ESL EFL TESOL ENGLISH CONVERSATION STARTERS ENGLISH ADVANCED ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH SPEAKING ACTIVITIES 100 ENGLISH CONVERSATION STARTERS

Students often find speaking quite challenging in English class. They find it really useful to engage with activities that require them to reproduce language they are already familiar with, be creative with that language in order to produce new language, and also enable them to engage with entirely new language.

The questions feature a range of tenses and moods, such as the present tense, present subjunctive, perfect, imperfect, and conditional perfect. There are several questions focusing on if + subjunctive + conditional clauses. There is a significant amount of implicit input on a range of grammatical concepts, particularly the use of tenses. It's useful to include a broad range of language in the questions, as the activity is not solely about practicing language, but also about actively learning it.

Questions formats are varied, to ensure maximum opportunity to work with the different ways to ask questions in English. Some questions seek to elicit very similar information, but are asked in different language: this avoids learners simply parroting learned responses to fixed prompts.

Remind students that it is not necessary to tell the truth - the purpose is to create and produce accurate and realistic language. Students can prepare their responses in as much detail as possible on the accompanying planning sheet, remembering that these are conversation starters, so that once they have responded, they should then say something to keep the conversation going. The set works equally well as writing prompts. The level is roughly B1-B2, with some reference to C1.

The starters broadly address the following themes:

music, film & television; literature & culture; personal life, information & preferences; leisure & free time; health & well-being; history & society; recent & current events; travel, tourism & holidays; technology & social media; likes & dislikes; local environment; environmental & social issues; education & studies

Try this freebie:

10 ENGLISH CONVERSATION STARTERS FREEBIE

The Lively Learning Classroom offers a wide range of English resources, including special offer bundles and freebies.

Files are non-editable in a zipped format. The resource is copyright, all rights reserved. It may not be copied, rewritten, amended, shared or distributed outside your own classroom in any way. The license for purchase is a single-user license only. Please read the Terms of Use.

There are more English speaking / writing activities here:

100 ENGLISH CONVERSATION STARTERS #1

200 ENGLISH CONVERSATION STARTERS MINI-PAQUETE

100 ENGLISH PAIRED SPEAKING PRACTICE CARDS #1

100 ENGLISH PAIRED SPEAKING PRACTICE CARDS #2

200 ENGLISH PAIRED SPEAKING PRACTICE CARDS MINI-PAQUETE #1

100 ENGLISH SPEAKING & WRITING PROMPTS #1

100 ENGLISH SPEAKING & WRITING PROMPTS #2

200 ENGLISH SPEAKING & WRITING PROMPTS MINI-PAQUETE #1

THANKS AND ENJOY ENGLISH CLASS!