【Cafe Talk】General Conversation Practice (英語聊天室)

General Conversation Topics Purpose: To develop students' conversational (small talk) skills in the class warm-up. Introducing yourself? Where are you from, what is your home town? What is your hometown famous for? Where are the most interesting places to visit in your home county? What do you think is your country famous for? Where are the most interesting places to visit in your country? What do you do? What do you like about your work? What do you do in your spare time, and what hobbies and interests do you like? Are you a member of a club, if not what club would interest you? What's your opinion of people's lifestyle in your country? What are the most famous foods and drinks I should try if I visit your country? Reference (optional) https://nationaldaycalendar.com ESL Conversation Questions
General Topics
ESL Speaking
CWB Taiwan weather forecast Tropical Cyclone Naming List of names for tropical cyclones
Taiwan Events Taiwan News Work Lots of people work and have lots to say about it. I mean, if you’re spending about a third of your waking hours at work, you may have lots to say. Some good questions are: What work do/did you do? How do/did you like the work? What is your dream job? What work is common in your city/area/country? What is your general view about work? Why?
Hobbies/ Interests Everybody has hobbies, and everybody loves talking about them. Hobbies could be passions too, you know. Some simple questions to ask include: What are your hobbies? Why do you like your hobbies so much? How often do you do these hobbies? How long have you been doing these hobbies, and how did you get started? What hobbies did you used to have, but now do not? Is it important to have hobbies? Why/why not? Learning Learning is like nature—it’s all around us, even on a subconscious level. Our brains are built to absorb, filter, and store information. Discussion about learning could actually stimulate some English learning amongst the students! A few questions that are suitable are: How important is learning? Why? Besides English, what are you currently learning? What things are you good/bad at learning? Why? What would you most like to learn? What is the most difficult part of learning? Why? Life Life discussions go on in all languages and English is no exception. Practicing discussions on life is a good topic to cover since everyone has their own views and thoughts on the ubiquitous subject. You could bring up questions like: What is the meaning of life? How is your life going up to this point? What do you think happens afterlife? What important life lessons have you learned? If tomorrow was your last day to live, what would you do? Time As people get older, their perceived value of time increases, so it’s a practical topic that everyone has something to say about. You could ask questions like: How much free time do you usually have? How important is time to you? If you had more free time, what would you do? “Time is money.” Do you agree or disagree? Why? How do you feel about time that is wasted? Plans Everybody makes plans and discussing them could even influence the class to start making plans of their own! A few example questions include: How often do you plan things? Why? What are your plans for (________)? What are your plans for your English? What do you think of this quote? “Having no plan is a plan to fail.” Do you have any backup plans? Goals We all have goals and talking about them actually gets us more encouraged to do something about them. Sharing goals is also a good thing to help get them done. A good set of questions is: What are your current goals in life? How do you plan to reach your goals? How often do you set goals for yourself? What goals have you set and achieved in the past? How do you feel when you reach your goals? Music/ Relaxing Everybody loves music and most people feel very strong emotions towards it—especially when it comes to the music that they love (or hate) most. Some simple questions to ask could be: What types of music do you like/dislike? How do certain kinds of music make you feel? What types of music come from your country? What’s your favorite song/album/artist? What music is popular in your country right now? Shopping This one is a personal favorite for many. Shopping is becoming more and more prevalent and brings out some zest in some people. They just love shopping! Others feel strongly the other way—very few people are completely neutral on this topic. A few good questions are: Do you enjoy shopping? Why/why not? What is your favorite shop? Why? In your city, where is a good place to go shopping? How do you feel about online shopping? What do you think shopping will be like in the future? Cooking Cooking is another topic that may allow for some good conversation. Most people in most countries do a good amount of cooking. A few good questions could be: In your home, who usually cooks? How often do you cook? How well do you cook? What can you cook well? What are the advantages/disadvantages of cooking? What food would you like to learn how to cook? Restaurants Along with eating, everybody loves talking about their favorite eateries and restaurants. Some students could even relate to each other with their choices and views. Good questions include: How often do you go to restaurants? What is your favorite restaurant? Why? What do you usually order at a restaurant? What is the restaurant experience like in your country? Have you ever worked in a restaurant? If you owned a restaurant, what kinds of food would you serve? Food Food is possibly the most universal topic of them all and everyone loves to discuss what they eat. This is also an ideal topic for beginners because the vocabulary is usually pretty simple. You could use questions like: What is your favorite food? Why? What food comes from your country? How do you feel when you eat food? What foods do you dislike? Why? Where do you usually get food from? References:
Discussion Topics