conversation Archives

Travel ESL Conversation Questions

This is an excellent speaking activity for students when engaged in a conversation about travel, as well as for adult students in any program or one-on-one lessons. Travel words on the list include – journey, flights, destination, trip, license, accommodation, backpacking, international, leisure, and countries.

The free discussion worksheet for the topic of travel is anything but boring, and it’s guaranteed to pique your students’ curiosity. They may be inspired to go on vacation or organize group trips, especially when cheap flights are easily available on reputable websites such as sa.wego.com.

Students should be placed in groups or pairs, and they should take notes on what their partners say and answer.

Travel ESL Conversation Questions

Have you ever been abroad?
Where have you been?
Are you planning on going anywhere for your next vacation?
- If so, where?
- Who with?
- How long will you stay?
Are you afraid of going abroad alone?
Do you have any tips to get cheap flights?
Could you live in another country for the rest of your life?
Describe the most interesting person you met on one of your travels.
What was your best trip.
What was your worst trip.
Did your class in high school go on a trip together?
- If so, where did you go?
- How long did you stay?
- How did you get there?
Do you have a driver’s license?
Do you like to travel with children? Why or why not?
Do you like to travel with your mother? Why or why not?
Do you prefer summer vacations or winter vacations?
Do you prefer to travel alone or in a group? Why?
Do you prefer to travel by train, bus, plane or ship?
Do you prefer traveling by car or by plane?
Have you ever been in a difficult situation while traveling?
Have you ever been on an airplane?
- How many times?
- What airlines have you flown with?
Have you ever been to a foreign country?
Have you ever gotten lost while traveling? If so, tell about it.
Have you ever hitchhiked? If so, how many times?
Have you ever taken a package tour?
How do you spend your time when you are on holiday and the weather is bad?
How many countries have you been to? How many states?
How many times have you traveled abroad?
How much luggage do you usually carry?
If you traveled to South America, what countries would like to visit?
If you went to ___(Insert a country name)__, what kind of souvenirs would you buy?
If you were going on a camping trip for a week, what 10 things would you bring? Explain why.
What are some countries that you would never visit? Why would you not visit them?
What are some things that you always take with you on a trip?
What countries would you like to visit? Why?
What countries would you most like to visit?
What countries would you not like to visit? Why?
What country do you most want to visit?
- Why?
- Do you think you will ever go there?
What do you need before you can travel to another country?
What is the most interesting city to visit in your country?
What is the most interesting souvenir that you have ever bought on one of your holidays?
What languages can you speak?
What place do you want to visit someday?
What was the most interesting place you have ever visited?
What’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever been to?
When was the last time your traveled?
When you are on a long car journey do you play games or sing songs to occupy your time?
- What kind of games?
- What songs?
Where are you going to go the next time you travel?
- When are you going to go?
- Who are you going to go with?
- How long are you going to go for?
- What are you going to do there?
- What kind of things do you think you will buy?
Where did you go on your last vacation?
- How did you go?
- Who did you go with?
Where did you spend your last vacation? Your summer vacation? Your Christmas vacation?
Where will you go on your next vacation?
Would you like to take a cruise? Where to? With who?
Do you prefer traveling on a hovercraft or a ferry?
Would you prefer to stay at a hotel/motel or camp while on vacation?
Would you rather visit another country or travel within your own country?
Would you rather go to a place where there are a lot of people or to a place where there are few people?
Do you find more fulfillment from your leisure activities including vacations than from your job?
Do you think the type of vacation one takes reflects one’s social status?
What are popular tourist destinations in your country?
- Have you been to any of them?
- Which would you recommend if you could only recommend one? Why?
Do you prefer active or relaxing holidays? Why?
Which is better, package tour or a tour you organize and book yourself?
Why do you travel?
- Why do people travel?
Would you like to go back to the same place?
Did you find anything of particular interest? / Did you get attracted to anything special?
What are some benefits of travel?
- Why do people travel?
What is your favorite mode of travel?
Have you travelled in business class?
When you were a child did your family take a vacation every year?
Do you prefer a budget or first class hotel? Why?
Do you travel with a lot of baggage or do you like to travel light?
What is your favorite method of travel at your destination? Train? Bus? Boat? Bicycle? Backpacking?
What is the best kind of holiday for different ages of people? Children? Teenagers? Adults? Elderly people?
Do you think it is a good idea to travel with friends, or alone? How about with your family?
If you had $100,000, where would you go on holiday? How about if you had $10,000? What about $1,000?
Which countries have you travelled to?
Do you prefer hot countries or cool countries when you go on holiday
Who makes the decisions when your family decides to go on holiday
If you could choose one place to go this weekend, where would it be?
How do you browse for the best deals on flight tickets?
Has the airline ever lost your luggage? What happened?
On long flights do you usually walk around the plane to avoid health problems?
Have you ever read an interesting question in an in-flight magazine? What was it?
Is there any difference between young tourists and adult tourists?
Do you think tourism will harm the earth?

This is a sponsored blog post by sa.wego.com

Other resources:

ESL Travel Vocabulary Taboo Cards

ESL/EFL Vocabulary Activity: Travel Compound Nouns Dominoes

ESL Role Play Worksheet: Travel/Holidays

Food and Travel ESL Lesson: Interactive Online Lesson

ESL Conversation Lesson: Game Of Thrones And Traveling

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.

28 ESL/EFL Conversation Starters to Spark Conversation

There are not enough conversation questions in the resource universe to satisfy the needs of an average EFL/ESL teacher. We need more, more! Especially, when you teach one-on-one, the search for good questions can be excruciating.

I put together 28 questions which can help the conversation to get going. Some of them are closed questions, they can be answered by yes or no, but it should be made clear before you start the activity that the students are not allowed to do that.

I suggest that they talk about each question for about 2 minutes, and only after that time the teacher can ask follow-up questions.

Some of the questions can be viewed as a bit controversial, so I recommend you use them with adults or older students.

Download >>>28 Conversation Starters

You can also try my other speaking activity >>>> Role plays- Travel

At The Restaurant: ESL Pair Work and Role Play Lesson.

Not everyone can cook, but we all love food. It is a perfect conversation topic and even the shy students usually come out of their shells (seafood pun) when you ask them about their favourite food.

Food is everywhere now, popular TV shows made home cooking fashionable, food blogs with amazing photos will make you drool, social networks such as Instagram are filled with snaps of people’s breakfasts and tasting menus from five-star restaurants, artisan ice-cream and hipster baristas are everywhere, I’m starting to feel hungry just writing about it! Make sure to use this worksheet before lunch; otherwise, your students will eat you alive!

I used this activity many times with different age groups and levels. It works great with teenagers and adults, pre-intermediate, intermediate and upper intermediate levels. Just make sure to pre-teach the relevant vocabulary and some basic at the restaurant phrases. Your students will create their own restaurant menus and practice waiter/customer dialogues.

Download the free worksheet with Teacher’s notes here: Restaurant Menu Pair Work

ESL Role Play Worksheet: Travel/Holidays

There is no such thing as enough role play activities and worksheets! I’ve recently gone over Travel vocabulary with my Intermediate and Upper Intermediate students and I love doing these speaking activities at the end of the lesson.

In my previous article, I included my own version of the Taboo card game on the topic of Travel/Holidays. This ESL role play worksheet contains 5 role-playing dialogues dealing with various issues you may experience during your holiday. Just cut the cards and you are ready to go.

ESL Role-play Worksheet: Travel

A1: You are a receptionist of a 5* hotel. You are very polite and you can deal with annoyed guests. Try to calm down the guest and solve any issues they have. Try to avoid calling the manager.

B1: You are a wealthy businessman staying at a 5* hotel. You are used to quality service and luxury, but this hotel doesn’t offer it. The room is too small, staff is rude, AC is noisy. You want to talk to the manager.

A2: You rent out a flat on Airbnb, and you have been a very popular host so far. Now you have guests who are unhappy about many things. They want to leave and a refund. Persuade them to stay.

B2: You have used Airbnb before and you never experienced any problems. This time you are very unhappy. The flat is far from the sea, far from the centre, it doesn’t have a balcony and hot water isn’t working.You want to leave and a full refund.

A3: You work in a travel agency. Help your clients to chose an ideal holiday. Ask about their budget, preferences, and expectations. Offer advice, suggest different options. Try to persuade them to try an active, adventurous holiday.

B3: You are planning a holiday. Visit a travel agency and ask for help. Describe your ideal holiday, express your wishes, and ask about all the details. You want to relax, sunbathe and read books.

A4: You are a waiter in a local restaurant in an exotic destination. You serve traditional food which your customers don’t know. Explain what the food contains, talk about the ingredients, preparation, texture, etc.

B4: You are on a holiday in an exotic destination. You want to try some traditional food in a local restaurant, but the menu is not in English. Ask the waiter for advice. Find as much about the food as you can.

A5: You sell traditional handmade products on a local market. Praise your products, explain how they are made, if they have any functions or serve only as a decoration. Set your price high and try to sell at best price.

B5: You are visiting a local market, looking for gifts for you and your family. You like handmade, eco-friendly products. Ask a lot of questions and haggle the price down.

Download the PDF>>>>>Role plays- Travel