Speaking: Conversation Topics

(TESOL Worksheets--Speaking) 

Google: drive, docs, pub

[This is an activity to get students speaking.  Students are put into groups of 3 or 4.  There are 6 topics on the conversation sheet.  The teacher rolls a die to determine which topic the students will talk about.  There are two ways to do this: as a collaborative conversation, or as a one minute speech by a selected student.  If I do this as a one minute speech, the student in each group is selected before the die is rolled.    The students take turns so everyone in the group will have a chance.

This activity is inspired by a speaking activity I observed a colleague doing.  She put students into groups of 3 or 4, gave them a conversation topic, gave them a time limit (1 or 2 minutes, depending on fluency of the class) and told them they must talk about it for the given time limit.  The group had to make sure the conversation didn't die out until the time was finished, and everyone in the group had to contribute something to the conversation.  Then at the end of the time limit, she would re-arrange the groups and give another speaking topic.  It was incredibly simply, and yet seemed to work very well.  I will usually do that activity as a lead in to this one.

After the activity finishes, then the students write their own conversation topics.  Sometimes I have them write the conversation topics for their own group, and sometimes they write the conversation topics for another group (the group to their left, for example.)

The first version of this game is for lower level students.  The second version is for higher level students.  All the speaking prompts for the higher level version are not my own, but were taken from a conversation card game that another one of my colleagues had (I'm not sure where she got it from), which I just typed onto paper.  The higher level version is on Google (drive, docs, pub).  I also tried to put some of those same questions on a board game.  The students roll the dice, move their markers along the board, and have to talk for one minute on each topic they land on.  The length of those higher level questions limited the number of them that I could fit on one board, so as a result it's not very long, but for whatever it's worth, it is reproduced down below, and on Google (drive, docs, pub) ]

Conversation Topics:  Talk about each of these topics for one minute

1.  What are your plans for the future?

_______________________________________________________________________

2.  What is a memorable event in your past?

________________________________________________________________________

            3.  Talk about your best friend

_________________________________________________________________________

            4.  If you won 100 million dollars, what would you do?

_________________________________________________________________________

            5.  If you were a hotdog, would you eat yourself?  Why or why not?

__________________________________________________________________________

            6.  What did you do yesterday?

Write in your own conversation topics in the spaces below:

1.  

_______________________________________________________________________

2. 

________________________________________________________________________

            3. 

_________________________________________________________________________

            4. 

_________________________________________________________________________

            5. 

__________________________________________________________________________

            6. 

******************************************************************

11.       Would you have one of your fingers surgically removed if it somehow guaranteed immunity from all major diseases?

22.      If you could prevent either an earthquake that would kill 40,000 people, a plane crash that would kill 200 people, or a car accident that would kill a friend of yours, which would you choose?

33.      Would you be willing to become extremely ugly physically if it meant you would live for 500 years at any physical age you chose?

44.      Would you like to know the precise date of your death?

55.      Would you accept a job twice as good as your present one—twice as much money and twice as fulfilling—given one condition of employment; you can never reveal anything about it to anyone you know?

66.      Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire.  After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item.  What would it be?

1.       If you knew there would be a nuclear war in one week, what would you do?

2.      If you could take a one-month trip anywhere in the world and money were not a consideration, where would you go and what would you do?

3.      Someone close to you is in pain, paralyzed and will die within a month.  He begs you to give him poison so that he can die.  Would you?  What if it were your father?

4.       If a crystal ball would tell you the truth about any one thing you wished to know concerning yourself, life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?

5.      For $40,000 would you go for three months without washing, brushing your teeth, or using a deodorant?  Assume you could not explain your reasons to anyone.

6.      If you could script the basic plot for the dream you will have tonight, what would the story be?

11.       Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by five years to become extremely attractive?

22.       You discover your wonderful 2-year-old daughter is, because of a mix-up at the hospital, not yours. Would you want to exchange the child to try to correct the mistake?

33.       Given the ability to project yourself into the past but not return, would you do so?  Where would you go and what would you try to accomplish if you knew you might change the course of history?

44.       In a nice restaurant, after getting the bill for an excellent meal, you notice that you were not charged for one of the items you ate.  Would you tell the waitress?

55.       You are given the power to kill people.  They would die a natural death and no one would suspect you.  Are there any situations in which you would use this power?

66.       Would you accept twenty-five years of extraordinary happiness if it meant you would die at the end of the period?

1.       If you were having difficulty on an important test and could safely cheat by looking at someone else’s paper, would you do so?

2.       For a person you loved deeply, would you be willing to move to a distant country knowing there would be little chance of ever seeing your family and friends again?

3.      Would you be willing to murder an innocent person if it would end hunger in the world?

4.      Assuming that you had no children and felt the only way for you to have a family was to marry someone you didn’t love, would you be willing to do so?

5.      Would you rather be extremely professionally and have a fairly ordinary private life, or have a very happy private life and only an ordinary professional life?

6.      Before you are ten pistols—only one of which is loaded.  For $10 million would you pick one up, point it at your forehead, and press the trigger?  If you survive, you keep the money.

Write in your own conversation topics in the spaces below:

1.  

_______________________________________________________________________

2.  

________________________________________________________________________

            3. 

________________________________________________________________________

            4. 

________________________________________________________________________

            5. 

________________________________________________________________________

            6. 

 

Start →	Would you have one of your fingers surgically removed if it somehow guaranteed immunity from all major diseases?             →	If you could prevent either an earthquake that would kill 40,000 people, a plane crash that would kill 200 people, or a car accident that would kill a friend of yours, which would you choose?             →	Would you be willing to become extremely ugly physically if it meant you would live for 500 years at any physical age you chose?             →	Would you like to know the precise date of your death?                ↓
Someone close to you is in pain, paralyzed and will die within a month.  He begs you to give him poison so that he can die.  Would you?  What if it were your father? ↓	If you could take a one-month trip anywhere in the world and money were not a consideration, where would you go and what would you do? ←	If you knew there would be a nuclear war in one week, what would you do? ←	Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire.  After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item.  What would it be? ←	Would you accept a job twice as good as your present one—twice as much money and twice as fulfilling—given one condition of employment; you can never reveal anything about it to anyone you know? ←
If a crystal ball would tell you the truth about any one thing you wished to know concerning yourself, life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?→	For $40,000 would you go for three months without washing, brushing your teeth, or using a deodorant?  Assume you could not explain your reasons to anyone.→	If you could script the basic plot for the dream you will have tonight, what would the story be?→	Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by five years to become extremely attractive?→	You discover your wonderful 2-year-old daughter is, because of a mix-up at the hospital, not yours. Would you want to exchange the child to try to correct the mistake?↓
Finish	Would you accept twenty-five years of extraordinary happiness if it meant you would die at the end of the period? ←	You are given the power to kill people.  They would die a natural death and no one would suspect you.  Are there any situations in which you would use this power? ←	In a nice restaurant, after getting the bill for an excellent meal, you notice that you were not charged for one of the items you ate.  Would you tell the waitress? ←	Given the ability to project yourself into the past but not return, would you do so?  Where would you go and what would you try to accomplish if you knew you might change the course of history? ←

Update: November 13, 2015
I've recently re-used these same questions in a class mingle activity.  The students have to walk around the room and talk to everyone in the class.  They write the name of their classmate next to the question that they asked to them.  Google: Drive, Doc, Pub

	Question	Name
1.	Would you have one of your fingers surgically removed if it somehow guaranteed immunity from all major diseases?
2.	If you could prevent either an earthquake that would kill 40,000 people, a plane crash that would kill 200 people, or a car accident that would kill a friend of yours, which would you choose?
3.	Would you be willing to become extremely ugly physically if it meant you would live for 500 years at any physical age you chose?
4.	Would you like to know the precise date of your death?
5.	Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire.  After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item.  What would it be?
6.	If you knew there would be a nuclear war in one week, what would you do?
7.	If you could take a one-month trip anywhere in the world and money were not a consideration, where would you go and what would you do?
8.	Someone close to you is in pain, paralyzed and will die within a month.  He begs you to give him poison so that he can die.  Would you?  What if it were your father?
9.	If a crystal ball would tell you the truth about any one thing you wished to know concerning yourself, life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?
10.	For $40,000 would you go for three months without washing, brushing your teeth, or using a deodorant?  Assume you could not explain your reasons to anyone.
11	If you could script the basic plot for the dream you will have tonight, what would the story be?
12	Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by five years to become extremely attractive?
13	You discover your wonderful 2-year-old daughter is, because of a mix-up at the hospital, not yours. Would you want to exchange the child to try to correct the mistake?
14	Given the ability to project yourself into the past but not return, would you do so?  Where would you go and what would you try to accomplish if you knew you might change the course of history?
15.	In a nice restaurant, after getting the bill for an excellent meal, you notice that you were not charged for one of the items you ate.  Would you tell the waitress?
16	You are given the power to kill people.  They would die a natural death and no one would suspect you.  Are there any situations in which you would use this power?
17.	Would you accept twenty-five years of extraordinary happiness if it meant you would die at the end of the period?
18.	If you were having difficulty on an important test and could safely cheat by looking at someone else’s paper, would you do so?
19	For a person you loved deeply, would you be willing to move to a distant country knowing there would be little chance of ever seeing your family and friends again?
20	Would you be willing to murder an innocent person if it would end hunger in the world?
21	Assuming that you had no children and felt the only way for you to have a family was to marry someone you didn’t love, would you be willing to do so?
22	Would you rather be extremely professionally and have a fairly ordinary private life, or have a very happy private life and only an ordinary professional life?
23	Before you are ten pistols—only one of which is loaded.  For $10 million would you pick one up, point it at your forehead, and press the trigger?  If you survive, you keep the money.
24	Make up your own hypothetical question here: