RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS
CONVERSATION TOPICS - Intermediate level
A list of conversation topics suitable for intermediate level learners of English.
♦NOTE:
It's a good idea to pre-teach vocabulary
relating to the topic before beginning a discussion.
Providing phrases for giving an opinion, agreeing and
disagreeing is also recommended.
This will help students feel more comfortable
and encourage them to participate.
♦ A CONVERSATION CLUB is a great way for students to get speaking practice.
CONVERSATION TOPICS - Intermediate level
- Eliminating things from today's world
If you could « delete » anything from the world, what would you choose ?
e.g. war, sickness, pollution, cruelty, aggressivity, greed, death …
- What would be the most important to eliminate ?
- What would you add to the list ?
- Marriage
Some couples today live together without getting married.
- Do you think marriage is outdated?
- Why do some couples still prefer to get married?
- Make a list of the advantages and disadvantages of marriage in today’s society.
- Working from home
Many employees are now allowed to work from home.
- What are the advantages of working from home?
- Can you think of any disadvantages ?
- How do you keep in contact with your colleagues ?
- If you have children, is it easier or more difficult to work from home ?
- Physical Appearance
- Is it important how people dress ?
- Which is the most important : clothes, shoes, hair, hygiene, style … ?
- Can you guess someone's personality by the way they dress?
- On what occasions do people dress formally?
- On what occasions is it acceptable to dress casually ?
- How should you dress for a job interview ?
- You are elected President of your country.
- List the most urgent changes you would make and explain why.
- Friendship
- Do you prefer to have a lot of friends or just a few close friends?
- Are you still friends with someone you knew in Primary/Elementary school?
- Why do people need friends? / What are the benefits of having friends?
- What qualities do you look for in a friend?
- Why do some people have no friends?
- What is the best way to make friends?
- Coronavirus
- What do you know about the coronavirus?
- How can we stop the virus spreading?
(wearing masks, washing hands, tests, vaccines …)
- Do you think everyone should be vaccinated against the virus?
- Are rich countries better protected than poorer countries?
- Do you think our lives will be different in the future as a result of the virus?
- Electric cars
- Have you ever used an electric car?
- What are the advantages?
- Are electric cars expensive? Why?
- Where can you charge an electric car?
- Can electric cars travel as far as petrol or hybrid cars?
- Are electric cars better for the environment?
- Do you think there will be more electric cars in the future?
- What is for you the most enjoyable type of holiday?
(camping, hotel, club, rented accommodation, touring, sports activities, etc.)
List 5 things not to forget when you go on holiday.
- Describe your favourite pastime/hobby.
- Why is it so enjoyable?
- When did you take it up?
- How often do you do it? etc...
- Annoying habits
- Can you think of some things that annoy you?
- What annoys you on public transport?
- Do some drivers have annoying habits?
- Does snoring annoy you?
- Do children or young people do things that annoy adults?
- What are the 5 most important decisions
in a person's life?
After making suggestions, the group decides on the order of importance.
- Who is the greatest? (Ask students to add to the list.)
- Who is/was the greatest leader in the world?
- Who is/was the greatest athlete of all time?
- What is/was the greatest movie you ever saw?
- Who is/was the greatest inventor of all time?
- Your experiences in life
- What is the best idea you hav ever had?
- What is your biggest stroke of luck?
- What if the best / the worst piece of advice you ever received?
- What achievement are you most proud of?
- What initiative would you never take again?
- Environment
- What are some of the most serious environmental problems?
- What are the causes of pollution?
- What are the causes of climate change?
- Suggest ten things people can do to help the environment.
- Suggest five things governments could do to help the environment.
- Natural disasters
- What is a natural disaster? (fires, flooding, earthquakes ...)
- Can you give an example of a natural disaster?
- Have you ever been in a fire?
- If you had to leave your home quickly, what would you take with you?
- What would you do if you lost everything?
- Television
- How often do you watch television?
- What do you think of the quality of television programmes today?
- What television programs are popular in your country?
- Is watching television good for children? Why? Why not?
- What would be your ideal TV show?
- Fake news
- Have you ever heard of fake news (fabricated news)?
- Where do we most often find fake news?
(newspapers, social media, show business ...)
- What examples of fake news can you think of?
- Telephones and mobile phones
- Have people become telephone addicts?
- What do people use the telephone for nowadays?
- Could you live without a telephone?
- What would happen if our telephones no longer worked?
- Why are social networks so popular nowadays?
- What are the positive/negative effects?
- Are social networks sometimes used for bad purposes?
- What bad purposes can you think of? (harassment, fake news ...)
- What advice would you give to people about social networks?
- Do you think actors, singers, sportsmen, etc. earn too much money?
- Why/why not?
- Manners and politeness
- What do you think are some good/bad manners?
- Can good manners in one country be bad manners in another country?
- What are some good manners for using a mobile/cell phone?
- Why are manners important?
- Do people have better manners now than before?
- Under what circumstances would you :
- walk out of a restaurant?
- refuse a taxi?
- call the manager of a hotel?
- sleep in a train/bus station?
- wear casual clothes to work?
- If you won a lot of money, what would
you do?
Would you :
- keep it a secret?
- stop working?
- go shopping?
- buy a new house?
- travel around the world?
- give money to your family/friends?
- give money to charity?
- What is a good job? (Ask students to add to the list.)
- an interesting job?
- a well-paid job?
- a secure job?
- good working conditions?
- If you had to move to another country because of your job (or your partner's job),
- what country would you prefer if you had a choice?
- what would you miss most?
- what would be the most important for you?
- What have been the most important new stories in the last year?
- Are certain events given too much/too little coverage?
- Do you trust everything you read, hear or see on the news?
- Travel
- What country would you most like to visit?
- Is there a place you would never visit again?
- If you were only allowed to take five things to an unknown destination, what would you take?
- Food
- What country has the best cuisine?
- What is your favourite food?
- What is the worst thing you’ve ever tasted?
- Do you worry about the safety of the food you eat?
- Do you buy organic food?
- Equality men/women
- Are men and women always treated equally?
- Is it the same in all countries?
- Do women often face discrimination at work?
- If .......... , what would you do?
- If your house caught fire, what three things would you save before running outside?
- If you could be another person for one day, who would you choose to be?
- If you could be invisible for one day, what would like to do?
- If you could live without sleeping, how would you spend your nights?
- If you could change ONE thing in the world, what would it be?
see also:
Unfinished sentences - intermediate
Conversation Topics - advanced
Conversation Topics -
beginners
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