CONVERSATION TOPICS: Advanced Level, page 2

 Full list of Topics here 

• Life in the future
  • Imagine life in the future. In what way will we live differently?
    - Education: (quality, teaching methods, areas of study/new professions, artificial intelligence...)
    - Work (working from home, online sales, etc.)
    - Homes (size, style, location, comfort, robots ...)
    - Healthcare: (vaccines/prevention, transplants, treatment, cures, new illnesses, longer life…)
    - Everyday life (shopping, sports, travel, etc.)
    
  • Should we worry about changes in the future? Which changes? Why?
  • What are the most positive/the least positive changes to be expected?
  
  
• Physical Appearance
  • What is the first thing you notice about a person ?
  • Is it important how people dress ?
  • Is weight/physical well-being/fitness important ?
  • Which is the most important : clothes, shoes, hair, hygiene, fitness, style … ?
  • Does a person’s appearance reveal their personality ?
  • Is it wrong to judge people by their appearance ?
  • Could you be intimidated by someone’s appearance ?
  • What can people do to maintain or improve their appearance?
  • Is it acceptable to tell someone that they need to improve their appearance?
  • How should you dress for a job interview ?
  • On what occasions is it acceptable to dress casually ?
  • Can you think of expressions relating to clothes and/or appearance :
    (e.g. 'off the peg' / 'down at heel' / 'dressed to kill' / 'not a hair out of place' …)
    
    
• Customs and Traditions
  • Have you visited other countries (besides the country where you live now) ?
  • What country/countries have you visited ?
  • Did you discover any customs or traditions that were different from your home country’s customs ?
  • Have you heard of any other strange foreign customs or traditions ?
  • Can you tell us about some of the most important customs of your country?
  • Is it necessary/advisable/recommended to follow other country’s customs ?
  • How do people greet each other in your country ?
  • Do you know of any particular wedding customs in other countries ?
  • What about eating customs ? Are they the same in all countries ?
  • Do you follow all of your country’s traditions and customs?
    
    
• Electric cars
  • What do know about electric cars?
  • Have you ever driven an electric car?
  • Are electric cars better for the environment?
  • In what way are they better than petrol cars?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of electric cars?
  • Are they more expensive to buy/to run? Why?
  • How long does it take to charge an electric car?
  • Where can you charge an electric car?
  • Can electric cars travel as far as petrol cars?
  • What country is trying the hardest to encourage people to use electric cars?
  • Are electric cars popular in your country?
  • What needs to be improved to make them more popular?
  • Do you think the number of electric cars will increase in the future?
  • Are car manufacturers really interested in preserving the environment?
    
    
• Rich world, poor world
  • What kind of aid should the governments of rich countries give to poor countries? (money - food - medicine - machinery/equipent - hospitals - schools - training ...)
  • Do you think all citizens should be encouraged to do voluntary service overseas so as to understand the problems of poorer countries?
  • Are poor people poor because they lack opportunities or because they are lazy? What reasons can you think of?
  • Is it right for rich countries to have strict immigration controls?
    
    
• Fake news
  Fake news (fabricated news) is the deliberate spread of misinformation. Sensationalist, dishonest or outright fabricated headlines are often used to increase readership.
  • Do you agree with the above definition?
  • Where do we most often find fake news? (newspapers, social media ...)
  • What sort of fake news can you think of? (politics, show business...)
  • How can we tell if a news story is ‘fake’ or not? (checking sources, dates, photos…)
  • What is the purpose of the misinformation?
  • Is fake news used in election campaigns?
  • Have any countries recently been accused of spreading fake news?
  • Can you think of ways to prevent the circulation of fake news?
    
    
• Violence in the world today
  • When you hear the word "violence", what do you think of?
  • Is the world more violent today?
  • Are there different sorts of violence? (physical / mental /psychological / domestic …)
  • What forms of violence have you noticed?
  • Do people tend to be more violent when they group together? (gangs / mobs / crowds…)
  • In what areas is there an increase in the level of violence? (football, politics, religion, environment …)
  • What are the causes of violence? (jealousy, frustration, unemployment, poverty, conspiracy theories, fake news …)
  • What violent conflicts are going on around the world?
  • Does the repetition of violent images in TV news reports have a positive or negative effect?
  • Does violence ever achieve anything?
  • Is the increase in violence a worldwide phenomenon?
  • What could be done to reduce violence?
    

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