Here are 10 questions to help you start speaking English. Each of these questions can help you begin or continue a conversation. The questions are divided in two categories: Basic Facts and Hobbies, and Free Time. There are also a number of questions that can help you continue the conversation after the first question.
Five Basic Facts
These five questions will help you get to know people. They are simple questions with simple answers and provide information so you can ask more questions.
What is your name?
Where do you live?
What do you do?
Are you married?
Where are you from?
Peter: Hello. My name is Peter.
Helen: Hi Peter. I'm Helen. Where are you from?
Peter: I'm from Billings, Montana. And you?
Helen: I'm from Seattle, Washington. What do you do?
Peter: I'm a grade school teacher. Where do you live?
Helen: I live in New York.
Peter: That's interesting. Are you married?
Helen: Now, that's an interesting question! Why do you want to know?
Peter: Well ..
More Questions for ..
These questions help to continue the conversation after your first question. Here are some more related questions to ask for more details.
What is your name?
It's a pleasure to meet you. Where are you from?
That's an interesting name. Is it Chinese / French / Indian, etc.?
Does your name have a special meaning?
Where do you live?
How long have you lived there?
Do you like that neighborhood?
Do you live in an apartment or house?
Do you have a garden at your home?
Do you live alone or with your family?
What do you do?
Which company do you work for?
How long have you had that job?
Do you like your job?
What's the best / worst thing about your job?
What do you like best / least about your job?
Would you like to change jobs?
Are you married?
How long have been married?
Where did you get married?
What does your husband / wife do?
Do you have any children?
How old are your children?
Where are you from?
Where is ..?
How long did you live there?
What is XYZ like?
Do you like living here?
How is your country different than here?
Do the people in your country speak English / French / German, etc.?
Hobbies / Free Time
These questions will help you find out more about people's likes and dislikes.
What do you like doing in your free time?
Can you play tennis / golf / soccer / etc.?
What kind of films / food / vacations do you enjoy?
What do you do on weekends / Saturdays?
More Questions for ..
These questions will help you ask for more detail once you've learned if someone does certain things.
What do you like doing in your free time?
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How often do you (listen to music, eat out in restaurants, etc.)?
Where do you (listen to music, eat out in restaurants, etc.) in this town?
Why do you like (listening to music, eating out in restaurants, etc.) so much?
Can you play tennis / golf / soccer / etc.?
Do you enjoy playing tennis /golf /soccer /etc.?
How long have you played tennis /golf /soccer /etc.?
Who do you play tennis /golf /soccer /etc. with?
What kind of films / food / vacations do you enjoy?
What's the best place to see /eat / go on vacations?
What's the best type of film /food / vacation, etc. in your opinion?
How often do you watch films / eat out / go on vacation?
What do you do on weekends / Saturdays?
Where do you go to ..?
Could you recommend a good place to (go shopping / take my children swimming / etc.)?
How long have you done that?
Questions With 'Like'
Questions with 'like' are common conversation starters. Notice the differences in meaning in these questions that use 'like' but ask for different information.
What are you like? - Watch latest new hd tamil movies online. This question asks about a persons character, or how they are as people.
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What are you like?
I'm a friendly person, but I'm a little shy.
What do you like doing? - This question asks about general likes and is often used to ask about a person's hobbies or free time activities.
What do you like doing?
I enjoy playing golf and taking long hikes.
Here are 50 more questions to keep the conversation going. Learn how to make small talk in English to improve your conversation skills.
CONVERSATION TOPICS - Advanced level
A list of conversation topics suitable for advanced level learners of English.
♦Note:
It's a good idea to pre-teach essential vocabulary before beginning a discussion.
This will help students feel more comfortable and encourage them to participate.
- 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?
- Annoying things
- Do people have habits that annoy you?
- Do you annoy people with some of your habits?
- What does 'pet peeve' mean?
- Do you have a pet peeve?
- What annoys you when you are driving a car?
- What are some things that car drivers do that annoy you?
- Does it annoy you if someone cuts in front of you when you are waiting in line?
- Does smoking bother you?
- Does something that your parents or friends do annoy you?
- Do some people in your office/company do annoying things?
- Can you think of any celebrities that are annoying? Why?
- What do people do on public transport or on the street that annoys you?
- Success-Failure
- How would you define success?
- Do you have the same idea of success as your parents?
- To what extent will your encourage your children to become successful?
- Do you think failures can contribute to a person's success?
- Can you think of any famous people who encountered failure before success?
- Social Networking
- What is social networking?
- Can social networking sites be dangerous?
- What precautions would you advise people to take?
- Should the use of social networking sites be banned at work?
- Are social networking sites changing our daily behaviour?
- Is it possible to become a social networking addict?
- Diseases
- What dangerous diseases are people scared of nowadays?
- Should we be better-informed about the dangers of these diseases?
- What is the best way to stop diseases from spreading?
- Do diseases have an effect on travel?
- Which disease is it urgent to find a cure for?
- Manners
- Are good manners important?
- Do people have better manners today than before?
- Can you give examples of what you think are good manners?
- What do you think are bad manners?
- Can good manners in one country be bad manners in another country?
- What about table manners? Can you give examples of some good table manners?
- How about bad table manners?
- Can manners affect your success in life? How?
- What's the best way to teach manners to children?
- What advice about manners would you give a foreigner visiting your country?
- News coverage in the media today.
- Do you think news coverage today correctly describes what is going on in the world?
- Do you trust everything you hear or see on the news?
- What improvements would you make?
- What is the most important current news story?
- Do certain types of events get too much/too little coverage?
- Do you trust the media? Are you sure the information given is always true?
- Is it important to keep up with current events?
- Job interviews
- Is it necessary to prepare for a job interview?
- How can a person make a good first impression?
- Is there a recommended dress code for an interview?
- Can you think of any difficult questions one should be prepared for?
- Is there anything a candidate should avoid mentioning?
- Is it ok to make negative comments about your present employer?
- Is it ok for interviewers to ask questions about age, marital status, etc.?
- What information should a candidate have about the company?
- Environment
- What are some of the most serious environmental problems today?
- Can you find ten things that each of us can do to help preserve our planet?
- What is your opinion on climate change?
- In what way will our children be affected by climate change?
- How can we make our homes more environmentally friendly?
- What can companies do to help preserve the environment?
- Which countries cause the most pollution?
- If we run out of oil, where will we get our energy from?
- Shopping on the internet
- Do you often do your shopping online?
- What do you buy online? :
- food
- clothes
- furniture
- services : airline tickets, theatre reservations, flowers, greeting cards ..
- other - Are the prices the same as in the shops/agencies or less expensive?
- Have you ever had any disappointments or bad surprises?
- What are the advantages of shopping online?
- What are the dangers?
- What advice would you give future online shoppers?
- Risk
- What is your definition of risk?
- Do you know any risk takers?
- In your opinion why do people take risks? (pleasure, work, challenge ..)
- What risks do you come across in your work/life?
- Are some people obliged to take risks in their jobs?
- When is a risk stupid or unnecessary?
- Politicians' personal lives.
- Does a politician's personal life have an effect on their ability to do their job?
- Do you think the media pays too much attention to politicians' personal lives?
- Why do certain types of media give excessive coverage to minor offences?
- Information concerning personal lives circulates quickly on social networks.
Is this good or bad?
- History for future generations.
- You are asked to select a number of objects to represent life at the beginning of the 21st century.
The idea is to help future generations better understand how we lived and what major events affected us.
What objects would your choose and why?
- You are asked to select a number of objects to represent life at the beginning of the 21st century.
- Technology
- What technology would it be difficult to live without today?
- Has technology changed our everyday lifestyle?
- What technology, if any, has made our homes more comfortable?
- Has technology changed education methods?
- Will online education one day replace the classroom?
- Travelling has become easier and cheaper. What has it changed in people's lives:
- speed, comfort, health, family relationships, etc.
- work/employment
- holiday habits
- way of life/standard of living in certain countries.
- Describe the best or worst trip you ever took:
- Where did you go?
- Did you travel alone or with a group?
- What did you do / what had you intended to do?
- What made it your best (or worst) trip?
- What advice would you give someone planning the same sort of trip?
- Work
- Do human beings need to work to be happy?
- What motivates people to work long hours?
- Can perks (or fringe benefits) compensate for a boring job?
- What are the advantages/disadvantages of working from home?
- How do people find a balance between work and personal life?
- What would make you leave your job?
- In your opinion, what is the worst job in the world?
- Is life today better than in the past? Think about the following:
- Education - employment - job satisfaction
- Health : prevention, treatment, new discoveries, social security, etc.
- Comfort : standard of living (housing/transport/leisure)
- Violence
- Social issues : single mothers, unmarried couples, homosexuality ..
- Inventions
- What invention has had the greatest impact on our lives?
- Are there some things that never should have been invented?
- Do some countries encourage inventors more than others?
- What are the 5 most important decisions in a person's life?
After making suggestions and defending their ideas, the group retains five of them and decides on the order of importance. - It is impossible to have a successful career and a happy family life.
You have to choose one or the other. Do you agree? - Careers today: how to advise young people
- How important is it to have a good (well-paid/secure) job?
- What advice would you give a young person today?
- Would you encourage your children to accept a job in another country?
- Would you be disappointed if your children
- left school early?
- chose a manual job?
- The internet is an essential communication tool in today's world.
- The first and most popular use is the email. What others can you think of?
- Has fraud increased since the arrival of the internet? How?
- Is the internet sometimes used for other dishonest purposes?
- What steps would you advise to protect data and privacy?
- What do you think the internet will be used for in the future?
- Recent physical achievements (crossing the Atlantic, mountain climbing, etc.).
- How many can you think of?
- Which achievement was the most impressive?
- Are the world's best athletes present at the Olympic Games?
- What do you think of 'extreme' sports (bungee jumping, tightrope walking..)?
- The effects of medical and scientific progress:
- health (prevention, treatment, organ transplants, rare diseases, etc.)
- beauty (plastic surgery, dental care, etc.)
- comfort in the home
- transport
see also:
Unfinished sentences - advanced
Conversation topics - intermediate
Conversation topics - business
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English Conversation Topics Teachers
Please note that British English spelling is used on this website.