Discussion Questions and Conversation Starters: Non-Controversial Questions

(download below)

I use these conversation questions as warm ups, fillers and closing activities.

I also occasionally use them for our weekly guided discussion classes and game nights.

They are better for intermediate students and up, as some of the questions are idiomatic, but I have used them for lower level students with success but lots of assistance on my part.

I have always found that, regardless of level, I have a student or two who manages to kill all discussion with his or her answers.  If the class is oddly numbered, I try to make sure the discussion killer goes into a group of three and change the groups around frequently.

I am not sure why this person doesn't just make something up for the sake of practicing the language, since they are paying for the classes.  When I am practicing the past tense in my Portuguese class and I don't remember what I did last Thursday, I just say I went to the dentist or I met a friend for coffee.  The teacher and my classmates certainly don't care.  But to each their own.

For example:

Question:  "What is the worst food you've ever eaten?"

Discussion killer:  "I like everything."

Question:  "What newspapers do you read?"

Discussion killers:  "I don't like the news."

If you hear this happening over and over again, try to step in and ask follow up questions.  If that doesn't help, sometimes it works if I correct their answers ("You want to say 'I like every type of food.', not 'I like every foods.'") which maybe, sometimes, sorta' highlights that they are not really participating and at least makes the other students in the group aware that the discussion killer is not going unnoticed.

Download the file in Google Documents here.