Category: ESL Questions

ESL questions to practice English speaking for students of different levels.

You can download the conversation questions in PDF or use the slideshow for your online lessons. Just share your screen and you are ready for a no prep conversation lesson.

You will find here many ESL resources on to practice conversation on various topics(travel, science, hobbies, food, etc.), questions to practice grammar, fun Would you rather? questions, and various hypothetical and deep questions.

Conversation Starters: 30 Interesting Conversation Questions Not Only For ESL Students

These interesting and deep conversation starters are not only intended for ESL students but also for everyone who would like to start chatting with a stranger, neighbor, colleague, someone they fancy, partner, friend.

No matter how well you know somebody, these deep conversation starters will help you connect with them even more. You will get to know them better, and at the same time, you will learn something about yourself.

This activity contains 60 questions and a YouTube video, so students can practice listening as well as speaking.

Reccommeded for ages 16+ and B1+

The slideshow can be used as a resource for online teaching: share your screen on Zoom or another app when teaching online. Click on the full-screen option in the top right corner of the slideshow and your whole group can discuss or if you want to use the activity in smaller groups, assign your students into breakout rooms and send them the PDF with the conversation questions before your lesson. During the lesson, pop into the breakout rooms to listen in and observe.

The questions for this activity are used with the kind permission of C.B. Daniels of Conversation Starters World.

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30 Deep Conversation Starters

If you could learn the answer to one question about your future, what would the question be?
What smell brings back great memories?
If you opened a business, what kind of business would it be?
Where and when was the most amazing sunset you have ever seen?
What is something you are obsessed with?
What do you do to get rid of stress?
What three words best describe you?
What would be your perfect weekend?
Who had the biggest impact on the person you have become?
What is the most annoying habit someone can have?
Where is the most beautiful place you have been?
What do you do to improve your mood when you are in a bad mood?
What’s your favorite way to waste time?
What do you think of tattoos? Do you have any?
What is something popular now that annoys you?
When was the last time you worked incredibly hard?
Who in your life brings you the most joy?
Are you very active, or do you prefer to just relax in your free time?
What’s the best / worst thing about your work/school?
If you had intro music, what song would it be? Why?
What were you really into when you were a kid?
If you could have any animal as a pet, what animal would you choose?
Are you a very organized person?
What is the strangest dream you have ever had?
How often do you stay up past 3 a.m.?
Which is more important, having a great car or a great house? Why?
What do you bring with you everywhere you go?
If you had to change your name, what would your new name be?
What is something that really annoys you but doesn’t bother most people?
How should success be measured? And by that measurement, who is the most successful person you know?

Deep Conversation Questions Not Only For ESL StudentsDownload

Watch a video with 25 deep questions

Another activity you can do with your students is to watch a video with 25 questions similar to the questions above. These, as you will find in the video, are used in therapy and can help you to get to know people on a deeper level.

It’s a ten-minute video and it’s divided into chapters so when you click on a chapter you will see the particular question he is answering and the questions will also appear in the video, so you can pause the video and students can discuss it, either individually or in groups.

Other speaking resources:

Conversation Questions: Present Perfect and Past Simple

ESL Conversation Topics: 12 Mini Presentations

50 ESL Conversation Questions for Teenagers and Adults

Conversation Questions Gerunds and Infinitives: ESL Speaking Activity

Phrasal Verbs Activity and Exercises, Conversation Questions and PDF Worksheet

Conversation Questions: Future Tenses

Conversation Questions Gerunds and Infinitives: ESL Speaking Activity

We use gerunds (verb + ing):

After certain verbs – I enjoy drawing
After prepositions – I drank a beer after running.
As the subject or object of a sentence – Jogging is good exercise

We use ‘to’ + infinitive:

After certain verbs – We decided to buy the house.
After many adjectives – It’s easy to do it.
– I came to London to work in a restaurant.

We use the bare infinitive (the infinitive without ‘to’):

After modal verbs – I can see you in the afternoon.
After ‘let’, ‘make’ and (sometimes) ‘help’ – The teacher let us go home after the test.
After some verbs of perception (see, watch, hear, notice, feel, sense) – I watched her feed the birds.
After expressions with ‘why’ – why waste time in the bar?

Conversation Questions Gerunds and Infinitives

1. What food have you never eaten but would really like to try?

2. What have you stopped doing recently?

3. What is something you always intended to do but never found the time/money?

4. What would be the best thing you could reasonably expect to find in a cave?

5. How do you make yourself sleep when you can’t seem to get to sleep?

6. What’s something you really resent paying for?

7. What social stigma does society need to get over?

8. What movie can you watch over and over without ever getting tired of?

9. When doing sports have you ever risked hurting yourself?

10. When was the last time you immediately regretted something you said?

11. As a child, what did you think would be awesome about being an adult, but isn’t as awesome as you thought it would be?

12. What kinds of things do you like to cook or are good at cooking?

13. What do you enjoy doing that you are embarrassed about?

14. When you are old, what do you think children will ask you to tell stories about?

15. What kind of people do you avoid meeting?

16. Have you ever refused to help someone?

17. When was the last time you decided to do something unexpected/crazy?

18. What do you hope to achieve in the future?

19. How often do you appreciate other people for helping you?

20.Have you ever denied doing something even if you did it?

Conversation Questions Gerunds and InfinitivesDownload

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ESL Reported Speech Speaking Activity: Gossip

120 Discussion Starters

Speaking Activity: 120 Topics

30 Hypothetical Conversation Questions for ESL Students

Here is another set of conversation questions, this some for more advanced students as the questions are hypothetical, so it requires a knowledge of conditionals and a certain level of creativity. I’d recommend it for 16+ (B1, B2, C1). The questions for this activity are used with the kind permission of C.B. Daniels of Conversation Starters World.

As usual it this conversation activity consists of a slideshow for remote teaching and a downloadable PDF for easy printing.

The slideshow can be used as a resource for online teaching: share your screen on Zoom or other app when teaching online. Click on the full screen option in the top right corner of the slideshow and your whole group can discuss or if you want to use the activity in smaller groups, assign your students into breakout rooms and send them the PDF with the conversation questions before your lesson. During the lesson, pop into the breakout rooms to listen in and observe.

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1. If you were a transformer, what vehicle would you turn into?

2. What laws would you abolish if you could? What laws would you create?

3. If extra lives were a thing in the real world, how would you get them?

4. If you were a food, what food would you be?

5. What animal would be way better if it was covered in scales?

6. If you could design a planet, what would your perfect planet look like?

7. What would be your strategy for a zombie apocalypse?

8. If you could be the CEO of any company, what company would you choose?

9. What two animals would you like to switch the sounds they make?

10. Would you want to permanently feel zero pain if given the chance?

11. What cartoon world do you wish you could live in for a week?

12. What do you wish grew on trees?

13. What weird thing would you make socially acceptable if you could?

14. If every time you snapped your fingers, you would instantly be transported to a random point in humanity’s timeline, would you snap your fingers? If so, how often?

15. If you were perpetually surrounded by one aroma (besides your natural smell) which you and everyone around you could smell, what would it be?

16. If you could level up any aspect of yourself (i.e., strength, intelligence, charisma, etc.) but you had to decrease another aspect of yourself by the same amount, what aspects would you increase, and which would you decrease?

17. If humans lost the ability to see all colors except one, which color would you want to survive?

18. If you were a dictator of a small country, what crazy dictator stuff would you do?

19. If you could put wings on any species of animal, what animal would you choose?

20. How would the world be different if zeppelins had caught on and were the dominant form of air travel?

21. Every day 12 things appear in your backyard, they are random, but all start with a letter of your choosing. What letter do you choose?

22. If when you died, you could cease to exist or wander the earth forever, never being able to interact with anything, which would you choose?

23. If you could move anywhere and still have a livable wage, where would you like to move?

24. If you could get a ticket to any show or event, what would you want a ticket to?

25. If you could go back in time and give your parents advice before you were born, what advice would you give them?

26. If everyone was mentally incapable of lying, how would that change the world?

27. If you could be invisible, but it would mean being permanently invisible, would you want to be?

28. If you had to do a dance that had never been done in the history of mankind or be killed, what kind of dance would you do?

29. If you could erase one thing from existence, even the memory of the thing, what would it be?

30. If you were required by law to get a full body tattoo, what would you get tattooed over your entire body?

30 Hypothetical Conversation QuestionsDownload

Other resources to practice speaking:

ESL Vocabulary Activity. Forbidden Words: Health

ESL Vocabulary Activity Based on Taboo: Food

ESL Travel Vocabulary Taboo Cards

12 ESL Negotiation Role-plays: Real-life situations

ESL Speaking Activity: Conversation Cards

50 ESL Conversation Questions for Teens and Adults

This speaking activity contains 50 ESL conversation questions for teens and adult learners. (16+, B1+). It is best for small groups or as a pair-work.

This activity contains 50 questions and a YouTube video, so students can practice listening to real language and you can also play the game from the video with your students in your classroom. Scroll down for the ESL conversation questions activity, and the video.

The slideshow can be used as a resource for online teaching, just share your screen on Zoom or another app when teaching online. Click on the full-screen option in the top right corner of the slideshow and your whole group can discuss or if you want to use the activity in smaller groups, assign your students into breakout rooms and send them the PDF with the conversation questions before your lesson. During the lesson, pop into the breakout rooms to listen in and observe.

Slideshow

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50 ESL Conversation Questions for Teens and Adults

1. You have to save the world tomorrow, who’s in your team?

2. What is your favorite summertime memory? Why?

3. Who do you think impacted your personality the most? Why?

4. What is your go-to skill in a talent show?

5. When was the last time you did something new?

6. What are you passionate about?

7. What makes you laugh the most?

8. What is best about being an adult?

9. What is best about being a teenager?

10. What is your favorite smell?

11. When was the last time you cried because you laughed too hard?

12. What are you most self-conscious about?

13. If you had 24 hours to live what would you do?

14. What have you started that you didn’t finish? Why?

15. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?

16. Road trip or flying?

17. What is your favorite childhood memory?

18. Who is the one person you can always count on?

19. Sunset or Sunrise?

20. What quote would you tattoo on yourself and where?

**Want more speaking resources? Try these role-play activities.**

21. What inspires you?

22. What always makes you smile?

23. If you could be any character (book/movie/TV) who would it be?

24. What accomplishment of yours are you most proud of?

25. Where would you live for a year if money were no object?

26. What is your go-to karaoke song?

27. Star Wars or Star Trek…or neither?

28. What weird food combinations do you really enjoy?

29. If magic was real, what spell would you try to learn first?

30. Do you believe people can truly change?

31. What problem are you currently grappling with?

32. What is the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?

33. What is the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you?

34. Which of your vices or bad habits would be the hardest to give up?

35. Name something that is completely overrated.

36. Is it better to be loved or to love?

37. If you had to choose only one, love or money?

38. What do you miss the most about being a kid?

39. Who do you wish you could get back into contact with?

40. What is the kindest thing you’ve ever done for someone else?

41. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?

42. What makes you feel really alive?

43. What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?

44. What are you thankful for at this very moment?

45. Would you rather be in space or under the sea?

46. What is your favorite family tradition?

47. Where do you want to be in 10 years?

48. What would your friends be surprised you like to do?

49. When was the last time you gazed at the stars?

50. What is the one meal you never get tired of eating?

50 ESL Conversation Questions for Teenagers and AdultsDownload

Watch a video where teens agree/disagree with various statements

In this video, teens express how strongly they agree/disagree with different statements. The statement appears on screen and students indicate their responses by stepping into lanes representing how they feel about the questions. Some of the students are then asked to explain their answers.

You can pause the video after every question and ask your students to answer it one by one, or you can play the variation of the game in your classroom.

Other resources to practice speaking:

ESL Exam Speaking Picture Description and Questions

ESL Conversation Topics: 12 Mini Presentations

Conversation Questions: Present Perfect and Past Simple

Balderdash: ESL Speaking Game

Unfinished Sentences ESL Speaking Activity

ESL Reported Speech Speaking Activity: Gossip

Other:

ExamLabs

Conversation Questions: Future Tenses

The focus of this activity is to practice grammar while speaking. These conversation questions with future tenses will help the students better understand when to use various future tenses.

When we want to talk about the future we can use these tenses/structures:

We can use the Present Simple when we want to talk about scheduled events

The movies starts at 8.30 p.m.

We can use the Present Continuous when we want to talk about future arrangements

I’m meeting my friend Jack for beer on Friday.

We can use going to when we want to talk about our plans or intentions, or if we make predictions based on evidence.

I’m going to clean the house on Saturday. (plan)

Be careful, the ice is so thin, it’s going to break. (evidence-based prediction)

We can use will for expressing opinions and beliefs about the future, and to talk about offers and promises

I’m sure I will win this game!

I will love you forever.

Of course there are more structures/tenses we use when talking about the future(future continuous, future perfect, modals), but for our conversation question activity, we will be using only these four future tenses.

**This** **Storytelling card game is a fun activity that promotes imagination and speaking**

Conversation questions: Future Tenses

What time does your favorite shop open?
When do your final exams start?
When is your next Zoom meeting?
Are you doing anything interesting this weekend?
Are you meeting anyone in person this week?
Are you doing anything on Wednesday?
What are you having for dinner tomorrow?
Are you planning anything special for your next birthday?
How organized is your life? How does your calendar look? Any scheduled events? Arrangements?
Are you going to order take-out this week?

Are you going to cook this weekend?
What are you going to do in the evening?
What is the next show you are going to watch?
What is the first place you are going to visit when it’s possible to travel again?
What are you going to study in the future?
How do you think the world will change in 20 years?
What will you do after you graduate?
How will your life change in a year?
Will scientists ever discover life on other planets?
How do you think technology will change our lives?

Conversation-questions: Future-Tenses Download

Future tenses infographics Download

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Conversation Questions: Present Perfect and Past Simple

ESL Speaking Activity: Conditional Discussion Questions

Phrasal Verbs Activity and Exercises, Conversation Questions and PDF Worksheet

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Phrasal Verbs Activity and Exercises, Conversation Questions and PDF Worksheet

I sometimes watch, or more accurately, watched (because Covid) Netflix with friends. We always use English subtitles, as my friends want to improve their English. Sometimes they ask me to translate a word or a phrase, sometimes I don’t mind and sometimes it bothers me. But my lack of patience with my friends is not the point.

The point is, I’ve noticed one thing all my friends had in common. They often didn’t understand the meaning of a certain phrasal verbs.

Phrasal verbs are tricky, because they seem to be two separate words. Sometimes the same phrasal verb can have a few different, totally unrelated meanings and that’s very confusing for English learners.

They are very common, especially in informal context, so it’s often recommended to learn essential phrasal verbs to sound more natural.

Here are a couple of phrasal verbs activities and exercises.

Phrasal Verbs Activity: Definitions

back down: to resign your position in a fight, argument, plan, etc.

bump into: when you meet someone by accident or unexpectedly

burst out: to suddenly and unexpectedly say or do something

call off: to cancel something

carry on: to continue doing something

chicken out: to stop doing something because you’re afraid

clam up: to refuse to speak or share your feelings

come up with: to think of a solution, idea

deal with: to handle something, to solve a problem

drag on: to last longer than expected

figure out: to find the answer

get along: to have good relationship with someone

get rid off: to remove something or somebody

hang out: spend time with people, socialize

look up to: to admire someone

polish off: to eat or drink something quickly

rip off: to ask for a very unreasonable price, to cheat financially

run out of: to have no more of something

stick up for: to defend someone or something

talk into: to convince someone to do something

Phrasal Verbs Activity: Exercise with Flashcards

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Discussion Questions

When was the last time you had to back down in a situation?
Who was the last person you bumped into? How did it happen?
Can you remember the last time you burst out something inappropriate?
What was the last event you had to call off? What happened?
Have you ever chickened out of something?
When something surprises you, can you carry on and pretend nothing happened?
What would you do if you were talking to a friend and they suddenly clammed up?
What’s the last brilliant idea you’ve come up with?
How well can you deal with interruptions when you work/study?
What do you do when you are in a meeting that just drags on?
What is the last thing you didn’t understand first, but then you figured it out?
Describe three people you get along with.
What 3 things would you like to get rid of in your life? (material and abstract)
What do you do when you hang out with friends?
Who do you look up to in your family?
What meal do you usually polish off?
Can you think of a time when someone ripped you off?
Have you ever run out of patience when talking to someone? What happened?
What ideas can you imagine sticking up for?
What was the stupidest thing anyone has ever talked you into?

Phrasal Verbs Discussion Questions PDF Download

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Conversation Questions: Present Perfect and Past Simple

Present Simple and Present Continuous

ESL Speaking Activity: Conditional Discussion Questions

ESL Conversation Topics: 12 Mini Presentations

ESL Presentation Topics: 12 Mini Presentations

ESL presentation topics for intermediate and upper intermediate students. Great as a warm-up or a speaking lesson.

You can use the slideshow and share your screen on Zoom or other app when teaching online. Just click on the full screen option in the top right corner of the slideshow.

I used it with my students during our online lesson and we didn’t even have time to discuss all the topics, because they couldn’t stop talking. I was quite impressed how much they knew and also how well they could express their opinions.

One of the reasons why I love conversation activities is that I learn so much about my students. I think that we often underestimate our students and see them as the stereotypical lazy teenagers. Activities like these can show us that they are much more than that.

You can also download the PDF for easy printing below.

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Other picture-based resources:

ESL Exam Speaking Picture Description and Questions

No-Prep ESL Picture Description Speaking Activity

Picture Based Speaking Activity For ESL/EFL Classes

Picture Prompts for Speaking and Writing: An ESL Activity

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Conversation resources:

Conversation Starters: 30 Interesting Conversation Questions Not Only For ESL Students

Conversation Questions Gerunds and Infinitives: ESL Speaking Activity

30 Hypothetical Conversation Questions for ESL Students

ESL Conversation Topics

Why it’s better to adopt a pet from a shelter.	Bringing back extinct species.	Is it ethical to keep animals in ZOOS?
How to choose a college.	Things you didn’t learn in history class.	How to minimize the use of plastic.
Textbooks vs. tablets.	Benefits of a gluten-free diet.	Effects of not getting enough sleep.
Why podcasts are great.	HBO vs. Netflix	Apple vs. Android.

ESL Presentation Topics: Mini PresentationsDownload

Conversation Questions: Present Perfect and Past Simple

Present perfect vs. simple past

Present Perfect Simple	Past Simple
Unfinished actions that started in the past and continue to the present: I‘ve known my wife for fifteen years (and I still know her).	Finished actions: I knew* my friend Anne for fifteen years (but then she moved abroad and we lost touch).*
A finished action in someone’s life (when the person is still alive or it’s a life experience; e.g. J. K. Rowling has written many books.): Jamie has been* to Japan five times.*	A finished action in someone’s life (when the person is dead): My grandmother went* to Japan three times.*
A finished action with a result in the present: I‘ve lost my phone! (The result is that I can’t make phone calls).	A finished action with no result in the present: I lost* my phone last month. I was annoying* but now I have a better one. (I lost it month ago, it’s a closed chapter in my life.)
With an unfinished time word (this week, this month, today): I‘ve seen my parents this month.	With a finished time word (last week, last month, yesterday): I saw* my parents last week.*

Conversation Questions: Present Perfect and Past Simple

1. Did you do anything interesting last weekend?

2. Have you ever done something dangerous?

3. How old were you when you learnt to ride a bike? Who taught you?

4. Have you ever ridden a horse or other animal?

5. What did you like about your previous school/job?

6 How long have you studied English? Why did you decide to study English?

7. Which countries did you visit last year? Which did you like the most and why?

8. Have you ever met anyone famous?

9. Did you have a hero when you were younger?

10. What is the most unusual food you have ever eaten?

11. What did you eat for breakfast?

12. Did you like reading when you were a kid?

13. What’s the most interesting movie you’ve ever seen?

14. When did you eat dinner yesterday? What did you eat?

15. Have you ever broken a bone? How did it happen?

16. What didn’t you like to do when you were younger? Why?

Download Conversation Questions: Present Perfect and Past Simple

Other resources

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32 Inspirational And Creative Job Interview Questions For ESL/Business English Students

No Time? 10 No-prep ESL Activities, Warm-ups and Energizers

ESL Speaking Activity: Conversation Cards

This popular ESL One Minute Talk speaking activity is great for its variability. Check out the free sample below.

Level: Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate
Time: 5-30min
Skills: Speaking, Listening
Topic: Various( hobbies, movies, travel, food, fashion, etc.)
PDF: One-minute Speaking Activity

Fifteen page PDF vocabulary activity. 120 topics.

Free sample version: One-Minute Speaking Activity Sample

Click below to download a bundle of three speaking activities.

Conversation Questions Conditionals: ESL Speaking Activity

Conversation Questions Conditionals: First, Second, Third Conditional

First Conditional

If you don’t go to work tomorrow, what will happen?
What will you do if it rains tomorrow?
What will you do if you learn perfect English?
What will you do if a colleague is rude to you?
What will you do when you retire?
What will happen when we continue polluting the Earth?
What will happen if stop using plastic bags?
What will happen if______________________?
What will you do if______________________?

**Looking for more activities? Try 120 Conversation Starters and One-Minute Talk activity.**

Second Conditional

What would you do if an alien from outer space landed their spaceship in your
garden?
If there suddenly was no internet, how would the world change?
How would you spend $100 000 in 12 hours?
What would you do if you could fly?
If could go on holiday anywhere in the world, where would you go?
If somebody hit you in the face, what would you do?
If you survived a plane crash in the jungle, how long would you survive?
If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your life, what would that be?
If it was possible, would you like to have your own clone?
What would you do if_____________________________?
What would happen if_____________________________?

Third Conditional

If you had been born in a different country, what would have been different in your life?
What would you have done if you had found out you were a lost child of a European monarch and a successor to the throne?
How would your life have been different if you had been growing up with 9 siblings?
If you could have studied something else, what would that have been?
How would your life have changed if you had done something different that one time?
What would have happened last weekend if you had partied all night long?
If you had been born as a child of a Hollywood celebrity, how would your childhood have been different?
If you had been born Quasimodo, how would your life have changed?
If you had been born with 6 fingers on each hand, how would that have changed your life?
What would have happened if_____________________________________?
What would you have done if______________________________________?

Download here>>>>>Conditionals Speaking Activity

Other speaking activities:

ESL Speaking Activity: Business English Role Plays

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