A set of 10 conversation prompts for use with your English language students, useful for warm-ups and encouraging students to use the language rather than simply study it.
Stimulate discussion in English with these conversation prompt cards designed to elicit discussion using a variety of prepositions related to location, place and time. With this set of 60 conversation prompts, help your students encounter, notice, and practise the correct prepositions and patterns commonly used to talk about directions and time in English.
Questions are colour-coded and grouped into patterns, with repetition of question forms designed to encourage language uptake as students share their answers.
Example questions:
Do you live by a river?
Where is your nearest train station?
What is on your kitchen counter?
What do you do on your commute?
What do you do in the evening?
Can you describe your favourite restaurant?
These cards are designed for pre-intermediate levels and above, but are suitable for most levels depending on language goals and appropriate monitoring by the teacher.
They are appropriate for all ages of learners, regardless of if they are currently at school or graduated some time ago. However, some cards refer to work and employment, so younger students may need to explain (in English!) that these questions are not relevant to them.
These cards ensure your students learn naturally, increasing the fluency, accuracy, and vocabulary while discussing their own lives, opinions, and giving their own recommendations.
These conversation prompts allow you students to identify and learn common English patterns in a natural, communicative way, while making the class personal to them and their ideas.
Check out more of our products on Foreign Language Teachers to find materials for all levels and ages of learner.
Enliven your language classroom with engaging discussions!
Mystery Box: a game that will see your class go wild!
The mystery box game is a simple yet highly motivating game designed especially for learners of English, though the template is easily adaptable for any subject.
The premise is this; the class is split into three or four teams, and go through a sequence of questions. Whenever a team answers a question correctly, they receive a 'mystery box,' the contents of which may be good or bad.
This game is incredibly involving for students, sparking off their competitive drive and using this drive to focus attention on language forms, vocabulary, general knowledge, or any other topic the teacher sees fit to adapt it to.
In this download you will find a usable, easy-to-understand example of the game. This can be used as a template to make further versions quickly and easily.
Stimulate discussion in English with these conversation prompt cards designed to elicit discussion about all things related to travel. With this set of 90 conversation prompts, help your students encounter, notice, and practise language patterns commonly used to form and answer questions in English.
These cards ensure your students learn naturally, increasing the fluency, accuracy, and vocabulary while discussing their own experiences, preferences, and feelings about travel.
This set is colour-coded to separate and demonstrate common patterns and collocations:
Key language patterns:
How many times a year do you…?
e.g. How many times a year do you travel overseas?
Have you ever…?
e.g. Have you ever been on a package tour?
What is the <superlative phrase> you have been on?
e.g. What is the longest vacation you have been on?
Where would you like to visit in…?
e.g. Where would you like to visit in Asia?
Adverbs of frequency:
e.g. Who do you usually travel with?
If you could… would you…?
e.g. If you could take a cruise anywhere, where would you go?*
Would you like to…?
e.g. Would you like to visit Machu Picchu?*
Do you prefer… or …?
e.g. Do you prefer long vacations at home or short vacations abroad?
Where is a good place to/for…?
e.g. Where is a good place to travel for a school trip?*
What do you like about…?/What don’t you like about…?
e.g. What do you like about travelling domestically?*
Do you enjoy ….ing…?
e.g. Do you enjoy trying new food when you travel overseas?*
Key vocabulary and phrases:
Adverbs of frequency:* Usually, normally, often, sometimes*
Continents and regions:* North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia,
Oceania, North pole*
Superlatives: most beautiful, most expensive, worst, longest, shortest, etc
Take a flight / Go on a cruise / Go hitchhiking / Go on a package tour
overseas / abroad
travel for business / travel for pleasure
Haggling
Exchange money
Passport
Domestic / International
Public transport / by plane / train
alone / with family / with friends
adventure
cuisine / eat out
experience a different culture / sights
hot climate / cold climate
These conversation prompts allow you students to identify and learn common English patterns in a natural, communicative way, while making the class personal to them and their lives.
These cards are designed for intermediate levels and above, but are suitable for pre-intermediate learners depending on language goals and careful selection of language by patterns/sets.
Check out more of our products on Foreign Language Teachers to find materials for all levels and ages of learner.
Enliven your language classroom with engaging discussions!
Stimulate discussion in English with these conversation prompt cards designed to elicit discussion about all things related to life experiences and life lessons. With this set of 100 conversation prompts, help your students encounter, notice, and practise language patterns commonly used to form and answer questions in English.
Questions are grouped together in similar language forms, though this set specifically addresses forms commonly used but not always addressed in textbooks. From standards like the present perfect tense to more colloquial yet grammatically correct prompts, these questions allow students to encounter natural English and respond to it in their own ways.
Language patterns and prompts include:
Have you ever been…?
e.g. Have you ever been to North America?, Have you ever been to a romantic city?
Superlatives in questions
e.g. What’s the most beautiful place you have been to?, What’s the strangest experience you have had?
Quantifying experiences with frequency statements
e.g. How many countries have you visited?, How many exams have you failed?
Life experiences
e.g. What is your earliest memory of school?, Who has affected your life the most?
“Did you ever…?”
e.g. Did you ever have an imaginary friend?, Did you ever see something you can’t explain?
….and more!
These cards are designed for intermediate levels and above, but are suitable for all learners depending on language goals and careful selection of language by sets.
They are appropriate for all ages of learners from early teens onwards, including adult learners. Some topics will be more appropriate for specific ages, though all will elicit discussion between learners.
These cards ensure your students learn naturally, increasing their fluency, accuracy, and vocabulary while discussing their own experiences and the things they have learned in their lives.
These conversation prompts allow you students to identify and learn common English patterns in a natural, communicative way, while making the class personal to them and their lives.
Check out more of our products on Foreign Language Teachers to find materials for all levels and ages of learner.
Enliven your language classroom with engaging discussions!
Talk about English: 100 questions for EFL to stimulate thinking about English and English language learning!
What do all English learners have in common? English!
Stimulate discussion in English, about English, with these conversation prompt cards designed to elicit discussion about all things related to English language learning. With this set of 100 conversation prompts, help your students encounter, notice, and practise language patterns commonly used to form and answer questions in English. At the same time, they will also come to understand the language, and the reasons behind studying it, in more depth.
Cards are grouped into colour-coded sets to separate and demonstrate common patterns of grammar in the English language, including forming Wh-questions, using conditionals, understanding word forms, and identifying English tenses.
Included topics:
Wh-questions
e.g. Where do you usually study English?
How often do you study English?
Identifying word types
e.g. What is an adjective?
What is the difference between the articles a/an and the?
English tenses
e.g. Can you make a sentence in the present continuous tense?
Is there a future tense in English?
**Discussing preferences **
e.g. Which do you prefer, listening to English podcasts or watching English movies?
English accents
e.g. How many English accents can you name?
Offering advice
e.g. What advice can you give for improving your English listening skill?
English as a global language
e.g. In which countries do people speak English?
Conditionals and hypothesizing
e.g. If you could study another language instead of English, would you?
English-language media
e.g. What English-language writers do you know?
These cards are designed for intermediate levels and above, but are suitable for pre-intermediate learners depending on language goals and careful selection of language by patterns/sets. They are appropriate for all mature learners, including adults.
These cards ensure your students learn naturally, increasing the fluency, accuracy, and vocabulary while discussing their own experiences, preferences, and feelings about English language learning.
These conversation prompts allow you students to identify and learn common English patterns in a natural, communicative way, while making the class personal to them and their lives.
Check out more of our products on Foreign Language Teachers to find materials for all levels and ages of learner.
Enliven your language classroom with engaging discussions!
Stimulate discussion in English with these conversation prompt cards designed to elicit discussion about all things related to sustainability.
With this set of 100 conversation prompts, help your students encounter, notice, and practise language patterns commonly used to form and answer questions in English, all while discussing a vital issue for today’s world.
Sets of questions are colour-coded and grouped to demonstrate common language patterns and collocations.
Key vocabulary:
Recycle
Reduce
Reuse
Reusable
Disposable
Sustainable
Non-sustainable
Sustainable sources
Sustainable goods
Sustainably
Live sustainably
Sustainability
Protect
Threats
Renewable energy
Renewable sources
Non-renewable energy
Hunger
Poverty
Climate change
Inequality
Example questions:
How can we reduce water usage?
What are the biggest threats to forests and jungles?
What are the advantages of renewable energy?
These cards are designed for intermediate levels and above, but are suitable for pre-intermediate learners with selection as appropriate and pre-study of the topic of sustainability. They are especially good for advanced learners, affording the chance to tackle a complex, nuanced topic in their second language.
They are appropriate for all ages of learners from early teens onwards, regardless of if they are currently at school or graduated some time ago. They are also appropriate for adult learners.
These cards ensure your students learn naturally, increasing the fluency, accuracy, and vocabulary while discussing their own experiences, preferences, and feelings about sustainability and the world we live in.
These conversation prompts allow you students to identify and learn common English patterns in a natural, communicative way, while making the class personal to them and their lives.
Check out more of our products on Foreign Language Teachers to find materials for all levels and ages of learner.
Enliven your language classroom with engaging discussions!
A set of 40 conversation prompts for use with your English language students, useful for warm-ups and encouraging students to use the language rather than simply study it.
It is recommended that you do not only use these conversation prompts to teach, but also to learn about your students: discover their language needs and any points they need further practice on.
Challenge your students with these common phrases to describe time. How was the day before yesterday? Were you busy two Saturdays ago? What are you doing the week after next?
Try these discussion cards for free with your students, and stimulate free discussion with a grammar focus in the classroom.
Find many more discussion cards with Foreign Language Teachers on this site!
Stimulate discussion in English with these conversation prompt cards designed to elicit the use of adverbs!
One of the trickiest word forms for students to master, adverbs add descriptive nuance and detail to spoken language. With this set of 60 conversation prompts, help your students practise common adverb formation and usage.
These sets are colour-coded to group specific adverbs of manner, or patterns of usage. Examples include:
well
badly
slowly
quickly
fast
clearly
fluently
professionally
fashionably
quietly
hard/hardly
carefully/carelessly
perfectly/imperfectly
carelessly/thoughtfully
…and more!
These conversation prompts allow you students to identify and learn common English usage of adverbs and their collocations in a natural, communicative way, while making the class personal to them and their lives.
These cards are suitable for intermediate learners and above.
Enliven your language classroom with engaging discussions!
A selection of discussion prompts for your ESL classroom, useful for a variety of levels.
This set is divided into two categories with brief grammatical explanations to help you pre-teach the language point.
The two categories are;
If: The first conditional
Have: The present perfect
60 conversations prompts designed to demonstrate and elicit the correct grammar patterns of make, let, and allow when used to express permission and obligation. Each question draws attention to the common English pattern of grammar for using these verbs:
*make + someone + verb
let + someone + verb
allow + someone + to + verb*
These cards allow learners to practise using these forms while talking about their experiences in a natural way, without direct feeding of language by the teacher. The prompts encourage free production and the noticing and acquisition of the grammar patterns.
Made for a variety of levels, it is encouraged that teachers of lower-level students first select from these cards the prompts they feel are most appropriate for the abilities and interests of their students.
90 conversations prompts categorised for the teaching and elicitation of phrases to discuss personal experiences, including:
I have seen…
I have tried…
I have been…
I haven’t done…
What have you…? (Who/Where/How…)
These cards allow learners to practise talking about their experiences in a natural way, without direct feeding of language by the teacher. The prompts encourage free production and the noticing and acquisition of grammar patterns. They have been organised so that certain patterns and language points are noticed and developed before or after the activity, allowing their use for a variety of teaching methodologies.
These cards can be divided in several ways: by the main verb used (be, do, eat, try, see) and question forms, by common collocations, and by other patterns, and several ideas have been included for teachers.
Made for a variety of levels, it is encouraged that teachers of lower-level students first select from these cards the prompts they feel are most appropriate for the abilities and interests of their students.
30 conversations prompts categorised for the teaching and elicitation of phrases to discuss gossip and rumours, including:
I’ve heard…
(some) people say…
It’s been said that…
Many people believe that…
These cards allow learners to practise talking about rumours and gossip in a natural way while avoiding directly endorsing what they are saying. The prompts encourage the free production of language, while at the same time encouraging the noticing and acquisition of grammar patterns whether pre-taught or not, and enable teachers to easily set up communicative discussions between pairs or small groups of learners.
Made for a variety of levels, it is encouraged that teachers of lower-level students first select the cards they feel are most appropriate for the abilities and interests of their students.
Stimulate discussion in English with these conversation prompt cards designed to elicit discussion about all things related to history and historical events and figures. With this set of 90 conversation prompts, help your students encounter, notice, and practise language patterns and collocations commonly used to form and answer questions in English.
Questions are colour-coded and grouped into common grammar patterns, with repetition of question forms designed to encourage language uptake as students share their answers.
Example questions and grammar patterns:
What was the most important invention** in history? **
Who was the most powerful woman** in history?**
Which was more important, the invention of the camera or the mobile phone?
Who was Nelson Mandela?
What was the Industrial Revolution?
Which historical event would you like to see?
Do you wish you could visit the Roman Empire?
What do you know about Genghis Khan?
How much do you know about John F. Kennedy?
When did humans first come to Australia?
When did the British Empire exist?
These cards are designed for intermediate levels and above, but are suitable for most levels depending on language goals and careful selection of questions. The choice of appropriate cards depends entirely on what you know of your students’ interests!
They are appropriate for all ages of learners from early teens onwards, regardless of if they are currently at school or graduated some time ago. However, we recommend selecting as appropriate with reference to maturity and cultural sensitivities.
These cards ensure your students learn naturally, increasing the fluency, accuracy, and vocabulary while discussing their own knowledge and understanding of history.
These conversation prompts allow you students to identify and learn common English patterns in a natural, communicative way, while making the class personal to them and their ideas.
Check out more of our products on Foreign Language Teachers to find materials for all levels and ages of learner.
Enliven your language classroom with engaging discussions!
Stimulate discussion in English with these conversation prompt cards designed to elicit discussion about all things related to family and family life.
With this set of 60 conversation prompts, help your students encounter, notice, and practise language patterns and collocations commonly used to form and answer questions in English.
Each card has key vocabulary highlighted, with repetition of question forms designed to encourage language uptake as students share their answers.
This set uses colour-coded guides to separate and demonstrate common patterns and collocations, though there are multiple variations of how the cards can be used.
Example language patterns:
How manycousins do you have?
Does your family get together for New Year?
Do you have abig family or small family?
Who is the youngest in your family?
Do you want to have children?
What do you know about your family history?
These cards are designed for intermediate levels and above, but are suitable for pre-intermediate learners depending on language goals and careful selection of language by patterns/sets.
They are appropriate for all ages of learners from early teens onwards, regardless of if they are currently at school or graduated some time ago. *However, we recommend selecting as appropriate with reference to both language ability and family history.
*
These cards ensure your students learn naturally, increasing the fluency, accuracy, and vocabulary while discussing their own experiences, preferences, and feelings about their families.
These conversation prompts allow you students to identify and learn common English patterns in a natural, communicative way, while making the class personal to them and their lives.
Check out more of our products on Foreign Language Teachers to find materials for all levels and ages of learner.
Enliven your language classroom with engaging discussions!
Learning a language is a challenge, and for each learner the journey is different. However, everyone’s journey shares a some of the same challenges. With this material, help your students overcome some of the most common problems and misunderstandings that arise when learning English!
These materials group 16 different areas of problematic language into 5 separate lessons or activities. Use the Powerpoint presentation (also provided in PDF format) to present the areas of language you will be looking at, then give students the reading tasks to complete to practise and demonstrate understanding!
Each reading task is divided into 4 parts:
a 2-part story using and eliciting the target language where learners have to choose the correct form,
…and…
a 2-part review of the story where they no longer select answers from provided choices, but produce the correct form from their own language knowledge.
Pictures and visual aids enhance comprehension, and examples of language forms are provided for each problem area. Easily adaptable and extendable, these materials should be invaluable in improving your student’s English language ability!
The language addressed in these materials are as follows:
Section A
Borrow and lend
Look and Watch
Listen and Hear
By and until
Let and make
Section B
Notice and realize
Farthest and Furthest
Either and neither
Section C
Superlatives: More and –er
Fewer and less
Section D
Conditional forms of “If”
Section E
Many and much
Many and a lot of
Any and every
The included files are: Reading Tasks (PDF format, 10 pages), Powerpoint (22 slides, editable), PDF version of Powerpoint
A collection of 224 conversation starters to stimulate discussion amongst students of the English language. Each colour-coded set is based around a single grammar point using a certain tense or conditional, with grammar explanations to aid a teacher in preparing for the activity.
Stimulate discussion in English with these conversation prompt cards! With this set of 90 conversation prompts, help your students practise patterns of grammar used commonly to discuss frequency, routine, and habits.
This set is divided into three parts:
1)** Discussing personal habits and recommending routines**
Example Language:
How often do you…
How often should you…
…exercise?
…clean your room?
…study English?
…brush your teeth?
Discussing frequency of experiences and predicting future frequency
Example Language:
How many times have you…
How many times will you…
…laughed today? …laugh today?
…drunk today? …drink today?
…looked at your phone? …look at your phone?
…used a computer? …use a computer?
3)** Adverbs of frequency**
Example Language:
always usually sometimes occasionally rarely never
What time do you usually…?
Do you occasionally…?
Are you always…?
Do you often…?
Do you rarely…?
These conversation prompts allow you students to identify and learn common patterns in English grammar in a natural, communicative way, while making the class personal to them and their lives.
Each set comes with prompts matched into pairs, to allow conversation to continue and encourage recycling of language. These pairs can be printed and folded to make a single, double-sided card. For example:
*How often do you exercise? – How often should you exercise?
How many times have you looked at your phone today? – How many times will you look at your phone today?*
Enliven your language classroom with engaging discussions!
A set of 60 conversation prompts based on common idioms, for use with your English students to encourage spoken language use. In this set, the idioms are drawn from 3 categories: animals, sports, and body.
Animal idioms: Workhorse, Horse around, Early bird, Night owl, Bullheaded, Cats and dogs, Chicken, Dinosaur, Black sheep, Fish out of water, Get your goat, Hurt a fly
Sports idioms: Big hit, Kick off, Own goal, Slam dunk, Throw in the towel, Hurdle, Rookie, Curveball, Team player, No sweat
Body idioms: Big head, Cool head, Big mouth, Broken heart, Heartbreaker,
Cold feet, Golden tongue, Heart of gold, Hairy, Hot head
There are 2 questions given using the English idiom, designed to draw on learner’s own experiences and feelings and to elicit usage of the idiom. Each card provides a definition of the idiom besides the question, so that once folded the card can be turned over for easy reference.
These prompts are designed to draw language from learners communicatively that stimulates their interest and motivation to use English, and can be used in a variety of ways. Encourage your students to elaborate and build on from the question prompts.