Print Discuss provides a useful resource for English language teachers – ESL conversation questions. Depending on their workload, instructors often find themselves with limited time to prepare for discussion classes. I hope they'll find something useful here that requires minimal preparation time.
Most of our discussion questions are aimed at intermediate to advanced students. Low-intermediate students may struggle to answer some of the questions, depending on the topic. To help instructors select appropriate material, there is now a rough CEFR level guide on the Discussion Topics page. We've also added beginner-level questions that are good for A1-A2 students.
Some topics may not be appropriate in all cultures. Instructors should know what their students can comfortably discuss and choose questions accordingly.
Each set of questions should provide more than enough material for an hour-long class, especially if the instructor encourages the students to see the questions as just a starting point for a conversation. One version of an ideal discussion class goes like this:
After the group or pair work, when the class comes back together, I like to pick one or two students and ask them one of the questions they just discussed. This adds a little pressure to those students (speaking in front of more people), but they've been prepared by their recent practice, and it's a chance for them to build confidence.
This site started with discussion topics, and somewhere along the line I added grammar-focused question sets for practicing specific grammar points and language functions. It's not always easy to make grammar practice interesting and communicative, but that's the goal. I also made a question generator that can be fun for students, though it gets harder as you add more topics.
Read about some of the ESL books that have made me a better teacher.
Additional teaching notes and reference articles are available in Support Articles.
The questions aren't perfect, and I would really appreciate feedback and suggestions. Also, feel free to make requests for topics you think should be on this site.