigh the pros and cons of this idea and write whether or not they would like to experience or live in this type of environment.

Spin Zone

Level: Any
Each set of partners receives a top. One learner says as many sentences or words in the target language as he can before the top stops spinning. His partner counts. The student who says the most words wins. We had fun letting the winners compete in "spin offs". I like to give stickers to all and candy to the winner!

Prepositions Game

Level: Medium to Difficult
Prepare a text that contains prepositions. Take out the propositions and print them on a separate sheet, then cut this sheet so that each preposition is on a piece of paper, then put all of them in an envelope . Divide the class into groups and give each group an envelope. Tell the students that you are going to read a text and whenever you raise your hand they should bring a suitable preposition and put it on your desk and that the fastest team would get points. Read the text with each groups' order and cancel a point for each mistake. Finally read the text with correct prepositions. You can play this game with adj as well as a,the and an.

Martian

Level: Medium to Difficult
Tell your class you are a Martian and you are inhabiting a human body to study human ways. You then ask about virtually anything in the room, and ask follow up questions:

What is this?
It's a pen.
What's a "pen"?
You use it to write.
What is "write"?
You make words with it on paper.
What are "words"?

ETC...

You can make it as difficult as possible for your higher level students; at some point, though, you'll need to say "OK, I understand", and go to the next object. Even your best students will eventually get stuck on this one!

Punctuation Game

Level: Any
I came up with this game to help the students understand what the marks of punctuation are. Draw a period (.), a comma (,), a question mark (?), exclamation mark (!), and an apostrophe (') on the board and leave a few inches between each symbol. Tell the students the name of each and have them repeat each name. When they are comfortable with the names, begin by pointing to each one in succession. Once they are proficient at this, speed up the pace. This is where it gets fun. Once they are able to say the names in order, change the order on them. Speed up each time through to get the kids excited. As a final tactic, have each student go through the names of the symbols at a slow pace and then speed up. I give the one who can say the most right a piece of candy or a sticker. Have fun and you'll see a big improvement in their punctuation.

Good Morning Balls

Level: Any

You have three different coloured balls, (they should be very light weight, Small balls).
Get the class to make a circle.
Then give three people a ball.
- Red Ball - Good Morning
- Green Ball- How are you?
- Blue Ball - Fine thank you and you?
The class members pass or gently throw the balls and the person who receives them says the meaning of the balls.

This is fun and gets the class going first thing in the morning.

Air Write

Level: Any
One person "writes" letters, words, numbers, shapes etc: in the air and others guess what it is. Can be done in pairs, as a group, along a chain.
Can also be played as back-write, that is, writing the letter/word/... on the back of another and they guess what it is.

Lost in a Jungle

Level: Medium to Difficult

This is a game suitable for a class of pre-intermediate and up. The game can be done in groups of three to six students. It keeps everyone involved even the quietest students.

The Teacher prepares a list of say 20 items and writes the list on the board or gives copies to groups. This is a list of things that people may need if they're lost in the jungle and things that they may not need.

For example:

A pack of canned food
50 meters nylon rope
Knife
Torch
Tent
Cellular phone
6 gallons of water
Petrol
Alcohol
Blankets
Candles
Matches
...

Then, the students in groups decide on 5 items on the list which seem essential to all of them. This usually takes a whole session since they all come up with different ideas. Sometimes a creative student chooses an item apparently irrelevant, but when he/she explains how to use it, everyone agrees!

Intonation Fun

Level: Medium
Use this activity to underline the importance of intonation when your students, as they often do, talk like robots. Basically, get them to say the words in quotation marks in the contexts that follow.

'Hello'
to a friend
to a friend you haven't seen for 3 years
to a neighbour that you don't like
to a 6 month old baby
to someone you have just found doing something they shouldn't
to someone on the phone when you're not sure if they are still on the other end

'Goodbye'
to a member of your family as they are going through the boarding gate at the airport
to someone who has been annoying you
to a child starting his very first day at school

'How are you?'
to someone you haven't seen for 20 years
to someone who has recently lost a member of the family
to someone who didn't sleep in their own bed last night

'I never go to pubs'
by a person that totally disapproves of drinking alcohol to someone who often goes to pubs
as a response to someone who has told you they sometimes go to pubs
said before: '…but I quite like discos.'

'What have you done?'
to someone who claims to have fixed your television only that now it's worse than before
to someone who is scolding you for not doing anything when you suspect the same about them.
to someone who has just done something very bad and which has serious consequences

Truth or Lie?

Level: Any
This isn't really new. I got the idea from a book and have expanded on it a bit. It can be used at any level from pre-int. up. It can be used just for speaking practice but it's particularly useful if you're doing present perfect for past experiences. It works soooo well! The students just love it! Lots of question and past tense practice. Even the quiet ones will talk!
Based on a group of three (it can be done in pairs, or fours if you write some more questions), each student has a piece of paper with five questions on it (see below) and takes it in turns to ask the person on their left one of their questions. The student answering the question must answer 'Yes I have.' regardless of the truth. The student who asked the question can then ask as many further questions as he likes in order to help him decide whether the truth is being told or not. Obviously, sometimes they'll be telling the truth. The third student can also join in with questions, thereby 'ganging up' on student B. Listen how students fabricate stories in an attempt to avoid questions! When the first student feels he's heard enough he says 'No further questions' and writes 'True' or 'False' next to the question. The game then carries on (student B asks a question to student C and so on) When all the questions have been asked the papers are passed to the left for marking i.e. the truth is revealed. The highest score out of five wins.
This game will really open your eyes to people's ability to LIE.
Here are the questions. You can use different ones, obviously.

Have you ever…
spoken to a famous person?
danced on a table in a public place?
been trapped in a lift?
taken an illegal drug?
sung karaoke?

Have you ever…
appeared on television?
left a bar or restaurant without paying?
written graffiti on a wall?
appeared in a photograph in a newspaper?
chased a criminal?

Have you ever…
done a very dangerous sport?
won a medal or trophy?
missed a flight?
stayed in a five-star hotel?
swum naked in the sea?

A typical exchange might be something like:
- Have you ever swum naked in the sea?
- Yes I have.
- Where did you do it?
- Erm. On holiday in Majorca.
- Who were you with?
- Some friends.
- What were their names?
- Erm...etc.

Syllable Game

Level: Medium

Write a difficult word on the board for example
ACCOMMODATION.

Then clap your hands while saying the word. Repeat as necessary.

Then ask them to count the claps in ACCOMMODATION. There are 5 hand claps. Get students to clap and say ACCOMMODATION.

Tell students these hand claps are called SYLLABLES and that every word breaks down into one or more syllables. Briefly practice saying "syllables."

On the board underneath ACCOMMODATION draw 5 medium sized boxes. Put the correct number underneath each box.

Clap and say the first syllable of ACCOMMODATION and ask your students which letters should go in box 1. They should say AC (some might say ACC.)Repeat this process until all of the letters are in the correct boxes. So now you should have

Box1 AC Box2 COM box3 MO Box4 DA Box5 TION

Then choral drill the letters like this.

Teacher: Which letters are in Box1?

Students: AC

Teacher: and in Box2?

Students: COM

Continue this until all 5 boxes (syllables) have been covered.

Then ask a student to give you the contents of BOX1 and 2. Then ask another to give you the contents of box 2 and 3. Then 3 and 4. then 4 and 5.

This gradual building of the word helps them not only to understand the rhythm and concept of syllables, but also helps them to fix the spelling in their minds.

Once they grasp the concept of syllables, Write some 3,2, single syllable words on the board and get the students to work out how many syllables the word has, and then get them to put the letters into the correct boxes

Karaoke

Level: Difficult

-for larger classes

Preparation: choose songs that are easy to understand and somewhat enjoyable.

1. Divide the students up into groups of 4-5 people.

2. Give each group a different song. Have them figure out all the words to the song. Make sure that not just one person is doing the work, but that it is a group effort.

3. Give them the entire class (one hour) to work on it. Next class, have them return to their groups to practice one time.

4. You then have the group as a whole, stand up and sing along with the recording.

-this is fun for the students if they all participate and work together.
-choose both popular and silly songs to keep their attention and interest

Getting To Know You

Level: Medium to Difficult

-for larger classes
1. Give each student an index card
2. Have the students pair up and write the name of their partner on their card.Give them five or six questions that they must ask each other such as:
-Where were you born?
-What is your favorite color and why?
-What did you dream last night?
3. Make sure that they write down the answers to these questions on their card. When they are done, have them each choose a new partner.
4. They will then tell their new partner about their old partner based on the questions answered. Each person will record this information on the other side on the index card (the index card is only to help them remember everything).
5. Once they have finished, they each stand up in front of the class and tell everyone what they learned about one of their classmates.

-this helps them to develop their communication skills and helps them get comfortable with speaking and interacting with all the students in the class

Extreme Situations

Level: Medium to Difficult

The point of this activity is to make difficult questions involving choosing a course of action in extreme situations.Usually This situations will involve feelings, prejudices, ethics,,etc.

Examples 1:

You are on a deserted island. There is a motor boat and you are the only one who knows how to drive it. It is up to you to decide which people of the following people you are going to take with you in the boat. There is space for only you and 3 more people.

Here they are:

a prostitute
a drug addict
a dying old man
a doctor convicted of malpractice
a child pornographer
a convicted criminal
(Note: You should adjust the list to suit the students in your class. Delete some if you find them offensive. Add others that you think would generate good discussion.)

Example 2:

You find a wallet with $50,000 and the ID of its owner. That money is exactly the amount of money you need to cover the expenses of a delicate operation for your daughter. She needs that operation to survive. What would you do with the money?

And you can create new extreme questions to challenge students to speak.

Spot the Difference

Level: Medium to Difficult

Divide the group in pairs.For this activity you get two apparently identical pictures.You can get this pictures in puzzle books or Internet. Give one of the pictures to a student an the counter-picture to his/her partner. Make the students sit far from his/her partner in order to describe the picture without looking at the counter picture. The point of the game is to detect the differences without using body language or looking at the partner's counter-picture. The team that finds all the differences first is the winner.

This activity is specially good for those students who are reluctant to speak.

Traffic Light Questions

Level: Any

This games works especially with adult students who are reluctant to speak about personal issues.
Prepare three cards (a green, a yellow, and a red one) with six questions each. The questions on the green card are easy and not personal, and the ones on the red card are more difficult and personal. Each student throws a dice twice. The first time is to decide upon the color of the card (1 or 2 = green card; 3 or 4 = yellow card; 5 or 6 = red card) and the second time is to choose the question.

Tell Me Why

Level: Medium to Difficult

The point of this game is to try to answer questions. We often take for granted many things but if we consider them carefully sometimes they are not necessarily logical.These questions are intended to make students speak. In most of the cases there are no "right" or "wrong" answers. Here are some examples:

If you're so WISE can you tell me WHY:

Some birds have wings but never FLY.

not all the monkeys have a tail BEHIND.

Leopards have spots and TIGERS STRIPES.

Grooms dress in black and BRIDES in WHITE.

People wave their hands when they say good BYE.

The ocean´s blue and so is the SKY.

Our EYES shed tears when we CRY.

We must WRITE letters from left to RIGHT.

Roosters crow in the mornings at six or FIVE.

People trhow RICE to the groom and BRIDE.

We strech and yawn when we feel so TIRED.

As you can see I repeated the /ai/sound to create a special sensation to the ears.These questions can also help you to teach pronunciation and intonation if you read them with the proper rhythm.

Four-Letter Words

Level: Any

This game has nothing to do with offensive words.I play it just for fun and the students like it a lot.You will be amazed to see how many different words can be generated from a single word!

1.-The teacher writes a four-letter word (not a bad word but word made up four letters)on the board.

For example:

The teacher writes on the board: TIME

2.-Students will take turns generating words from the first one.The idea is to change only one letter but generate a meaningful word.

TEACHER.-TIME
STUDENT1.-DIME

3.-Any letter can be change.Only one at a time, but not on the same place consecutively.Example:

TEACHER.- TIME
STUDENT1.- DIME
STUDENT2.- LIME (Wrong you should change any other letter but not on the same place consecutively).

TEACHER.- TIME
STUDENT1.- DIME
STUDENT2.- DOME
STUDENT3.- COME
STUDENT4.- CAME
STUDENT5.- CANE
Etc.
Etc.

The teacher has to limit the time the students take to write the words (may be 20 seconds). The students score a point for each meaningful word they write. If a student takes too much time he loses his turn. Finally the student who makes more points is the winner.

Memory Game (Long and Short Forms)

Level: Medium to Difficult

RULES: The same rules as the regular memory games(the only difference is they are going to match the long forms with the sort forms).

Foreign students sometimes do not realize there are many reductions in English. They feel frustrated when they are not able to understand spoken English. This is in part to because they are not aware of short forms. A way to help them is by showing same expressions in both short and long forms. Examples:

want to- wanna
going to-gonna
ought to-outta
because-'cause
a lot of- alotta
see you-seeya
got to-gotta
let me-lemmi
give me-gimmi
what have-wattav
etc.

I advise the teacher to read aloud the cards when the students pick them up in order to encourage them to repeat and learn them.

Spelling Review

Level: Medium

This activity will make students review spelling in a funny way. You can create similar spellings as the following ones:

I.1.2.C.U = I want to see you
R.U.O.K? = Are you O.k?
I´s T = Iced tea
I.C.Q = I seek you
I.O.U. = I owe you
E.Z. = Easy
B.Z. = Busy
I.1.T = I want tea
I.8 = I ate
U.2 = You two/ you too.
Y? = Why?
C.U.$$$.9 = See you at nine
2E.Z.4U = Too easy for you
R.U.D.Z? = Are you dizzy?

stand
------ = I understand
I

Pronunciation Bingo

Level: Medium to Difficult

THIS BINGO IS FOR NOUN-VERB STRESS

I came out with this idea while I was teaching pronunciation in Mexico. The idea is to make a bingo game contrasting the the pronunciation of nouns and verbs with the same spelling.(Use a stress mark (´)to show the students that nouns are stressed in the first syllable and verbs on the second).Examples:

prógress-progréss
présent-presént
prótest-protést
cóntract-contráct
désert-desért
rébel-rebél
súspect-suspéct
cónsole-consóle
cónflict-conflíct
récord-recórd
cónvict-convíct
ínsert-insért
pérmit-permít
etc.

When you name the cards let the students listen to the words but not look at them. This way they will be able to distinguish the difference.

------------------------------------------------------
MINIMAL PAIRS BINGO

The same can be done to teach minimal pairs.Examples:

sit-seat
but-bat
bought-boat
saw-so
base-vase
etc.

P.D.MAKE THIS GAME INTERESTING BY GIVING SMALL PRIZES TO THE WINNERS.

Saved by the Bell

Level: Medium

I discovered this game while watching T.V. With some modifications the idea of the game is the same:

1.-Place a buzz or bell inside a waste basket(a clean one, of course).

2.-Get a light ball that fits into the basket.

3.-The student will make a shot with the ball.If the student scores the bell will ring(saved by the bell) , if the student fails a indiscreet question will have to be answered by him/her.

4.-In advance, prepare as many cards with indiscreet questions as possible. For example:

Have you ever cheated in a final test? Have you ever stolen something? Have you ever had two or more boy/girlfriends at the same time?Have you ever gotten a ticket? If so why?Have you ever had a nickname? If so, which one? etc,etc.

The point of this game is to practise asking and answering in a fun way. However, you have to be very careful with the questions you write on the cards!(some questions may be very offensive if you are not careful).

The Game of Truth

Level: Medium to Difficult

I learnt this game when I was chatting with a brazilian girl.It is a very simple but interactive game. As you know people always as the same questions in chats over and over again.What do you do? How old are you? etc. She asked me if I wanted to play THE GAME OF TRUTH. I say yes of course! Here are the rules:( I made some changes for the English classroom)

1.Make a lot of small cards with interesting topics written on them, such as: LOVE,JEALOUSY,PIRACY,MONEY,SMOKING,SEX,DINKING,CLONNING,BRIBING,FRIENDSHIP,DEATH PENALTY,PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT,FAMILY,etc,etc.Look for topics that make students speak.Sometimes even CONTROVERSIAL ones.

2.-Every student in the class will take turns in taking a card.He or she will talk a little about the topic in the card he or she selected. For example:

MONEY: for me money is very important , but is not the most important thing.It is only a way to reach things.Success is not measure by the money you can get,etc,etc.

3.-Allow student to express their feelings even if it is not their turn. Remember the main point of this game is to make students speak!However don´t lose the control of the class.

P.D.If you select very interesting topics I garantee everybody will try to answer the questions even when is not their own turn.This activity is excellento "to break the ice" and to help you know each other in the classroom.

Invitation to an Annual Dinner

Level: Any

Pre-activity: The teacher should have taught students about prepositions.
Activity:In pairs, students are required to write a dialogue of about 12-15 exchanges based on an invitation card given by the teacher.
Sample invitation card:

INVITATION TO EXECS BUSINESS ANNUAL DINNER

DATE: 24 JUNE 2001
PLACE:PALOMA BALLROOM, DE PALMA HOTEL
TIME: 7.30 AM
ATTIRE: FORMAL

Allow about half an hour to prepare the text and about 3 minutes to present it in class. Ask students to be as creative as possible.

Students get to practice prepositions as well as Wh-questions. I find that my students enjoying themselves while pretending to invite their friends to the annual dinner.

Story Telling & Memory Game

Level: Any

Ask the children {at least 5 to 6} to sit around in a circle
Ask one child to say a sentence in a story form e.g "once there was a boy".The next child will have to repeat that sentence and add something more to it like "once there was a boy whose name was John"In this way the children keep building up a story as well as remembering what the previous sentences were.The child which forgets a line will go out of the game.This game not only improves a child's memory but also encourages him/her to be creative in story telling.

Mini Plays

Level: Medium to Difficult

The teacher makes up a little discussion which she reads or gives to a couple of children to read. E.g.

Mum: Bye, now. Be careful!
John: Yes, Mom. I will.
Mum: Don´t forget to write.
John: No, Mom. I´ll write every day.
Mum: Call me when you get there.

And then the teacher chooses one aspect to the plays that will be improvised based on this short discussion. E.g.

"Your plays must ne about a situation where somebody is leaving away. What happens? What do you say? You have 5 minutes to practise a little play in groups of 2-5."

In five minutes the plays will be presented and some vocabulary can be marked, if you feel like it. The kids love making plays and they are pretty good in improvising incredible plays even in few minutes.

Active Brainstorming

Level: Any

This activity can be made to fit nearly any level, and works in class sizes of 6 to 40. The aims are to not only to generate lists of relevant vocabulary around a theme, but to invigorate the class with a rather noisy and rambunctious activity.

To begin with, the teacher must select three or four vocabulary subcategories within a theme, for example with a theme of housing/describing rooms, the subcategories might be things found in a bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen; in a sports theme, there might be team, individual, and non-competitive sports. Students are then paired up and asked to generate ideas together for each subcategory, preferably under a time limit to keep things pacey, much as in any brainstorming exercise. Then pairs should be grouped into 2,3,or 4 larger teams (depending on class size, logistics, etc.) to share/compare ideas and lengthen their lists if possible.

Now comes the wild part. The black/whiteboard is divided into sections, one for each subcategory, and one student from each group is called up and handed a piece of chalk or a marker of a color assigned to each team. There must be one color per team, eg. the blue team, the yellow team, and so forth. The designated writers for each team are not allowed to bring any paper up with them. Instead, their team members must shout out ideas which can be put under each/any subcategory, including the correct spelling of same. With all teams shouting at the same time, a seemingly out of control, but quite enjoyable atmosphere pervades. The object is to be the team with the most words on the board at the end.

It is best to stop every minute or two and change designated writers so that all can get a chance. Also, depending on how strict the teacher wishes to be, groups which use L1 might have their entries ereased. It is also a good idea in big classrooms to move the teams as far away from the board as possible, so as to increase the pandemonium. Finally, the teacher shouts "Stop!", and the scores for each team are tabulated.

This activity will take between 30 and 50 minutes, has been used successfully with groups ranging in age from 16 to 65, and would seem to suit younger learners as well. The only materials required are a rather large board and as many different color markers or pieces of chalk as there are teams.

The Miming Game

Level: Any

This is a simple game which requires little preparation. Divide your students into groups of 2 people(there may be two groups or more). Give each group a sentence that includes grammar and/ or vocabulary already practised, and underline the words that should be guessed exactly. One of the students in the group has to mime the sentence and the other has to guess. Of course the other groups will also be allowd to guess, which will create competition.

Bingo Adapted

Level: Any Level

Use basic Bingo board (3x3 0r 5x5 with the middle crossed out)

1. Simple vocabulary bingo
From the list of words the students (Ss) are required to learn they select 9 (or 24) . Teacher to call Bingo 2 or three times until everyone knows their card.

2. Teacher calls the words. Ss with those words have to shout them out. Only the first one to shout gets to cover the square.

3. Grammar point or sentence structure.
Call the words. The first student to shout out their word in the the required structure gets to cover the square.

eg. To use the present perfect.
After practising the vocabulary Ss have to say I've been a nurse or never been a nurse.
NB the truth is not important. I was happy with I've been a village once as long as they knew what was wrong.
Gets very competitive and noisy.
Do not do with a hangover unless you get the winning student to be the bingo caller.

The Alphabet Game

Level: Any Level

This game is used to practice alphabet and check their vocabulary. Do as a competition. Divide Students into groups of five ( it depends on the number of students you have) and ask them to stand in line. give to the students of the front a marker to write on the whiteboard.Then draw with your finger an imaginary letter of the alphabet on the back of the students at the end of the line. They must do the same with the student in front of him/her and so on. the students with the marker are supposed to run to the board and write any word that begins with that letter. Students love it!

Associations Using the Subjunctive Mood

Level: Medium to Difficult

This game is very useful to teach the subjunctive mood.
All your students take part in this game. One of the students goes out of the room. All the rest think of one student (he or she should be present). The student who went out of the room comes in and asks "If this person were a vegetable (fruit, sweet, animal, car, nature, flower, city etc) what vegetable ( fruit, sweet, animal etc) would he be?"

One of the students answers in a full sentence: "If he were an animal he would be a dog" for instance

After some questions and answers the student who is asking the questions should guess who it is and the game begins again with another student going out of the room.

Making Words from Letters in a Long Word

Level: Medium to Difficult

This game is a good activity for learning new words and for reviving some word knoweledge and for giving a teacher time to prepare other tasks for students.

The class is to be divided into 2-3- teams. Give each team a dictionary and write on the board a long word. Students should compose different words from the letters of this word. After some time, the teams give their words. the team that has the most correct words wins.

For example:

R E T R I B U T I O N

return tribute iron notion note tone rib tube bruit tent tribe bur button rent burin nob bite burr run route tire tore bent bet bonnet rub nib net nub bin nut bit rube ruin rob rot unit union unite tier tie tin tint tone toe brute burn brunt butt butter riot tot tenet tenure terrier retro bone boot born bout totter tote tour bore

Then you can ask them to learn these words.

Betting / Auction

Level: Any

CLASS SIZE: 40

PREPARATION

Prepare a worksheet with 20 or so sentences using grammar points you have recently taught. 2/3 of the sentences should include a grammatical mistake.
Make fake money, it is more realistic if you use the currency of whichever country they are living in.

PART ONE

Divide the students into teams of 5 or so.
The students then have 10 minutes to study the worksheet and decide and mark which sentences are correct (0) or incorrect (X).

PART TWO

Each team receives a set amount of money.
The instructor(s) reads one sentence (select sentences from the list in random order).
The instructor begins to auction off the sentence. The students should try to buy only the correct sentences. The students bid and the instructor sells to the highest bidder. (This is really fun!)
The instructor tells whether or not the sentence is correct.
IF the sentence is correct the team wins the amount which they bought if for. If it is incorrect the team looses the amount which they bought it for. ANY team may win the lost money buy stating the incorrect sentence correctly. (YOU WILL BE SHOCKED TO SEE EVEN THE QUIET STUDENTS SCREAMING FOR YOUR ATTENTION).
IF the sentence is CORRECT and NO ONE bids on it, ALL TEAMS must pay a fine.
After all the sentences have been read the team with the most money wins!

The students seem to really enjoy this game!

The Brag Game

Level: Medium

This is a simple game I've made up to practise Present Perfect. You make up about 20-30 sentences in Present Perfect describing various activities one would share to brag. For example: "I've eaten lunch with Al Gore".
"Spielberg has asked me to play in his next movie". Students draw a slip of paper with a statement like that, he/she says it aloud to the group and they try to outdo him/her by thinking up a statement which would be more impressive. It might look something like this:

Student1: "I've eaten lunch with Al Gore"
S2: So what? I've eaten lunch with Bill Clinton!"
S3: So what? I've eaten lunch with Al Gore and Bill Clinton"
S4: So what? I've eaten Gore and Clinton for lunch"
When they can't come up with something, they just say WOW looking impressed and move on to the next statement.

S1: Spielberg has asked me to play in his new movie.
S2: So what? I've asked Spielberg to play in MY new movie.
S3: WOW

They seemed to have fun with this game.

Adding to the Story: OHPs in the Classroom

Level: Any

Aim: To give students further practice in expanding paragraphs.

Materials Needed: OHP transparencies/pens/ OHP machine

Stage One: Photocopy a background scene on to a transparency. Next, put it up on the wall next to the white board. Ask students to write down ideas about the place.
Ask the students to predict what is going to happen today in the town, mountainside,etc....

(Before the class, photocopy onto an OHP different people or animals that can be cut out and dropped into the scenary or the background)

Next, say "perhaps" to their suggestions and then begin to add a transparency character to the scene. Elicit from the students information and questions about the person. Keep adding characters and letting students discuss possibilities and changes for the story.

After that, in groups ask students to write a story about the scene. Ask them to describe the environment and atmosphere in the first paragraph and to start to tell the story thereafter.

When the students complete their stories, pass the papers aroung for other groups to read and peer edit before asking the original group to tell their story about the illustration.

Group Dialogue

Level: Any
Following a simple warm-up where each person must say a word associated with the word mentioned by the person before him or her, I have them repeat the same procedure but with complete sentences, as if it were a discussion between two people. For example: student 1, "Hi how are you Joe?"; student 2, "Oh pretty good Sue. How about you?"; student 3, " Well, not so good."; student 4, " Why not?", etc. The dialogue must procede in such a way that the last person concludes the discussion and they bid each other goodbye. You never know where the conversation will lead and it's excellent for listening, even without a point system!

Present Continuous Videos

Level: Any Level

I've used this activity in just about every class I've ever had, it's suitable for any age group and any level but the best thing about it is that it requires almost no preparation.

You'll need a video. I usually use Mr Bean but anything will do as long as it isn't dialogue heavy and has a lot of action.

The students will need a piece of paper and a pen. Arrange students in two rows and seat them back to back so that the video can be seen by one row (watchers) but not by the other (writers).

Explain to the watchers that they are to describe the action taking place on the screen using the present continuous, they can also describe clothing, people, anything really but try to keep the focus on the action.
The writers have to listen carefully to the watcher sitting behind them and write down as much information as they can.

Keep this going for about five or ten minutes (or as long as a Mr Bean sketch) then get them to swap chairs and play a different sketch/segment for the new row of watchers.

Put the students into two groups according to row. They must now pool their notes and create their own version of events. Good past continuous practice!

I usually get them to share their stories with the other group and then at the end let them watch both segments again and compare their version with what actually happened.

Lots of listening, speaking, writing and lots of fun.

Twenty Questions

Level: Any Level

Using 3X5 file cards I cut and pasted a number of articles from a catalogue. I write on the board questions such as
Would I find this in the house? (If not assume it is outside)
Does it weigh more than 10 pounds?
Does it have wheels?
Does it have a motor?
Does it make noise?
Do you have one ?
Would you like one?
Can you eat it?
Can you wear it?
Is it used in the summer? (if not therefore it is used in winter)

Students work in pairs and may answer only YES or NO and keep track of the number of questions. You can use many more questions perhaps using words that are new or different.

Essay Planning Made Easy

Level: Any
My students find it hard to brainstorm ideas,plan what to write and present balanced opinions. This activity seems to help because it works from a fun speaking base.
Use big pieces of paper. Write a different word within a group on four pieces of paper and stick in different corners of the room(eg. animals: horse, elephant, dog, monkey) Tell the sts to go and stand next to the (animal) you like best/fear most/want to be" etc. Students go to corners and justify their choice to other students.
This can be done in various ways to suit the situation; I sometimes end up with teams having to offer and counteract arguments publicly across the room. The topics can become more abstract, depending on the level of the students.
Finally, bring the activity together by choosing the basis of an essay topic,eg "The Rainforests". Elicit single words for the big pieces of paper, eg 'fuel/building materials/ oxygen/medicines (the brainstorm) and stick them on the board. Then invite students to sort them into two overarching groups; eg reasons for forest conservation or reasons for using the wood (the plan) Repeat the verbal argument 'game' in teams but keep notes of the submissions on the board or on paper(the body of the essay)
Finally write a sentence on the board eg:
"Although it is important to ___ because ___(give one reason) I believe it is more important to ___ because (give two main reasons."
Students then go to one of the two main groups they broadly agree with and produce their final pronouncement(the conclusion).
Review the process overtly. Get the students to write in groups next time, then go it alone with the same methods.

The Grandfather

Level: Any Level

Objective : to practice the numbers.

Procedure :

Students are sit in circle. Then, they are given a number. One of them or the teacher can be the Grandfather. The game goes like this.

A : When the grandpa died, he left twenty cups of wine.

( the person who has number 20 answers :)
B : why 20 ?
A : So, how many ?
B : what about 2 ?

( the person with number 2 says : )

C : why 2 ?
B : So, how many ?
C : what about 3 ?

(and so on..)
The winner is the person who does not hesitate and make a mistake. Advanced students must play the game in English. But if you have beginners, the game can be played in the students« mother tongue ; however, numbers must be said in English. Students need to be attentive, otherwise they are asked to leave the game.

Mimes

Level: Easy to Medium This game is very useful to practice present progressive structures. You have to give to each student a small card with an action (i.E. You are dancing). The student has to mime the action in front of the class and each student in turn will try to guess what he's doing posing a question like: "Are you dancing?". The student who mimes has to answer "Yes i am" or "No i'm not". This way pupils practice and have fun!
Good luck!!!

Name the Place

Level: Any
First prepare a list of places about 20 on seperate pieces of paper and then divide the students into groups of 4-6. One member of the group chooses a piece of paper and between the group they prepare a dialogue or mini-theatre based on their place. When all the groups have prepared their work they take it in turns to read or play them out and the other students have to guess the name of the place it is taking place. A time limit can be based on the level of the students. I find this works very well with student who do not have enough confidence to just speak without preperation, but after the exercise they gain a lot of confidence by trying to speak by not looking.

Stop

Level: Medium to Difficult

STEP 1:: On the top of a page each student writes the following: category names:
NAME, PLACE, ACTION, ANIMAL, OBJECT, FRUIT/VEGGY and TOTAL.
STEP 2:: Someone starts saying the alphabet, A, B, C...etc. then someone else interrupts the alphabet-teller shouting : STOP!!!
STEP 3:: Let us suppose the alphbet-teller was interrupted on letter "K". All the participants in the game would try to find words that start with "K" to fill out the category chart. For example one may write: Kansas for "PLACE", koala for "ANIMAL", key for "OBJECT", kiwii for "FRUIT" and so on.
STEP 4:: The participant that finishes filling all categories first shouts STOP!! And all the others should stop writing.
STEP 5:: The participants compare their words. The words repeated by two players are worth 50 points. the words repeated by three or more are worth 25. The words that are not repeated by anyone are worth 100 points. The empty categories are "0". Each player adds up all the points he got for the letter in turn and put the result in the "TOTAL" At the end of the game all the subtotals are added and the one who gets the highest score is the winner.

Verb Review Game

Level: Any

This game can be played in teams or individually, depending on the size end knowledge of the students.

Step 1:: The teacher gives the students 5 minutes to review a list of both regular and irregular verbs.
Step 2:: Then the teacher writes something like this on the board : "things we do with our feet"
Step 3:: The students then have exactly one minute to write all the verbs related to this topic, such as: walk, kick, dance, run, jump, etc.
Step 4:: After the time is up, the teacher checks the students' lists of vebs. Each verb counts for one point. Any verbs appearing in more than one list are elliminated.
Then the teacher writes another topic on the board, "things we do with our mouth", for instance.

The student or team with the most points is the winner. NOTE:This game can be used to review ot only verbs but also adjetives, nouns etc.

Create Your Own Similes

Level: Easy to Medium

Present a few similes and the sample sentences to the class. Write the sentences with underline.
Ex. - The baby's skin was as white as snow.
- Finishing up the project by himself,the boy was as
- proud as a peacock.
Prepare flashcards with one adjective on each. Students pick out one card in turn and create similes by using the adjective on the card. Emphasize that unique ideas are welcome. Instructor shouldn't be judgmental, and accept any similes as long as they are logical.
Ex. - as big as Mt. Fuji / as soft as a cotton candy
Students compare their ideas and discuss which ones are interesting or funny.
If time allows play a song which includes a simile, for example the jazz song "As deep as the ocean" and discuss the usage and effectiveness of the simile.

This activity fosters students' creativity and encourage their active participation in the lesson.

Finding the Best Person for the Job

Level: Any

The idea of this activity is to review or learn personality adjectives.
Tell the students that they are the owners of a cafe and they have to choose a new waiter/waitress from a list of four applicants for the job.
The teacher's preparation involves thinking of four personality adjectives for each applicant.Give the applicants a name and a colour. One applicant should be ideal for the job, two neutral and the other totally useless. After this the teacher writes each adjective on a separate card using a different colour pen for each applicant. Four applicants,four colours,sixteen adjectives altogether.
The next step is to arrive at work early before the students and hide the cards in sixteen different places around the classroom.
When the class starts, you explain the activity by telling the students their aim is to decide which applicant is best for the job.There are four applicants, each with their own colour and a total of sixteen words. The pair that finds all the words and chooses the best applicant first are the winners. But first they have to find the cards!
Pair the students off. Student A stays put while student B searches for the hidden words. When a word is found B must read it, (without alerting the other searchers )return to A and quietly say the word.A writes the word, keeping words of the same colour together. If B forgets the word or the correct spelling,he /she has to return to the word. A and B should swap roles after a number of words have been found.
At the end of the activity stick all the words on the board, in their colour groups,under the correct name. All the students can then discuss why the applicants are/are not suitable for the job.
The job could be changed depending on what sort of adjectives you would like to focus on as could the number and dificulty of the adjectives.

Village Fair

Level: Easy to Medium

Aim: To practise interrogatives ; suggestions ;acceptance ; refusal etc.

Each student decides what wares he is carrying to market to sell. Also what he wants to buy to take home.
Melee' : Students move around classroom trying to sell their wares ; haggling over prices , quantities etc.
They use language such as How about...? ; Could you make that...? ; That's a deal ; No deal etc.
End of 10 minutes all students report to rest of class what sales they made , what they couldn't sell and what they bought.
Depending on the proficiency of the class , language help may be provided at the beginning.
Submitted by Parvathi Krishnan India

Advice

Level: Medium to Difficult

Aims: To practise giving advice and suggestions. To trigger creative
contributions. To generate interaction from a simple raw material.

1 Get a student to say the first sentence below to his neighbour. The
latter makes a suggestion, and goes on to utter the next of my sentences,
and so on.

2 If the students are a bit cold, do the following; get them all to write
down a piece of advice for the first sentence on a page-give them time.
Then, you can go around the class enjoying the wide variety of
contributions which are sure to ensue.

(I actually did the uttering of the sentences, and allowed the students to
propose the advice).

Note: For some sentences you may get really boring answers, devoid of any
thought-get them to modify it, change it a bit, spice it up, use
creativity!

I HAVE A HEADACHE.

I HATE WORKING.

I FEEL SAD.

I WANT TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT.

I LOVE PEOPLE.

I AM ALWAYS LATE.

I KEEP LOSING MY CREDIT CARD.

MY FRIENDS DON'T WANT TO SEE ME.

I HAVE A RED NOSE.

I AM ALWAYS CRASHING MY CAR.

I WOULD LOVE TO MEET SOME PEOPLE.

IT WOULD BE GREAT TO BE RICH.

MY STOMACH IS HUGE

I AM VERY INTELLECTUAL.

MOTHER SAYS I AM ATTRACTIVE.

YOU SHOULD + INFINITIVE
YOU OUGHT TO + INFINITIVE (FORMAL)
IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA IF YOU + PAST SIMPLE
IF I WERE YOU, I WOULD ...
YOU HAD BETTER ... + INFINITIVE
YOU WILL HAVE TO + INFINITIVE
IT IS TIME YOU + PAST SIMPLE
WHY DON'T YOU ... + INFINITIVE
YOU COULD ALWAYS ... + INFINITIVE
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT ... + ING
IMPERATIVES (Don't ... Do ...)

Animals for a Day

Level: Medium to Difficult

Activity A

Show the students a photocopied list of many different animals (mammals,
amphibians ...), and ask them to choose, individually and without speaking,
an animal they would like to be for a day. Give them a minute. Then
(something they won't be expecting), get them to write a few sentences,
once again working alone, about their day, or their thoughts-as the animal
they have chosen. Give them a few minutes.

Needless to say, you will be surprised by the imagination of your students,
many of whom, I believe, love to indulge in moments of escapism-something
us teachers know all about!

For example, I had a group of five female students, three of whom chose to
be dolphins, one an eagle, and the last a bear.

What I got from one girl:

"I am a bear and I live with my friends in a mountain. I am happy, but when
I see a hunter I attack him, but when I see a tourist I shout at him".

A second:

"I am a dolphin, but I am sad because they have put me into a pool, where I
cannot move like before ...".

Activity B

Now, what you can do is get the students to read/tell their story, adding
in extra bits as they go along.

Activity C

Now, you can ask them why they chose this animal, and then go on to pick up
on what they said, expanding it into a session of exchanges between the
students, involving yourself if you feel like it.

Activity D

Get a blank page and draw a circle in the centre. Then, place the words
"animal in captivity" inside the circle. Give each student a copy of the
page and tell them to do an INDIVIDUAL brainstorming exercise on the words
in the circle. That is, get them to draw lines from the circle, each line
leading up to a word or image suggested by the animal's situation. Give
them all a few minutes to do this.

This, we can call a word-map, or even a mind-map.

Next, get each student to read out the ideas that came spontaneously into
their heads as they thought. You can all marvel at the number of
differences-or similarities that arise, and go on to discuss the matter of
captive animals.

Don't forget to question students on why they put in such and such a thing.
Watch out for strange concepts!

Put all the pages together so that the students can somehow see the work
carried out by the rest.

Perhaps now, as a group, they could all focus on the main aspects of
animals in captivity.

You could then move on to debate issues like endangered species, whale
hunting ...

Activity E

(B) TIGERS KILL TOURISTS (B)

Get the students to debate, or role play, the following incident: Two
German pensioners alighted from their car in a Spanish nature park in order
to get a better picture (christ!) of the tigers, who were relaxing in the
shade of a tree at the time. They were, bluntly, torn apart. There were
signs up in many languages warning people to stay in their cars ...

Should the animals be put down?
Should they be in nature reserves in the first place?
Etc

Activity F

Here, you could mention the pros and cons of having a domestic animal-a
pet-at home.

Animals, Our Friends

Level: Medium to Difficult

In February of 1998, a Somerset (UK) man was trapped under a fallen van he
had been repairing. As he cried for help and darkness fell it seemed he
would be left there all night; his leg had been caught beneath the wheels.
The area was rather isolated and nobody heard his cries-except a parrot
perched on a caravan in a nearby camp site. The bird mimicked the man's
cries, which is apparently normal behaviour for this type of animal, and
alerted two men working in the area. These reversed the van off the injured
man, who, in the end, only had slight injuries.

Activity A

Have you ever been in a similar situation? Has an animal ever helped you in
some way?

Activity B

Do you think animals are necessary for humans? Why?

Examples:

Company
Protection
Cosmetic testing
...........
...........

Activity C

List the most helpful animals, and why.

Examples:

1 The elephant can transport us and pull trees
2 Dogs keep us company
3 Spiders eat flies
4 Cows give us meat and leather
5 .....................
6 ..........................

Activity D

Negative points associated with animals

1 They bite humans
2 They answer the call of nature anywhere
3 They bark and wake us up at night
4 .............
5 .................

Activity E

Should we use animals to test drugs and cosmetic products on? If your
answer is "no", what way do you suggest instead? Humans? Robots?

Activity F

When you are at home, studying or watching TV, and you see a fly or a
spider, what is your first reaction? Do you normally kill it? Why?

Mystery Object

Level: Any

I am teaching my Level 1 writing students how to describe things by means of process (First second then), extended definition (for instance/compare-contrast), and directions (N.S.E.W./right, left, etc). We have done these things one at a time but my students are continually making learning leaps beyond the simple assignments and I want to reward them for their abilities while making sure they have the basics down. Also, we will soon be studying the correct form for personal letters and I think they are ready to move on. We did these two fun assignments:

Imagine a terrible disaster has befallen our class here at the University (Monsoon, earthquake, rainstorm, snowstorm, tornado, flood, etc.) Write me a letter in which you describe this event and tell me exactly how you responded (I ran out the door and turned left! I ran straight ahead to the end of the hall and looked right and left. etc.).

We had such fun with this assignment! Everyone got into the drama! Exciting assignments like this really test the basic understanding of sentence construction as well as show them how all these forms work together in a paragraph. It was clear when they began to put all of the various forms together that some of them had not completely understood directions when they were not directly connected with the book example of street directions (North, South, and Right, Left). After this adventure in creative writing, however, they all felt that every sort of description was easy. So, we went on to another adventure that was even more fun!

Assignment 2: Write me a letter in which you tell me a wild story or an outrageous lie about yourself! (Everyone looks up outrageous in their dictionary). I provided them with stamped envelopes and these letters were actually mailed to me -- so I had the additional fun of getting personal letters in the mail. These letters were the best writing they had done so far and were, in addition, hysterically funny (one of my Turkish students warned me that he was a space alien and that the information he was about to tell me was "specific and secret!"). The following week, I helped each student with grammer mistakes and then read the corrected letters aloud in class. Everyone enjoyed this (particularly the public praise and appreciative applause) and they also saw that there were many ways to tell a story and still use correct English writing style. Two of my students had difficulty with sentence construction when they let their imaginations run in this way so they were provided with a topic sentence/supporting sentence review tool and they then wrote me a third letter while constantly referring to their topic/supporting sentence diagram. The improvement in their writing was astonishing.

I always encourage imaginations running wild; the greatest portion of my student's training tends to be incredibly focused and detail-oriented and an occasional stretch is important. Also, my father, who was an orchestra conductor, told me that when you are about to begin a new piece with the orchestra you do not start by practicing each section and then, when the sections are perfect, putting them together. You start by playing the entire piece through! You tell everyone not to be concerned about their mistakes, but just to try and keep up. Naturally this first "stagger through" sounds terrible! But the psychological result is that when you are done every musician says to himself, "I can do this!" Obviously, they do not want to look bad in the group, so they will self-discipline themselves to improve.

Role Play: The Exclusive Picture

Level: Medium to Advanced

Time: One hour, including follow-up debate.
Language: As many speech acts as are possible. "Divergent"approach (see The Internet TESL Journal" for a good article by Patricia K. Tompkins).
Organization: Small group (in my case, 7).
Warm-up/Preparation: Each student compiles a fictitious character profile(or merely thinks up a few ideas on what he mightsay in the context).
Procedure: Teacher asks for volunteers, or appoints them ifthe students are stalling too much.

Background:

The editor of a newspaper, whose sales are not going well at the moment, has just received a very graphic photo of a horrendous accident involving a school-bus and which occurred on a nearby motorway due to heavy fog. In the photo, you can see the injured and dead strewn around the crash scene. The rest is easy to imagine. The problem is whether to publish it or not. The image could shock, all the more so if it is on the front page. Should not the victims be left in peace, and not appear on the cover of a newspaper. Then again, perhaps by publishing this photo, the editor seeks to educate would-be careless drivers, or would-be drink-drivers. Of course, why should these victims be used as free advertising? Also, it is news, and nobody can fault a journalist for airing a story and photo. Moreover, the photo will attract, perhaps, new customers; people have a morbid interest in the misfortunes of others, it is said.

Role players:

The editor, quite young.
The photographer who took the shot, single.
The accountant, married with two children.
A journalist-relative of one of the victims-in favour ofpublication,
married (with or without children).
A second journalist, single, who is against publication.
More journalists from various sections of the paper.

(The ages and marital status may be altered as you see fit).

Facts on newspaper:

Employs fifty workers, most with children.
Is on the verge of closure.
Serious newspaper.

Follow-up:

Teacher collects main arguments raised and writes them down in order to fully tease out what was said, the validity/logic of same.

A more open " casual" group debate can ensue in the wake of the role play.

Variation:

Instead of a photo, it could be a nasty story about a local hero/personality.

Off-shoot Activity:

The role of newspapers in society.
What sells newspaper.
Why do we buy newspapers.
Will they disappear in the future?

20 True or False Items

Level: Easy to Medium

Print this out and give it to your students.

I never go to bed after 1 am
I study English more than 2 hours a week
I had a great time at secondary school-I loved it
My ambition in life is to get a permanent job
My parents started giving me pocket money when I was five
I don't mind wet days, there are still plenty of things to do
I really believe that motorbikes are dangerous
Parents spoil their children nowadays
The beach is for relaxing and doing nothing
I am an adventurous person
I never run for a bus-I can catch the following one
In the end, most people are very nice
I absolutely hate Mondays
I have never stolen anything-never
People who smoke are crazy
Tall men/women are more interesting than small ones
People who watch more than 2 hours of TV a day are wasting time
Spending 4,000 pesetas on a permanent is immoral
Keeping animals at home is cruel
I am intelligent

Word Grab with Songs

Level: Any
This is a wonderful activity if you think your class needs waking up a little.
Choose a song that the students have or have not heard before. Choose 10-15 pieces of vocabulary from the song and write them on separate pieces of paper. With lower level groups you may want to pronounce the words with the students first. Stick each word to the board with putty (blue tack). Put the students into 2 teams each one in a line before the board. Play the song. When the 2 students at the front of their line hear a word in the song that is on the board they must race each other to grab that word from the board (this can get quite violent!). They then go to the back of the line and it's up to the next pair. The team with the most words wins.
I don't usually stop the tape so don't choose words that come one after the other. If you want to make it more difficult you can put red herrings up. You can usually play the song a couple of times until they get all the words.

Is Your Conversation Style Feminine or Masculine?

Level: Medium

The following activity is loosely based on Conversation Analysis readings, so nothing is hard and fast doctrine. It seeks to be thought-provoking and there may be a grain of truth in some of the statements below. Remember also that men and women express themselves differently according to the make-up of the conversation group. That is, the group may be mixed gender, all male or all female, hence the type of exchanges will be different-the atmosphere too. Furthermore, the group may be friends, work-mates, academics, a meeting ....

If nothing else, it should generate chat.

Put yes (Y) or no (N) for the sentences below.

Generally speaking, when I converse with people I know:

I am a blunt person
I criticise people
I am a little sarcastic
I ask a lot of questions in a conversation, to find out about people, their thoughts, etc
I rarely admit I am wrong about something when I am in a conversation
I make eye-contact and use body language in conversations
I generalise
I get personal with people in conversations; I may even gossip about a mutual friend
I compliment people spontaneously
I use four-letter words, coarse language
I like to talk about myself
I am a good listener
I prefer to talk about non-personal topics, such as unemployment, the economy, current affairs ...
I usually talk about personal problems, people, their way of being, hopes, desires, my family ...
I get personal when I write a letter to someone, but not face to face in a conversation
I help to keep a conversation flowing, I am not provocative, controversial, confrontational ...
I like to get my say, get in a few comments, no matter what the topic
I don't assert something, but I might preface a comment with "I think, I suppose, perhaps"
I talk a lot
If I ask a question, it is generally a yes-no answer I am looking for
I don't mind talking about a situation where I was embarrassed,humiliated and so on

** Results ** (A personal view)
Men, it is said, are more assertive, sarcastic, long-winded, non-personal and so on, while women are collaborative, personal and happy to take a back seat in many chats-it is said. So, working on the previous assertions-and more-you can score the test the following way:

4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 21 would be more feminine traits-generally speaking The rest, male.

Once again, the activity should not give rise to aggressive exchanges.

A Conversation Idea - Rate the Apparatus

Level: Medium

Activity A

The many household apparatus/machines/gadgets we use at home make life a
little bit easier; the micro-wave oven heats things up quickly; the fridge keeps
perishable goods fresh; the washing-machine cleans our clothes and saves us
time. So, when put to the test, which of these machines/apparatus could we
do without-IF WE HAD TO. In other words, which of these machines is the
most important, generally speaking. Get your students to make a list of ten
common ones, and then get them to list them in order of perceived necessity
(for want of a better word). Here is a list I gleaned from my pupils, don't
show it to the pupils at first.

Refrigerator
Washing machine
Shower
Toilet
Tea/Coffee maker
TV
Radio
Telephone
Light bulb
Cooker

Of course, these items must be rated according to perceived necessity, and
the rating must be justified. Reasons for a choice must be given. Students
will debate the "top" necessity and so on, down to the least important
item.

Activity B

Are these things necessary?

The activity A could branch out into further items we use to make life
easier and, presumably, make life better. For example:

Perfume
Hair driers
Mirrors
Walkman
Cigarette lighters
Special wine glasses
Mobile telephones
Curtains
Expensive furniture
Sweets and savouries
Etc ...

A Conversation Idea - How Do You Kill Time?

Level: Medium

Here is a simple idea to generate chat among your students. We all know
that there are moments during the day when we have nothing to do, no plans.
For example, when you are waiting for a teacher, a friend and so on. How do
we occupy these periods of time, either mentally or physically? For
example:

Activity A

What do you do during the TV advertisements?

Make a list of what the students say

(My students got these)

Talk to my sister
I read something, anything
I get up and do something
I go to the bathroom (!)
I change channels
I look for something to eat or read
I call a friend
I water the plants
I put on some food for the next day
I phone Pizza Hut
I put the children to bed
I brush my teeth
I unload the washing machine/put clothes on line
I rush to do the washing-up

You can also get the students to tick off the ones which they regularly do
and check the most common activities

Activity B

Ways to pass the time/occupy your mind/self when you are:

In a bus queue
Waiting at a supermarket check-out
In a doctor's waiting-room
Waiting for your boy/girlfriend on a cold day-outdoors
In a cinema/theatre, waiting for the film/play
In a traffic jam
In an airport/train station
In a lift/elevator
Getting your hair done/cut
Etc ...

Tell Me about Myself

Level: Any

This game works well with students at pre-intermediate level or above and can be adapted accordingly. It is an original way of introducing yourself (as a teacher) to a class for the first time, but could also be used later on.

Prepare in advance, on an overhead transparency or white-board, a mind map of yourself. Instead of using sentences to describe your life, use single words, numbers, dates, symbols and illustrations where possible.
For example I include information about my life in England, names of siblings, date of birth, name of hometown etc. (My hometown is Stoke-on-Trent which I then illustrate with a cup and saucer - the Potteries, and a football - Stoke City FC. It keeps them guessing.)
I include information about my husband (name and illustration of job) children (names, ages, birthdays). You can add your shoe size, height, illustrations of your hobbies etc. I draw a needle and thread - sewing, a pair of skis - I enjoy skiing, and a pencil - drawing.
Any kind of information can be included. Use your imagination! I live in Sweden and draw a picture of a snowman with a cross through it to illustrate that I don¥t like the winter!
Get your students to tell you what the information means. For example.

July - is that when your birthday is?
Does the cup and saucer mean you drink tea?

Try and get a good mix of obvious and less obvious information. For example, when I drew a fish (to illustrate that I kept tropical fish) it provoked questions like:

Do you eat a lot of fish?
Do you enjoy fishing?
Is your star sign pisces?

Give them a clue if they¥re having problems guessing.

This game has worked wonderfully for me in many classes of varying levels. To follow up, get you students to take a few minutes to prepare something similar individually, and then work in pairs guessing what the information means about their partner.

People Who ...

Level: Any

An activity whose aim is to complete sentences and also take advantage of the contributions in order to generate debate and interaction.

How: Just hand out the following sheet with the heading

PEOPLE WHO ...

and tell the students they have to complete the sentences with realism-not just adding on a grammatically correct ending.

PARK THEIR CARS ON THE FOOTPATH ...

WHO DON'T PAY TAX ...

WHO THROW LITTER ON THE GROUND ...

WHO GIVE MONEY TO CHARITIES ...

EAT CRISPS AT THE CINEMA ARE ...

WHO DRINK AND DRIVE ...

WHO TRAVEL A LOT ...

WHO SAVE LOTS OF MONEY ...

WATCH TV ALL DAY ...

GO TO THE OPERA ...

EAT FROG'S LEGS ...

CLIMB EVEREST ...

HUNT WHALES ...

EAT TOO MUCH ...

DRIVE TOO FAST ...

JUMP QUEUES ...

WHISTLE AT GIRLS ...

SMOKE IN PUBLIC SPACES ...

EARN A LOT OF MONEY ...

THROW THEIR OLD COOKER INTO A FIELD ...

SNORE ...

Etc .......... (Add more!)

NB: The idea is to get personal, individual endings. For example, for

"People who eat crisps in the cinema ...",

I got:
annoy me
should eat them before the show
make a lot of noise
have a right to do so (!)

As you can see, everybody has a different answer-and opinion. The latter is what generates talk.

So you kill two birds with one stone: You practise grammar and you get students talking.

Fly Swat

Level: Any

Divide your class into 2 groups.
Choose 2 ss. and ask them to go to the back part of the classroom and turn back.
Display on the blackboard 20 vocabulary words and over 10 of them paste "flies" made of cardboard paper with a piece of velcro on them.
Give both ss. a fly swatter with the other side of velcro on them.
The objective on the game is that you will say a word and ss. will turn back and run to "fly swat" the word that has the bug over it. The ss. who "kills" the fly has to spell the word and then he will score a point for his team.

With the fly swatter and the velcro flies, you can invent many different games. Try it!!!

I¥ve worked with 4, 5 and 6 graders and they love this game.

Name Six

Level: Any Level

This game is fun and challenging at the same time. It can be adapted for virtually any subject and any grade level. It allows the students to review material they've learned, without having to get out a pencil and paper and answer questions from the text.

Arrange 6 chairs in a circle and choose one person, the teacher or another student, to stand outside the circle.
Give someone in the circle a stuffed animal, the funnier the animal the better!
The person outside the circle states what the person holding the animal has to name six of.
The person then starts moving the animal around the circle and the other players pass it around.
The player must name six of the objects before the animal gets back to him or her.

For example, let's say that you have just finished a vocabulary unit on animals. The person standing outside the group may say something like,"Name six animals that have fur." The person sitting in the circle begins namimg six animals and at the same time, the stuffed animal is being passed around the circle. If the player cannot name 6 animals with fur by the time the stuffed animal reaches him, he has lost and it's his turn to stand outside the group and stunt the other students.

My students absolutely love this game and so do I because it requires no prep time!! It may take the students a few times before they become successful at the game, but eventually I'm sure it will become one of their favorites. I hope you have as much success with Name Six as I have had.

Career Letters

Level: Medium to Difficult

My high school students have enjoyed this activity very much. It helps them think about more possibilities for a future career and is a great writing activity. They also learn how to write a business letter by writing a real letter.

Many ESL students have limited knowledge of career possibilities. Far too many think only in terms of becoming a mechanic or a secretary. So first you discuss with them some of the opportunities they have.

Students choose a career field and then write a letter to a school requesting information about that field. It could be anything from astronomer (local or out-of-town university) to electrician (technical institute) to travel agent (yes, there are travel agency schools!)

You help them perfect the letters and mail them out. When they get a reply, share it with the class.

Personal Survey

Level: Easy to Medium

Here is a light-hearted idea to get pupils talking in conversation class. I have adapted an idea I found in a gossip magazine.

TEACHER TIP

Get your students to fill out this mini survey. You can ask them questions at the end of the exercise or go through the answers as they are made. Obviously, you don't dwell on the "childhood" question too much-it's meant to be a bit of fun. But you should get some mileage from the "white lies" one.

PERSONAL SURVEY

Did you have a happy childhood?

When do you tell white lies? Tell us one.

The most capable person in your country?

Favourite novelist?

Proudest moment?

Worst moment? (last week if necessary)

Most hated song/music at the moment?

The last piece of music you bought?

Were you good at school?

The greatest influence on you? (parents, friends ...)

Current bedside reading material?

Where will you go when you die?

What do you admire most about yourself?

One of your main faults?

A small crime you once committed? (anything at all)

Music you would like played at your funeral?

My Town

Level: Any

Activity A

Do you like the town/city you live in? Why? Why not?

Activity B

Teacher makes a list of the positive points mentioned by the pupils. Discuss common and original comments.

Activity C

Teacher makes a list of negative comments about towns/cities mentioned

Activity D

THE PERFECT TOWN/CITY:

The class now makes a list of the characteristics of a perfect town/city. For example, these could include:

Bicycle paths
No smoke
No cars
Sports facilities
No violence
Beautiful buildings
Culture

Activity E

Compare your town/city with another one you know, and make a list of the comments. Some examples:

My town is noisier than X, because ...
My city is more boring than Y, because ...

You can go on to mention aspects such as
Pollution
Poverty/Wealth
Green areas
Amenities
Transport
Health
Crowding
Cost of living
Selfishness ...

Activity F

The best town/city you have ever been to/seen?

Class Mixer

Level: Any
This game can be played with a range of different levels. It can be used purely as a mixer/ice breaker or can be adapted to reinforce target gambits, grammar or vocabulary by directing the 'chat' portion of the game. This game is essentially an adaption of the old 'Who am I?' game. Start with a 'chat' either in rotating groups or in an interview format. This portion sets the level and focus of the game. For example a low intermediate class might be instructed to ask all of their classmates a series of "Have you ever...?" questions. A more advanced group might be told to talk to all their classmates about a certain topic, leaving the specific questions up to them. With a lower level group I find a note taking form to be useful. After the chat portion, do the 'who am I' game using your students' names. They must use the same target language to ask yes/no questions and find out who they are.

Add a Word

Level: Any Level

Rationale: Students practise grammar and syntax.

Materials: None.

Levels: All levels, though better for more advanced students, because the game is more fun at a quick pace.

Method: One student begins a sentence by saying only one word. A second student must say a word which continues the sentence. A third must continue, and so on, until someone says a word that does not fit syntactically or grammatically. If the sentence comes to a logical end without error, the next student may say "period" and begin a new sentence with a new word.

The teacher may suggest a topic to get things started. What the students say may also be recorded and played back, so the class can discuss the error that stopped the sentence.

Example:

Teacher: The topic is 'pets'.
First student: "My . . ."
Second student: ". . . dog"
Third student: ". . . has . . ."
Fourth student: ". . . spots . . ."
Fifth student: ". . . brown . . ."

Time Indicators

Level: Any

Rationale: Students practise using different subject pronouns, verb tenses, and the time words and phrases that go with them. They must also be able to recognize different forms of the same verb, especially irregular verbs.

Materials: None.

Levels: All. Beginners can play using only four verb tenses (present, past, future, and present progressive). More advanced can play using all the tenses.

Method: One student says a time word or phrase (e.g. next year, a few days ago). A second student must complete a sentence using the proper verb tense. That student then says a different time word or phrase. A third student uses it to form a sentence, but may not use the same verb or subject pronoun the second student used.

Verb tenses may be repeated if necessary, but verbs may not, and subject pronouns may be repeated only after they have all been used once.

The game can continue as long as the teacher wants, though two runs through all the subject pronouns is an appropriate length. The teacher may write the full sentences on the board, but should at least keep track of which subject pronouns and verbs have been used.

Example:

First student: "At the moment . . ."
Second student: ". . . I am sitting in a classroom."
Second student: "Last year . . ."
Third student: ". . . they went to Europe."
Third student: "Every day . . ."
Fourth student: ". . . she takes the bus to work."

Flip a Card

Level: Any Level

Rationale: Students develop vocabulary and, at higher levels, practise proper word order by forming sentences.

Materials: Standard deck of playing cards.

Method: For each card from ace to king, assign two letters of the alphabet, and write these on the board. Assigning letters can be done at random, but it is logical to have some sort of order, e.g.:

A    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    J    Q    K
A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I    J     K    L    M
N    O    P    Q    R    S    T    U    V    W     X    Y    Z

For beginners: Flip a card. The student must think of a word beginning with one of the letters that card represents. If, for example, the card is a 3, the student must say a word beginning with C or P. Variation: The word must fit a category, e.g. animals, occupations, etc.

For higher beginners and intermediate: Flip a certain number of cards-say, seven. Each student must write down a sentence using words beginning with the given letters, in order. If the teacher so wishes, the students can work in small groups. Students then read their sentences aloud.

For advanced: Taking turns with each card flipped, students orally form grammatically and syntactically correct sentences. For example:

      Cards: A, Q, K, Q, K, 6, 8, 7, 5, 4, 4, 10, 2, K, 2, 2, 8, 9, A, 7.
   Sample sentence: A lovely monkey laughed merrily, for his green
   elephant drank quickly while orange zebras brought over hungry,
   intelligent, naughty giraffes.

Bingo with Irregular Verbs

Level: Easy

The teacher prepares a 5x5 grid with 25 irregular verbs in the past tense in each square. Make enough variations of these grids so each student has one that is slightly (or very) different.

The teacher then calls out the verbs in their present tense form until a student gets five in a diagonal or horizontal row. Bingo!

While it may seem time-consuming to make the grids, they can be used over and over. This game is received very enthusiastically because often, students are already familiar with it. It is great as a warmup activity and can have many variations (past-participle, time of day, vocabulary)

"Jeopardy"

Level: Medium to Difficult Select 4 or 5 categories - either general (I normally use countries, sports, animals, food and drink and names) or areas from the textbook that is in use - and then divide the board into three - assigning each area with a point score (100, 200, 300 - etc...). Divide the class into teams, or get them to work individually and ask them to select a category and a score.

Countries Sports Animals F&D Names
____________________________________________

1
0
0

____________________________________________

2
0
0

____________________________________________

3
0
0

____________________________________________

During your preparation time, think about the easiest and hardest answers for each category and the level of the students and consider how many possible answers there are for each letter of the alphabet (in the case of sports: Archery, Basketball, Cricket, Diving, Equestrian, etc).

If a team or individual is unable to answer or gives a incorrect reply, then that letter remains in that point range until someone answers correctly. If a stalemate situation ever occurs - give correct answers and encourage the students to repeat them a few times, so as they will remember them.

This game is lots of fun, and my students always want to play.

For variation, you can draw a soccer park or basketball court on the board and assign areas in the same way.

Adverbial Charades

Level: Any
Each student is given a card with a familiar adverb on it--i.e. quickly, angrily, loudly, happily. Then the class tells the student to do something so they can guess what adverb is on the card. They can tell the student to do things in pantomime, like drink a bowl of soup, or really do it in class, like open a door or take a book from the teacher. (Can't recall where I read this idea, but it is fun and can be played in teams.)

Who Am I?

Level: Any
You can use use this with any subject. Write the names of famous people (mixed nationalities) on small pieces of paper. Tape a name on the forehead of each student. The individual student should not see his or her paper, but the others should. Then, like with 20 questions, only yes or no questions should be asked. Perhaps start with yourself and ask "Am I am man?" If the answer is yes, I can ask again, but if the answer is no, it's the next person's turn. Play until everyone has guessed who he or she is! This can be played with nationalities, countries, household objects, anything and it's a gas, especially for adult students!!

Guess the Object

Level: Any Level

The teacher prepares cutout pictures that are pasted or taped to index cards. One student selects a card and must describe it in English until another student can guess the object. This is very much like "20 Questions" but instead of the challenge being to ask questions, the bonus is on the cardholder to verbalize the description.

The teacher should be careful to select pictures that reflect the vocabulary level of the students. Simple objects, like "baby", "door" or "car" are good for beginners. Later on, more complicated pictures that suggest actions, scenes and relationships could be used, like: "mother bathing child".

"Tic Tac Toe" or "Noughts and Crosses"

Level: Any

This is a good game for a revision or for a reader's discussion. Divide the class into two groups. Draw a grid of nine squares on the board and write a number on each square (from 1 to 9). Prepare nine questions and set one question for each number. The groups call out the numbers and if they answer the question correctly, they get the point. The goal of the game is to make a line (either horizontal, vertical or diagonal).

Question and Answer Game Activity

Level: Any

Usually students answer comprehension questions after a reading. Why not have students create their own comprehension questions? I have and it works well, especially if this activity is turned into a game. I do this by having students in small groups work together to write questions about the text. Only questions which can be answered by the text are allowed. Opinion questions are not allowed. After groups finish writing their questions, they ask their questions to another group which must answer within a specified amount of time (the teacher decides the time according the class level). If the answer is correct and given within the time period, the answering team receives a point. If the answer is incorrect or not found within the time period, the questioning group receives a point, but they must inform the other group of the answer. Each group takes turns asking and answering questions.

Kim's Game on Video

Level: Any Level

The traditional "Kim's Game" uses a tray full of objects to stretch the memory and vocabulary of the players. This version uses moving pictures. Therefore, a larger range of vocabulary, word classes, and phrases can be elicited.

To Play
1. Select any sequence that scans over a large number of objects, people or includes many actions.

Examples:

The opening of "Masterpiece Theatre"
The opening of "Miami Vice"
The toy store in "Home Alone II"
A display of quiz game prizes

2. Allow players to view the segment once. They are not allowed to take notes.

3.Individually or in groups, form a list of as many of the objects, people or actions in the scene as can be remembered.

4. Play the scene again using still frames to check off the things on the list. Score one point for each correct item but minus one for any item on the list that is not in the scene.

Variation
Narrow the range of things allowable on the list.

Examples:

Things that start with (pick a letter of the alphabet).
Things that are (pick a color or quality).
Things made of (pick a material).
Things used for (pick an action).

Video Scavenger Hunt

Level: Any Level

Choose a movie, a series of TV commericals or any other video-taped resource that you like or that learners are familiar with and compile lists of things for viewers or listeners to find. It is also possible to prepare a library of films and allow the players to search the tapes.

Each team gets a different list. If only one machine is available, a time limit may be set and the team that finds the most in the alloted time wins. It is also possible to assign this as a week long hunt (on student's own time). In such a case, one tape or many tapes can be used.

Here are some suggested categories:

Information: Ask players to find specific facts or figures. These facts may be verbal or visual. Information found on charts, graphs and in the closing credits of a film are good sources.

Counts: Count the number of times a certain word is said in a clip. Count the number of people or objects of a certain quality (eg. people who are male, or people wearing blue, or objects made of wood). Count the number of people doing a particular activity (eg. people who talk to a particular character, people sleeping in class, people boarding a train). Count the number of times a particular action is performed (eg. number of times a character goes up and down stairs, crosses a bridge, lights a cigarette).

Scenes: Find a particular scene (eg. a love scene), location (eg. a river, Paris), view or social activity (eg. a picnic, a speech).

Speech Acts: Find an example of a speech act. (eg. inviting, refusing, requesting, making an introduction, apologizing).

Concentration Using an Overhead Projector

Level: Any Level

This is a game for the overhead projector. It is a version of the game "Concentration" in which students flip over cards of items to find matching pairs. For the overhead projector you will need to make a grid of squares on a transparency. Five squares across by four down. I make the square about 1.25 inches on a side. At the top of the grid write the letters THINK, one letter over each column. Down the left side of the grid write the numbers 1234, one number to each row. Make a transparency of your grid. Next, cut out cardboard or heavy paper "tents": small rectangular pieces just large enough to cover each space. I call them tents because they have a little flap which I use to pick them up. Prepare the game in advance. You have to think of ten pairs of any item. For example, ten pairs of opposites, ten pairs of irregular past tense forms (get,got) or ten pairs of a picture and a word. Write (or draw) one word or picture in each space in a random fashion. Place the transparency on the OHP (with the light off) and cover each space. When you turn the light on, the students will see the grid but each image or word will be dark. (You will be able to see the words and images illuminated through the paper)

TO PLAY: Instruct the students (and model of course the first time) that they are to pick two squares by calling out a number and a letter for each square. For example T2 and N4. You uncover the spaces as a students calls out the letter. If the two spaces uncovered are a match write the student's name in the spaces with a marker and toss them a prize (a piece of candy serves nicely). If the two spaces are not a match, cover them back up and call a different student. As spaces are uncovered, excitement builds in the classroom until the last two spaces. Since these are obvious winners, you can take the opportunity for teacher inspired humor and call on either the class "comic" making a big display of "Are you sure?" or any other individual who maybe had repeated incorrect answers.

An individual game usually takes between 15 and 20 minutes to complete.

If you keep several transparencies of the grid handy, you can prepare a game pretty fast for the last part of the class. If you are doing a unit on irregular past tense, you can prepare a grid using the specific verbs that you reviewed in the lesson.

Prove It

Level: Easy to Medium

Give your students one or more statements to prove or disprove. The statements can tie in with the topic or the grammar point of the class. Examples: Nobody in this class likes winter. Everyone here can draw a Volkswagen Beetle car.

Students talk to as many other students as possible to prove/disprove the statements. Then they give feedback to the class: 'This statement is not true. There are at least 5 people in this class who like winter.

What's the Word?

Level: Medium to Difficult

On an index card, write a word (example: school) and write 4 or 5 key words that cannot be used to describe that particular word. (Example: teachers, blackboards, students, desks, tests) Any other words can be used except for the words written on the index card. A sample card would look like this:

SCHOOL

teachers
blackboards
students
desks
tests

What's Your Name?

Level: very easy

One student sits at the front of the classroom (usually in the teacher's chair) with their back to the other students. The teacher then points to students in the class and asks "What's your name?" The student indicated must respond "My name is__________" with either his own name or the name of someone in the class. The student in the front cannot see who is speaking. The teacher says to him, "Is it___________?" and he must say "Yes, it is" or "No, it isn't". If the student in front is correct, he gets to stay there, but if he's mistaken, he changes place with the student who fooled him.

To make the game more interesting, the students are encouraged to disguise their voices.

I always do this with my beginners at the beginning of the year, but always at the end of the class, and for not more than 5 to 10 minutes.

Whispering Game

Level: Easy

Divide the class into two teams. Line up the players. If there's an odd number of players, one can be the teacher's "helper". The teacher or his helper whispers a message to the first person of both group A and group B. The game only starts when both players know the message. Then each player whispers the message to the next player in his group sucessively until the last player gets the message. The team which can repeat the message first and correctly receives a point. Start the game over with the second student of each group becoming the first ones in line.

Who Am I?

Level: Any

You can use use this with any subject. Write the names of famous people (mixed nationalities) on small pieces of paper. Tape a name on the forehead of each student. The individual student should not see his or her paper, but the others should. Then, like with 20 questions, only yes or no questions should be asked. Perhaps start with yourself and ask "Am I am man?" If the answer is yes, I can ask again, but if the answer is no, it's the next person's turn. Play until everyone has guessed who he or she is! This can be played with nationalities, countries, household objects, anything and it's a gas, especially for adult students!!

Words Beginning with a Given Letter

Level: Medium to Difficult

The teacher chooses a letter from the alphabet. Then each student must say a word that begins with that letter. If a student repeats a word that has already been said, then he/she is out of the game. The game ends when only one student remains. That student is the winner. In high level classes students lose if they say a past form of the verb. Example:see-saw. You can increase the difficulty by adding a timer. Only allow each student 5 seconds to think of a word.

Word Grab with Songs

Level: Any

This is a wonderful activity if you think your class needs waking up a little.
Choose a song that the students have or have not heard before. Choose 10-15 pieces of vocabulary from the song and write them on separate pieces of paper. With lower level groups you may want to pronounce the words with the students first. Stick each word to the board with putty (blue tack). Put the students into 2 teams each one in a line before the board. Play the song. When the 2 students at the front of their line hear a word in the song that is on the board they must race each other to grab that word from the board (this can get quite violent!). They then go to the back of the line and it's up to the next pair. The team with the most words wins.
I don't usually stop the tape so don't choose words that come one after the other. If you want to make it more difficult you can put red herrings up. You can usually play the song a couple of times until they get all the words.

A list of simple and quick games and activities that can be used in the ESL classroom when teaching English as a second / foreign language.

Copyright (C) 1999 by The Internet TESL Journal

TEFL ESL Conversation questions, topics and discussion - Vices

2008-03-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

Two drugs - alcohol and tobacco - are considered to be (only) vices - not crimes. However other drugs are illegal. Is this fair or rational?

What activities should be covered by the criminal law? How do we decide?

Which is more important - to protect people from themselves, or people’s right to choose to live their lives in whatever manner they like?

Crimes such as prostitution, pornography and the sale of illegal drugs are sometimes referred to as “victimless” crimes. Do you agree? Should these, in fact, be illegal?

Drinking is generally to be considered to be a vice, but it can also be considered to be an illness (alcoholism) or a crime (drunk driving).

Should drunk drivers be treated as patients or criminals? If they are treated as criminals, then what punishment is appropriate?

Many smokers decide to smoke regardless of the potential risks. Should they be treated by the state or should they be obliged to pay for their own treatment?

Back Home

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ESL questions and discussion topics on Vices for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

K

2008-03-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

Korea

ESL TEFL Conversation topics and questions about Doctors

2008-03-20T05:28:00.000-07:00

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘doctor’?

How often do you go and see the doctor?

Do you always feel better after you’ve visited the doctor?

How do you find a good quality doctor?

How much does it cost to go and see the doctor in your country?

What do you think about the costs of visits to the doctor in your country?

Do you always think you’ve received the best treatment from your doctor?

Do you always believe what your doctor says or do you sometimes doubt him/her?

Would you like to be a doctor?

What do you think are the worst things about being a doctor?

What do you think are the best things about being a doctor?

If you were a doctor, which area would you like to specialize in?
What do you think about when you’re sitting down waiting to see the doctor?

What childhood memories do you have of doctors?

Have you ever changed doctors? If ‘yes’, why?

Do you prefer male or female doctors?

What kind of day do you think a doctor has?

Do you think there are enough doctors in your town or city?

Are you satisfied you have enough time talking with the doctor?

Where do you think the world’s best doctors work?

What is patient confidentiality?

Do you think doctors talk and gossip about patients?

Do you think that doctors should be allowed to talk about their patients?

Who should and shouldn't they be allowed to discuss patients with?

Do you know what the hipocratic oath is? what do you think of this?

What kind of person makes an excellent doctor?

Flags of the world ESL TEFL quiz

2008-03-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

Technology

2008-03-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘technology’?

Is technology a good or a bad thing?

What new technology do you think you could you not live without?

Do you like reading about technology?

Do you like using technology to learn?

What do you think very old people think of modern technology?

How has technology changed society?

Has technology made us more impatient?

Max Frisch said: "Technology is the knack of arranging the world so that we don't have to experience it." Do you agree with him?

Mark Kennedy said: "All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - say little about his intelligence, but speak volumes about his laziness." Do you agree?

What do you think of today’s technology?

What do you think of tomorrow’s technology?

Do you think we’ve become obsessed with technology?

Do you always trust technology?

Does technology ever let you down?

What things would you never let technology replace?

Has technology made our lives better than our grandparents’ lives?

What technology is dangerous?

Frank Lloyd Wright said: "If it [technology] keeps up, man will waste away all his limbs but the push-button finger." What does this mean? Do you like this quote?

Alan M. Eddison said: "Modern technology... Owes ecology... An apology." What does this mean? Do you agree?

Back Home

ESL questions and discussion topics on Technology for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Racism

2008-03-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

What images spring to mind when you hear the word ‘racism’?

How much racism is there in your country?

Have you ever been the victim of racism?

What do you do when you see racism against others?

Have you ever done anything to help stamp out racism?

In which country do you think racism is worst?

Why are people racist?

Who is the biggest racist you know?

Is racism getting worse or disappearing in your country?

What kind of world would it be if there was no racism?

Do you ever have racist thoughts?

Do you think racism will ever disappear from this world?

How do you explain racism to a child?

What races do people in your country discriminate against?

What punishments should there be for those guilty of racism?

What’s the best way to stamp out racism?

What’s the worst example of racism you’ve witnessed or experienced?

Do you think racism feels differently to black, white, Asian, Indian, Arab… people?

What adjectives would you use to describe racism?

What is worse, racism, sexism or homophobia?

ESL questions and discussion topics on Racism for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.

ESL TEFL Conversation Topics and Questions - Moral Dilemas

2008-03-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

The Overcrowded Lifeboat

In 1842, a ship struck an iceberg and more than 30 survivors were crowded into a lifeboat intended to hold 7. As a storm threatened, it became obvious that the lifeboat would have to be lightened if anyone were to survive. The captain reasoned that the right thing to do in this situation was to force some individuals to go over the side and drown. Such an action, he reasoned, was not unjust to those thrown overboard, for they would have drowned anyway. If he did nothing, however, he would be responsible for the deaths of those whom he could have saved. Some people opposed the captain's decision. They claimed that if nothing were done and everyone died as a result, no one would be responsible for these deaths. On the other hand, if the captain attempted to save some, he could do so only by killing others and their deaths would be his responsibility; this would be worse than doing nothing and letting all die. The captain rejected this reasoning. Since the only possibility for rescue required great efforts of rowing, the captain decided that the weakest would have to be sacrificed. In this situation it would be absurd, he thought, to decide by drawing lots who should be thrown overboard. As it turned out, after days of hard rowing, the survivors were rescued and the captain was tried for his action. If you had been on the jury, how would you have decided?

A Father's Agonizing Choice
You are an inmate in a concentration camp. A sadistic guard is about to hang your son who tried to escape and wants you to pull the chair from underneath him. He says that if you don't he will not only kill your son but some other innocent inmate as well. You don't have any doubt that he means what he says. What should you do?

Sophie's Choice, not in Grassian.
In the novel Sophie's Choice, by William Styron (Vintage Books, 1976 -- the 1982 movie starred Meryl Streep & Kevin Kline), a Polish woman, Sophie Zawistowska, is arrested by the Nazis and sent to the Auschwitz death camp. On arrival, she is "honored" for not being a Jew by being allowed a choice: One of her children will be spared the gas chamber if she chooses which one. In an agony of indecision, as both children are being taken away, she suddenly does choose. They can take her daughter, who is younger and smaller. Sophie hopes that her older and stronger son will be better able to survive, but she loses track of him and never does learn of his fate. Did she do the right thing? Years later, haunted by the guilt of having chosen between her children, Sophie commits suicide. Should she have felt guilty?

The Fat Man and the Impending Doom, with parts cut out in the 2nd edition; they seem to have gotten removed to avoid unintentionally humorous overtones.

A fat man leading a group of people out of a cave on a coast is stuck in the mouth of that cave. In a short time high tide will be upon them, and unless he is unstuck, they will all be drowned except the fat man, whose head is out of the cave. [But, fortunately, or unfortunately, someone has with him a stick of dynamite.] There seems no way to get the fat man loose without using [that] dynamite which will inevitably kill him; but if they do not use it everyone will drown. What should they do?
Since the fat man is said to be "leading" the group, he is responsible for their predicament and reasonably should volunteer to be blown up. The dilemma becomes more acute if we substitute a pregnant woman for the fat man. She would have been urged by the others to go first out of the cave.

Jean Valjean's Conscience, with some comments; see the 1998 movie, Les Miserables, with Liam Neeson, Uma Thurman, and Geoffrey Rush.

In Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, the hero, Jean Valjean, is an ex-convict, living illegally under an assumed name and wanted for a robbery he committed many years ago. [Actually, no -- he is only wanted for breaking parole.] Although he will be returned to the galleys -- probably [in fact, actually] for life -- if he is caught, he is a good man who does not deserve to be punished. He has established himself in a town, becoming mayor and a public benefactor. One day, Jean learns that another man, a vagabond, has been arrested for a minor crime and identified as Jean Valjean. Jean is first tempted to remain quiet, reasoning to himself that since he had nothing to do with the false identification of this hapless vagabond, he has no obligation to save him. Perhaps this man's false identification, Jean reflects, is "an act of Providence meant to save me." Upon reflection, however, Jean judges such reasoning "monstrous and hypocritical." He now feels certain that it is his duty to reveal his identity, regardless of the disastrous personal consequences. His resolve is disturbed, however, as he reflects on the irreparable harm his return to the galleys will mean to so many people who depend upon him for their livelihood -- especially troubling in the case of a helpless woman and her small child to whom he feels a special obligation. He now reproaches himself for being too selfish, for thinking only of his own conscience and not of others. The right thing to do, he now claims to himself, is to remain quiet, to continue making money and using it to help others. The vagabond, he comforts himself, is not a worthy person, anyway. Still unconvinced and tormented by the need to decide, Jean goes to the trial and confesses. Did he do the right thing?

A Callous Passerby
Roger Smith, a quite competent swimmer, is out for a leisurely stroll. During the course of his walk he passes by a deserted pier from which a teenage boy who apparently cannot swim has fallen into the water. The boy is screaming for help. Smith recognizes that there is absolutely no danger to himself if he jumps in to save the boy; he could easily succeed if he tried. Nevertheless, he chooses to ignore the boy's cries. The water is cold and he is afraid of catching a cold -- he doesn't want to get his good clothes wet either. "Why should I inconvenience myself for this kid," Smith says to himself, and passes on. Does Smith have a moral obligation to save the boy? If so, should he have a legal obligation ["Good Samaritan" laws] as well?

Back Home

Ideas for ESL conversation classESL questions and discussion topics on Gardening for use when teaching English as a foreign or second language. Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad.Discussion topics questions and ideas for teaching Adult ESL English as a foreign language / teaching abroad, ESL lessons, speaking practice, debate clubs, lesson add-ons, and more.Ideas for ESL conversation class