presentation topics for intermediate students

Creative Resources for ESL/EFL Teachers

ESL Presentation Topics: 12 Mini Presentations

ESL presentation topics for intermediate and upper intermediate students. Great as a warm-up or a speaking lesson.

You can use the slideshow and share your screen on Zoom or other app when teaching online. Just click on the full screen option in the top right corner of the slideshow.

I used it with my students during our online lesson and we didn’t even have time to discuss all the topics, because they couldn’t stop talking. I was quite impressed how much they knew and also how well they could express their opinions.

One of the reasons why I love conversation activities is that I learn so much about my students. I think that we often underestimate our students and see them as the stereotypical lazy teenagers. Activities like these can show us that they are much more than that.

You can also download the PDF for easy printing below.

Other picture-based resources:

ESL Exam Speaking Picture Description and Questions

No-Prep ESL Picture Description Speaking Activity

Picture Based Speaking Activity For ESL/EFL Classes

Picture Prompts for Speaking and Writing: An ESL Activity

ESL Picture Description: Exam Skills Practice

Food and Travel ESL Lesson: Interactive Online Lesson

Conversation resources:

Popular Conversation Topics for (not only) Adults and Teenagers: 50 Questions

Conversation Starters: 30 Interesting Conversation Questions Not Only For ESL Students

Conversation Questions Gerunds and Infinitives: ESL Speaking Activity

30 Hypothetical Conversation Questions for ESL Students

ESL Conversation Topics

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in Activities for Adults

Presentation Projects for Students | ESL Presentation Ideas

If you do presentation with your language classes , then you’ll need to check out some of these presentation project ideas. Get beyond the boring old PowerPoint presentation and use some of these creative ideas to bring a bit of excitement and life back into your classes.

Presentation Projects and Ideas for ESL students

Your students will love it, and it’ll also keep things fresh for you if you’ve seen the same old projects year after year.

Presentation Projects for ESL/EFL Students

Over the years teaching in a Korean university , I’ve had students do plenty of presentation projects, with varying degrees of success . I hope that you can learn from my mistakes and make your ESL speaking classes as awesome as possible.

Presentation projects, if set up well are an excellent way to add a bit of variety to the ESL classroom. After all, students get tired of hearing the teacher talk all the time! And you probably get tired of talking. I know that I always did! Plus, it’s fun to hear what students have to say.

Here are my top presentation projects for ESL/EFL students.

• Basic speech (not recommended!)
• Presentation, then discussion time
• Poster presentation
• Making a movie
• PowerPoint presentation
• Impromptu presentation
• Teaching the class how to do something

If you teach business English, then the sky is kind of the limit in terms of what topics you choose. You could focus on just about anything that students may expect to present on when they start working in a company.

#1: A Basic Speech

Each student has to choose from a variety of topics such as family , food, dreams or hobby. They have to speak for between 1.5 and 2 minutes. I did this only once, with low-level students and it was ridiculously boring such that I never did it again.

The main problem is all the presentations are basically the same and go a little something like this: “I have a mom. She is 49 years old. She has brown hair and black eyes. I have a dad. He is 57 years old. My dad has brown hair and black eyes. He is short.” Word for word, almost the same!

Trust me, they were some of the most tedious and excruciating hours of my entire life. It was from this point on that I vowed to never set up a presentation like this again. I got a lot more creative and made students talk about things that were more varied and interesting.

Of course, the bad results from this experiment were totally my fault. I should have chosen more interesting topics for the students, or given them better guidelines. Seriously, better ESL presentations topics would have made a big difference here and I really have nobody to blame but myself!

Maybe Not Terrible if…

This style of presentation could have been far less bad if I had done a better job setting it up. I should have set the topic to something like, “Current events.” That way, students would have been forced to choose something in the news and the presentation topics would have been quite varied.

Or, I could have required some visual aids to make it a bit more interesting for the students.

#2: Presentation, and then Discussion Time

Each group has to give a presentation about a topic of their choosing and think of at least 5 interesting questions/surveys/activities that groups could discuss or do for about 20 minutes after their presentation. This often works best if the presentation is based on 2-3 articles that the students have to send you in advance.

This presentation project ideas had varying results, since some groups chose a topic that led to a lot of “yes/no” answers and discussions that lasted about 5 minutes, at most.

However, this could have been avoided by personally approving the topics in advance and requiring groups to submit their assignment for feedback a week or two before the actual presentation. I blame nobody but myself for the failure on this one!

This ideas for presentation projects isn’t a bad one, if you set it up well. It can work well for English majors or advanced level students who want a class filled with conversation and discussion.

#3: Poster Presentation

A poster is one of my favourite presentation projects. Each group has to choose a current controversial issue (like environmental pollution, suicide, North Korea) and make a poster that had English writing and some interesting pictures on it. Set a (low) max number of words or your posters will be terrible and filled with wordy death!

Then, the students have to do a presentation based on the poster where each group member speaks for 1-2 minutes, without a paper.

For this one, it’s very important that you require no paper script, or you’ll just have students reading off their notes. Also, don’t allow students to put too many words on the poster, or you’ll have students reading off of this.

If I ever did this again, I would do something where the audience was more involved, such as peer grading. Or, I would require each group watching the presentation to think of at least 1 question to ask and they’d get a point for doing so. Basically, it’d give the rest of the students in the class a reason to listen.

It’s potentially an excellent group presentation project!

ESL presentation ideas

#4 Presentation Projects: Making a Movie

Another ESL presentation idea is to have students make a movie. It’s easier than ever these days because almost everybody has a smartphone, and it’s free to upload the video to YouTube. This works particularly well if you teach film, art or fashion students and you’ll get some amazing results. It’s actually one of my favourite ESL projects these days.

You can have a fun “viewing day” in class and encourage everyone to bring a snack! It’s a nice change from the regular old textbook thing.

Here’s how I’ve done movie projects.

• I put students into groups of 4-5. One person can “film” the project and then you can have 2-3 actors. Finally, one person might be designated the write the script or edit. However, I leave it up to the group how they want to divide the roles and not everyone has to appear on camera.
• I set a minimum and maximum time for the movie (usually 3-5 minutes), as well as a certain number of English sentences that must be spoken during that time. It must be a story of some kind that makes sense.
• I’ll usually give a topic or theme of some kind, but may leave it open.

I evaluate it based on the following things:

• Quality of English
• Interesting story
• Quality of production (I don’t expect a lot, but just basic stuff like making sure it’s bright enough, we can hear the people talking, etc.)

The quality of English usually gets around 10 marks, while the other two categorie s are each worth five.

#5: PowerPoint Presentation

This has the potential to be very interesting, or PPT death. It all depends on how you set the presentation project up.

If you do go with this method, you should set a maximum number of slides and also a maximum numbers of words per slide (5-10?). Emphasize to students that you want to see pictures, charts, etc. and not a wall of text.

I generally allow each group to have 1 intro and 1 conclusion slide, and then 1 slide per group member. So if there are 6 students in the group, it’ll be 8 slides. I usually say that each student has to talk about their slide for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on the level.

Teach students how to make good PowerPoints and then penalize heavily for not following your recommendations. You should also coach students on how to stand to the side and keep their body pointed towards the audience. Eye contact is key!

This is an excellent idea for presentation projects, if some key expectations are set out in advance. Eye contact/don’t look at screen, pictures instead of words on the PowerPoint, etc.

#6: Just a Minute Impromptu Presentation

If you want to give your students some practice with making impromptu, or off the cuff style of speeches, then Just a Minute may be exactly what you need. It’s a toastmasters style activity and makes the perfect warm-up activity for intermediate or advanced level students.

You can also turn this into a listening activity, instead of just an ESL presentation by requiring the other students in the group to ask follow-up questions. Try this one with your classes and I think your students will really enjoy the challenge.

Find out more about it here:

Just a Minute ESL Speaking Activity

Impromptu presentation skills are never a bad thing for students (or anyone) to practice!

#7: Teaching Others How to Do Something

One of the best presentation ideas for students is to get them to teach the class how to do something. I’ve done this a few times now and they are some of my most memorable classes.

The way it works is that students choose something they know how to do well. Students in the past having chosen things like:

• How to fry an egg
• Heading a soccer ball
• Playing the guitar
• Getting dates
• Making sure their parents give them enough spending money
• Eating out cheaply around the university
• Getting the best class schedule

I allow students to bring in props, material or make a simple powerpoint presentation with pictures (no text) to explain.

#8: What are you Cooking?

If you want to have your students do some fun presentations in a more informal kind of way, then consider trying out “What are you Cooking?” Students have to plan a 3-course meal based on ingredients from their classmates and then make a presentation to the class who votes on the best menu.

Sounds interesting? I think you’ll love it so give it a try today. More information here: What are you Cooking?

#9: An Informative Speech

ESL Presentations FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about making presentation in English. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

Why are Presentations Important for Students?

Having students give presentations is important for delivering a positive learning environment. They can also help teach communication skills and assist with students feeling comfortable talking in front of a group of people. Finally, they are an engaging way to share ideas and help students build confidence.

What Makes a Great Presentation?

A great presentation is very memorable. This can be done in various ways, but graphics, images, relevant facts, story telling and humour play an important role. Finally, a memorable presentation motivates the audience to action.

What are the Advantages of a Presentation?

Businesses and people in general use presentations for various reasons. The advantage of them is that they can educate, motivate, and persuade in a more interesting way than the written word alone can.

Should Students Memorize Speeches?

Should you make students memorize their presentation, or not? It’s an interesting question and I certainly see points for both sides. However, I generally lead towards the memorization thing because…

• It results in presentations that are far more interesting for the audience
• I only require 30 seconds-2 minutes of speaking. It’s not a big task to memorize this amount
• It helps students remember vocabulary and key phrases

That said, I do know that students get nervous and that this can be a big ask. It’s for this reason that I tell students to bring their notes up to the front with this, but to leave them in their pocket.

If they have an emergency (forget what to say!), they can take it out and use it. But, only once if they don’t want to get a penalty. After that, put it aside and continue on.

I’m usually kind and if a student has to do this twice, I don’t mind. My main point is that I don’t want students reading exclusively off of a paper.

What are some Things to Consider for Presentations in English?

If you’re going to have your students do an ESL presentation, there are a number of factors that you’ll want to consider.

• How to explain the task in a simple way that students can understand what they need to do. How will you evaluate it?
• When will students prepare (outside, or inside of class. A combination of both often works well).
• What kind of equipment can students use (Projector, or not).
• How students will deliver the presentation. Will you expect things like gestures and eye contact?
• What kind of language will the students use? Will you teach them about the introduction (I would like to start by…) and conclusion (In conclusion, you can see that…), as well as transition sentences (Moving on to…). The style of the speech (persuasive, informative, etc.) is important for this.
• What will the rest of the class be doing while the presentations are happening? Is there a listening task you can assign to make this activity even more valuable?

The biggest tip I can give you is to be clear about the terms of the assignment. And, also how you will evaluate it. If expectations are clear, results will be far better and your life will be easier as well because you won’t have to answer the same questions over and over again.

What are the Top 20 ESL Presentation Topics?

Here are some of the most common topics that you may consider assigning to your students:

• Family (can be sensitive for some though)
• Current events
• If I had a million dollars…
• Vacation (past or future dream)
• Ideal first date
• TV and movies
• Favourite book
• Time, and how do you spend it
• An ideal first date
• Jobs and work
• Some future goals
• A favourite restaurant
• Money (saver or spender)
• Future plans
• Controversial topics
• Teaching someone how to do something
• If you were the president…

These interesting topics means that you presentation projects will be better than ever! No more boring, okay? Okay.

Do you Like these Ideas for Presentation Projects?

• Amazon Kindle Edition
• Bolen, Jackie (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 148 Pages - 03/09/2016 (Publication Date)

Then you’re going to love this book, 101 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults . It’s an extremely practical, well-organized teaching guide that will help you plan your lessons in no time. The best part about it is that your students will be having fun, while learning English.

The book is available in both digital and print formats. The (cheaper!) digital one can be read on any device-Kindle, Mac, Pc, Smartphone, or tablet by downloading the free Kindle reading app from Amazon. It’s super-easy to have some top-quality ESL activities and games at your fingertips at all times.

Keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office and use it as a handy reference guide. Or, bring a copy with your on your phone or tablet to your favourite coffee shop for lesson planning on the go. It really is that easy to make your English classes even better.

Check out the book on Amazon by clicking the link below:

Have your Say about ESL Presentation Ideas

What’s your top ESL presentation project ideas? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

Also be sure to give this a share on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. It’ll help other teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource.

Last update on 2024-04-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 100 books for English teachers and English learners, including 101 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults and 1001 English Expressions and Phrases . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

You can find her on social media at: YouTube Facebook TikTok Pinterest Instagram

Great ideas! Thank you so much for such inspiring ideas for presentations.

I’ve been looking for some presentation ideas for my students here in South Korea and ran across your list. Thank you! Lots of good ones but I think I’m going to give the current events one a try. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Great info! Thanks for sharing your ideas for presentations. I love to do them but it was getting a bit stale for me so appreciate the new ideas.

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75 Unique School Presentation Ideas and Topics Plus Templates

Are you tired of seeing the same PowerPoints repeating overused and unoriginal school presentation ideas covering repeated topics in your classes?

You know what I’m talking about; we’ve all been there, and sat through yawn-worthy demonstrations, slides, or presentation videos covering everything from the solar system, someone’s favorite pet, past presidents of a country, to why E=mC squared.

From grade school to university, first graders to college students, we are obligated to create, perform, and observe academic presentations across a plethora of curriculums and classes, and not all of these public speaking opportunities fall into the category of an ‘interesting topic’.

Yet, have no fear! Here at Piktochart, we are here to help you and your classmates. From giving examples of creative and even interactive presentation ideas, providing presentation videos , and suggesting interactive activities to give your five minutes of fame the ‘wow’ factor that it deserves, this article is your guide!

Our massive collection of unique school and college presentation ideas and templates applies if you’re:

• A teacher looking to make your class more engaging and fun with student presentations.
• A student who wants to impress your teacher and the rest of the class with a thought-provoking, interesting topic.

A Curated List of Interesting Topics for School Presentations

Did you know that when it comes to presentations , the more students involved improves retention? The more you know! Yet sometimes, you need a little help to get the wheels moving in your head for your next school presentation .

The great thing about these ideas and topics is you can present them either in face-to-face classes or virtual learning sessions.

Each school presentation idea or topic below also comes with a template that you can use. Create a free Piktochart account to try our presentation maker and get access to the high-quality version of the templates. You can also check out our Piktochart for Education plan .

Want to watch this blog post in video format? The video below is for you!

The templates are further divided into the following categories covering the most popular and best presentation topics. Click the links below to skip to a specific section.

• Unique science presentation topics to cultivate curiosity in class
• Engaging culture and history presentation ideas to draw inspiration from
• Health class presentation topics to help students make healthy lifestyle decisions
• Data visualization ideas to help students present an overwhelming amount of data and information into clear, engaging visuals
• First day of school activity ideas to foster classroom camaraderie
• Communication and media topics to teach students the importance of effective communication
• Topics to help students prepare for life after school

We hope this list will inspire you and help you nail your next school presentation activity.

Unique Science Presentation Topics to Cultivate Curiosity in Class

Science is a broad field and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with too many topics to choose for your next presentation.

Cultivate curiosity in the science classroom with the following unique and creative presentation ideas and topics:

1. Can life survive in space?

2. Do plants scream when they’re in pain?

3. What are the traits of successful inventors?

4. How vaccines work

5. Massive destruction of the Koala’s habitat in Australia

6. Left brain versus right brain

7. What are great sources of calcium?

8. Recycling facts you need to know

9. Do you have what it takes to be a NASA astronaut?

10. The rise of robots and AI: Should we be afraid of them?

11. How far down does the sea go?

12. The stages of sleep

13. Will Mars be our home in 2028?

14. A quick look at laboratory safety rules

15. The first person in history to break the sound barrier

Engaging Culture and History Presentation Ideas to Draw Inspiration From

History is filled with equally inspiring and terrifying stories, and there are lessons that students can learn from the events of the past. Meanwhile, interactive presentations about culture help students learn and embrace diversity. 

16. Women in history: A conversation through time

17. The sweet story of chocolate 

18. A history lesson with a twist 

19. The history of basketball 

20. The origin of the Halloween celebration 

21. AI History 

22. What you need to know about New Zealand 

23. 1883 volcanic eruption of Krakatoa 

24. Roman structures: 2000 years of strength

25. The most famous art heists in history 

26. Elmo: The story behind a child icon 

27. 10 things you should know before you visit South Korea 

28. 8 things you didn’t know about these 8 countries 

Health Class Presentation Topics to Help Students Make Healthy Lifestyle Decisions

Want to learn how to engage students with healthcare topic ideas? Then consider using these templates for your next interactive presentation.

According to the CDC , school-based health education contributes to the development of functional health knowledge among students. It also helps them adapt and maintain health-promoting behaviors throughout their lives. 

Not only will your presentation help with keeping students engaged, but you’ll also increase class involvement with the right slides.

The following examples of health and wellness interactive presentations include fun ideas and topics that are a good start. 

29. How to look after your mental health?

30. The eradication of Polio

31. How to have a healthy lifestyle 

32. 10 handwashing facts 

33. Myths and facts about depression

34. Hacks for making fresh food last longer 

35. Ways to avoid spreading the coronavirus

36. Mask protection in 5 simple steps 

37. Everything you need to know about the flu

38. All about stress: Prevention, tips, and how to cope 

39. The importance of sleep 

40. Is milk tea bad for you?

41. How to boost happiness in 10 minutes

42. How dirty are debit and credit cards 

43. Why do you need sunscreen protection

Data Visualization Ideas to Help Students Present Overwhelming Amounts of Data in Creative Ways

Data visualization is all about using visuals to make sense of data. Students need to pull the main points from their extensive research, and present them by story telling while being mindful of their classmates’ collective attention span.

As far as student assignments go, storytelling with data is a daunting task for students and teachers alike. To keep your audience interested, consider using a non linear presentation that presents key concepts in creative ways.

Inspire your class to be master data storytellers with the following data visualization ideas:

44. Are we slowly losing the Borneo rainforest?

45. Skateboard deck design over the years

46. Food waste during the Super Bowl

47. The weight of the tallest building in the world

48. Infographic about data and statistics

49. Stats about cyberbullying

50. How whales combat climate change

First Day of School Interactive Activity Ideas to Foster Whole-class-Camaraderie

Calling all teachers! Welcome your new students and start the school year with the following back-to-school creative presentation ideas and relevant templates for first-day-of-school activities.

These interactive presentations grab the attention of your students and are remarkably easy to execute (which is the main educator’s goal after all)!

51. Meet the teacher

52. Example: all about me

53. Self-introduction

54. Tips on how to focus on schoolwork

55. Course plan and schedule

Give our class schedule maker a try to access more templates for free. You can also access our presentation-maker , poster-maker , timeline-maker , and more by simply signing up .

56. Interpreting a student’s report card (for parents)

57. Introduction of classroom rules

58. Assignment schedule

59. Daily planner

60. Course syllabus presentation

61. How to write a class presentation

Topics to Teach Students the Importance of Effective Communication

Visual media  helps students retain more of the concepts  taught in the classroom. The following media topics and infographic templates can help you showcase complex concepts in a short amount of time. 

In addition, interactive presentation activities using these templates also encourage the development of a holistic learning process in the classroom because they help focus on the  three domains of learning:  cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. 

62. Interactive presentation do’s and don’ts 

63. How to create an infographic 

Recommended reading : How to Make an Infographic in 30 Minutes

64. How to improve your internet security and privacy

65. What is design thinking?

66. What are your favorite software tools to use in the classroom? 

Presentation Topic Ideas to Help Students Prepare for Life After School

One of the things that makes teaching a rewarding career is seeing your students take the learning and knowledge you’ve instilled in them, and become successful, productive adults.

From pitching a business idea to starting your podcast, the following topics are good starting points to prepare students for the challenges after graduation (aka adulting 101):

67. How to make a resume

68. How to start a startup

69. Credit card vs. debit card

70. Pros and cons of cryptocurrency

71. How to save on travel

72. How to do a SWOT analysis

73. How to pitch a business idea

74. Habits of successful people

75. Starting your own podcast: A checklist

Find out how a high school teacher like Jamie Barkin uses Piktochart to improve learning in the classroom for her students.

Pro tip: make your presentation as interactive as possible. Students have an attention span of two to three minutes per year of age. To keep minds from wandering off, include some interactive games or activities in the lesson. For example, if you conducted a lesson on the respiratory system, you could ask them to practice breathing techniques.

Maintain eye contact with your students, and you’ll get instant feedback on how interested they are in the interactive presentation.

Make School Presentation Visuals Without the Hassle of Making Them From Scratch

School presentations, when done right, can help teachers engage their classes and improve students’ education effectively by presenting information using the right presentation topic. 

If you’re pressed for time and resources to make your school presentation visuals , choose a template from Piktochart’s template gallery . Aside from the easy customization options, you can also print and download these templates to your preferred format. 

Piktochart also professional templates to create infographics , posters , brochures , reports , and more.

Creating school-focused, engaging, and interactive presentations can be tedious at first, but with a little bit of research and Piktochart’s handy templates, you’re going to do a great job!

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Need a good presentation topic? Here are hundreds of them.

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera November 04, 2022

If you’re looking for good topics for presentations, you’ve landed on the right page. In this article, you’ll find plenty of good presentation topics, tips on choosing the most suitable topic for you, and essential design elements to make your presentation a success. 

Many factors go into an excellent presentation. You need to have confident body language and engage your audience to hold their attention. You also need eye-catching visual aids like images, data visualizations, GIFs, and others (all of which you can find in Prezi ), not to mention a great opening to grab attention and a strong closing line to stay memorable. However, the most essential aspect of your presentation is the topic. It’s the core of your presentation, so it has to be strong, insightful, attention-grabbing, and appealing to yourself and your audience in order to evolve into a successful presentation everyone will love. 

How to choose a good presentation topic

There are millions of topics you could create a presentation on, but what defines a good topic? If you’re struggling to either come up with a good topic for a presentation or you can’t decide between multiple ones, here are a few questions you should ask yourself before choosing a topic. 

What’s the goal of your presentation? 

When you’re choosing a topic, consider the meaning behind it. Ask yourself what the purpose of talking about this topic is, and what you want to say about it. Whatever topic you choose to present, the conclusion needs to provide a takeaway or lesson you want to communicate to your audience. A meaningful goal will make your presentation more memorable.  

Are you interested in the topic?

If you’re not interested in the topic, others won’t be curious either. Interest, enthusiasm, and passion enrich your presentation and are noticeable when presenting. Interest shines through and inspires others to find the topic as fascinating as you do. Think about the last time you saw someone sharing something they were passionate about – their excitement drew people in to pay closer attention to what they were saying. 

When choosing a topic, you need to find it or a particular angle of it interesting for yourself. For example, perhaps you’re not a pop music enthusiast, but you’re passionate about studying cultural phenomena. In this case, you can talk about pop music’s influence on early 2000s youth culture. 

Will your audience find this topic relatable? 

While you have to find the topic you’re presenting interesting, you also have to think about your audience. When choosing a subject, consider your audience’s background in terms of demographics, interests, culture, and knowledge level about the topic. Think about what others will find fascinating and relevant, so they’re not bored or confused during your presentation.

Do you have prior experience or knowledge about this topic?

Personal experiences are always great to share in a presentation, providing your unique perspective for anyone listening. While you can easily prepare your presentation based on a quick Google search, it won’t make the same lasting impact on your audience. Choose a topic you have some prior knowledge about, or have an interesting opinion you can share with others. It’ll make your presentation more engaging and memorable.

Ideas for good presentation topics

It’s not easy to come up with a good presentation topic from scratch. It’s much easier to get inspired from other good presentation topics to build your topic on. Whether you’re looking for presentation ideas for work, about me presentation ideas, unique or easy presentation topics, you’ll find them all here.

Without further ado, here are some good presentation topics to choose from or get inspired by.

Presentation topics about social media

• The role of social media in portraying gender stereotypes
• How social media impacts our body image
• How social media shaped Gen Z 
• The most significant differences between the Facebook and TikTok generations
• The negative effects of social media
• The positive impacts of social media 
• The effects of social media on behavior 
• How social media impacts our physical (or mental) health
• How social media has shaped our understanding of mass media
• Should we teach about social media in schools?
• The rise of social media influencers
• How AR Instagram filters impact our self-image
• How to go viral on social media?
• The origins of social media echo chambers
• Social media as a news outlet

Author: Ish Verduzco

Presentation topics about movies

• How movies influence our understanding of good and evil
• Beauty standards represented in movies
• How female characters are depicted in Hollywood movies
• How horror movies and global fears have developed through time
• The adverse effects of romance movies
• How movies have changed our understanding of the Western culture
• Charlie Chaplin and the silent movie era
• The globalization of culture: Hollywood vs. Bollywood
• The psychology behind the music in films
• The ethics of using animals in movies
• Social media’s influence on the film industry
• The history of filmmaking
• The role of color in movies
• The cultural impact of romance movies
• How are gender stereotypes depicted in Hollywood movies?

Author: Cinto Marti

Presentation topics about music

• The impact of pop music on beauty standards
• Should digital music be free for everyone?
• The psychology behind the music in advertisements 
• The effectiveness of sound therapy
• Can music inspire criminal behavior?
• The psychological effects of metal music
• The origins of K-pop
• How does music influence our understanding of the world?
• Can music help in the learning process?
• The positive effects of classical music
• The history of hip hop
• Why is music education essential in schools?
• The psychological benefits of playing piano
• Can anyone become a famous musician?
• The role of music in fashion

Author: Prezi Editorial

Presentation topics about health

• The link between food and mental health
• Inequality in the healthcare system
• Myths about healthy practices
• Simple practices that help you stay healthy
• Health education in schools: Should it change?  
• Toxic positivity and mental health
• The impact of superfoods on our health
• The psychology behind unhealthy eating habits
• Sex education in schools: Why should we have it?
• How to trick yourself into getting better: The placebo effect
• How to strengthen your immune system
• How to tell if someone is depressed
• The health benefits of regular exercise
• The impact of junk food on mental health
• Stress-caused diseases

Author: Prezi Education Team

Presentation topics about human psychology

• What is social depression?
• What triggers panic attacks?
• The impact of testosterone on aggressive behavior
• How to overcome social anxiety
• Differences in the functioning of the brain of a child and adult
• The impact of violent video games on children’s brain development
• How does the use of social media influence our attention span?
• How to overcome childhood trauma
• The influence of marijuana on the human brain
• How does behavioral therapy work
• The psychology behind fame
• The causes of personality disorders
• The differences in brain functioning between men and women
• What happens in therapy sessions?
• The psychology of substance abuse 

Presentation topics about self-development

• The impact of exercise on productivity
• How to deal with stress
• How to deal with procrastination
• The positive effects of meditation
• Why new–year’s resolutions don’t work
• How to overcome bad habits
• The impact of negative thoughts
• The negative effects of self-criticism
• The role of creativity in self-development
• Benefits of journaling
• How to learn something fast
• How to be mindful
• The importance of curiosity 
• How to become more self-aware
• Why it’s essential to spend time with yourself

Author: Nir Eyal

Presentation topics about education

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of online education?
• The positive effects of a gap year
• Should university education be free?
• Inequality in education access
• How language learning benefits brain development
• Emerging gender issues in education
• The importance of socialization in school
• School bullying and student development
• The benefits of reading 
• Is the education system broken?
• What you don’t learn in college
• The link between education and brain development
• The history of schools
• The gender gap in STEM
• The connection between equality in education and economic growth

Presentation topics about culture

• Is graffiti a form of art or street vandalism? 
• Cultural diversity in the workplace
• The impact of culture on gender roles
• The issue with orientalism
• Are humans the only species that has culture?
• How do different cultures view death? 
• The ethical issues of pop culture
• The impact of culture on personal development
• Sexism in different cultures
• The impact of globalization on local cultures
• The viral spread of the #metoo movement
• The history of subcultures
• The problem with romanticizing toxic relationships in movies
• 90s pop-culture influence on fashion trends
• The evolution of cultural psychology 

Author: Devin Banerjee

Presentation ideas for work

• What it’s like to be a digital nomad?
• How to deal with workplace conflicts
• The secret to a productive day
• How to set achievable goals
• The importance of diversity in a workplace
• The positive effects of creative thinking at work
• How to give constructive feedback
• The characteristics of a valuable team member
• Inequality and the glass ceiling
• Racial discrimination in the workplace
• Work habits of different cultures
• How is work perceived in various countries?
• Technological development and the future of work
• The importance of a healthy work/life balance
• The rise of health problems in office work

Author: Charles Huang

Presentation topics about hybrid work

• The positive effects of hybrid work on work/life balance
• Is hybrid work the future work model? 
• How to stay connected in a hybrid work model
• The challenges of hybrid work nobody talks about
• How to stay productive when working from home
• The social effects of hybrid work
• The economic impacts of hybrid work
• Case study: Hybrid work model in [company]
• What causes Zoom fatigue?
• The problem with online meetings
• Is hybrid work better than remote work?
• How to develop a close relationship with colleagues in a hybrid work model
• What kind of company culture is best for a hybrid work model?
• Is hybrid work sustainable?
• Cybersecurity consideration for hybrid working

Author: Barbie Brewer

Presentation topics about public speaking

• The importance of body language in public speeches
• How to appear confident when you’re not
• How to become a better orator
• The use of eye contact in public speaking
• Breathing exercises that will calm you down before public speaking
• The benefits of public speaking
• Ways to improve public speaking skills
• How to leave a great first impression on stage
• How to engage your audience during a public speech
• How to best structure your public speech
• How to end your presentation speech
• Can anyone learn to be good at public speaking?
• How to prepare for a public speech
• What not to do right before a public speech
• How to address a controversial topic in a public speech  

Author: Prezi Team

Presentation topics about entrepreneurship and leadership

• The main principles of a good leader
• The impact of leadership skills on professional performance
• The mistake every entrepreneur makes
• How to successfully lead a cross-cultural team
• How to celebrate inclusivity in a diverse team
• What are the common personality traits of a successful entrepreneur?
• The impact of entrepreneurship on the global economy
• The characteristics of a leader
• The most common challenges of entrepreneurship
• Can anyone learn to become a successful leader? 
• What affects new venture growth?
• The psychology of leadership
• What is crowdsourcing? 
• The benefits of being an entrepreneur
• Common mistakes leaders make

Author: Jill Sinclair

Presentation topics about technology

• The rise of technological development
• Is technology addictive?
• Should we use drones for military and non-military purposes?
• The sustainability of electric cars
• What are deepfakes?
• Limitations of AI machines
• The future of programming
• Ethical issues of AI
• The future of AR in business
• How VR can be used in the medical field

Author: David Vandegrift

Sales presentation topics

• How to make a cold email intro
• What is sales enablement?
• How to build better relationships with customers
• The best way to improve pipeline management
• Coaching via verbal and written role-play
• How to plan cold calls
• What’s a deal-breaker for most customers? 
• All about personalized coaching
• How to manage objections
• How to close more deals
• How to keep your prospects engaged
• Effective sales communication strategies
• How to conduct a competitor analysis
• The most valuable sales skills
• What soft skills do you need to become a successful sales rep?

Author: Cindy McGovern

Easy presentation topics

• Benefits of daily exercise and how to incorporate it into your routine
• Simple and nutritious meal recipes
• Tips for improving time management and productivity
• The importance of recycling
• The history of a local landmark or festival
• Ways to reduce stress
• Exploring different types of renewable energy sources and their impact on the environment
• The basics of budgeting and saving money for future goals
• The benefits of social media for professional use
• Tips for overcoming stage fright
• How to start a meditation practice
• The impact of technology on modern society
• The basics of personal finance
• The health benefits of a plant-based diet
• The history of Earth Day

Good how to presentation topics

• How to create a successful social media marketing strategy
• How to give a persuasive presentation
• How to create effective and engaging content for your blog
• How to discover your strengths and weaknesses
• How to use project management tools to increase productivity
• How to make the most out of boring meetings
• How to build a personal brand
• How to conduct effective market research
• How to use data analytics to improve decision-making
• How to improve your decision-making process
• How to write a winning proposal
• How to create a visually stunning presentation
• How to manage stressful situations at work
• How to make friends as an adult
• How to network at work events

About me presentation ideas

• My journey to becoming who I am today
• My passion for [insert topic or activity]
• My career aspirations and goals
• My travels and adventures around the world
• My hobbies and interests outside of work/school
• My role models and influences
• My strengths and weaknesses
• My favorite books, movies, and TV shows
• My proudest achievements and accomplishments
• My favorite childhood memories
• My family and friends
• My education and academic background
• My volunteer and community service experience
• My personality traits and values
• My vision for the future and how I plan to achieve it

Author: Adam Grant

Student presentation ideas

• The history and evolution of video games
• The history and cultural impact of tattoos
• The impact of social media on body image and self-esteem
• The effects of globalization on local cultures and economies
• The role of education in promoting social justice and equity
• The ethical implications of autonomous weapons in warfare
• The impact of mass media on society and culture
• The causes and effects of deforestation on biodiversity and climate change
• The history and cultural significance of dance in different parts of the world
• The psychology of addiction and recovery
• The impact of the gig economy on labor rights and job security
• The history and impact of feminism on gender equality
• The benefits and drawbacks of renewable energy sources
• The impact of colonialism on indigenous cultures and identities
• The role of technology in promoting global connectivity and intercultural understanding

Author: Edward Quinn

How to create a good presentation 

If you know what you want to present on, it’s time to create an impactful presentation that grabs everyone’s attention. Presentation design plays a crucial role in how your presentation is received and remembered. To stand out and leave a memorable impact on your audience, create a Prezi presentation. Instead of a linear, slide-based presentation, offer an engaging and dynamic storytelling experience to your audience. Breathe life into your presentation with motion, zoom, and spatial relationships. When creating your presentation, consider the following three essential elements: 

Visuals play a significant part in presentation design. They evoke emotions, make a memorable impact, and give more context to the story. Not to mention, 65% of people are visual learners , so visual aids are helpful when explaining a complex topic. 

In your presentation, include different types of visuals, such as images, videos, GIFs, and stickers, all of which you can find in Prezi’s content library. When selecting your visuals, consider what’s relevant and brings additional value to the story. Only add what’s meaningful and necessary. A video or image at the right place and time will enrich the viewing experience and make your presentation more memorable. 

The layout of your presentation is the structure of your story. It’ll help you introduce the topic, intrigue your audience, and unfold the layers of your topic one by one until you disclose your main arguments and summarize the presentation. A good presentation layout has a hierarchical, chronological, or logical flow that leads the viewer from start to finish. 

If you’re creating a Prezi presentation, you can create a dynamic storytelling experience by experimenting with your layout. Instead of going from slide to slide, you can zoom in and out of topics and experiment with different shapes, animations, and effects that draw the viewer into your story world. Here’s an example of a Prezi presentation with a great storytelling layout:

Author: Lydia Antonatos

Data visualizations can elevate your presentation from being a good one to a great one. By providing data behind your arguments, you’ll appear more trustworthy and confident in your audience’s eyes. 

Add charts, graphs, interactive maps, and more to your presentations with Prezi Design. You can choose from a wide selection of charts and maps to illustrate your data. With interactive elements, you’ll be able to engage your audience and make a memorable impact. 

Engaging visuals, a well-structured layout, and relevant data visualizations will provide a great starting base to create a memorable presentation. Discover other tips and tricks that make your presentation effective and capture people’s attention. 

Choosing a topic for a presentation isn’t easy. When selecting a topic, think about the goal of your presentation, your interest and knowledge about the topic, and whether or not your audience will find it relevant and interesting for them. Also, get inspired by other topics that’ll help you figure out what you want to talk about. Lastly, when creating your presentation, consider the impact of visuals, layout, and data visualizations. To simplify the creation process, follow the step-by-step process of making a presentation with helpful tips and resources.

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10 English Speaking Topics For Intermediate Students

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For every ESL student, speaking with native English speakers is like a dream come true. To get to a decent conversational level to be able to talk to native speakers, you have many things to learn and many words and phrases to remember.

And while we are talking about words and phrases, have you been thinking about some English-speaking topics?

There are plenty of entertaining topics you can chit-chat about. The following topics are suitable for intermediate students, so keep reading and see which ones you find most entertaining or which ones are your favorites.

15 Different English Speaking Topics For ESL Intermediate Students

You don’t know what to talk about with native English speakers?

Don’t worry because, in the following lines, you can find 15 different discussion topics ideal for English intermediate students.

Everyone likes to travel. Visiting other places, learning about other cultures, and meeting new people is always fun. Besides, it is one more experience and opportunity to practice the language.

What country would you like to visit?

Which country you would never visit again?

Which country did you visit more than once?

What do you like to visit in a foreign country?

Do you like traveling in summer or winter?

Food And Cooking

Food is also one of the favorites topics because everyone likes talking about food and delicious dishes.

It is mainly one of the topics suitable for beginners because of the related vocabulary, but you can expand and ask for more details for a more advanced level.

What is your favorite food? And why?

Which country, according to your opinion, has the best dishes?

What is the worst thing you’ve ever tasted?

Do you like to cook?

What do you like to cook?

How often do you cook?

What are the advantages or disadvantages of cooking?

Where do you get ingredients for cooking?

What do you think about organic food?

Do you eat only organic food?

Hobbies are something we enjoy doing in our spare time, so, naturally, everyone loves talking about their hobbies.

Do you have any hobbies?

How often do you do your hobbies?

How did you start these hobbies?

What do you think about (not) having hobbies?

What hobbies did you used to have and which ones you would like to do?

Work is a very important part of our lives. Most of us have jobs and work, so we always have to say something about that. Talking about work is one of the topics that can get people together.

Here are some suggestions when talking about work.

What work do you do?

Do you like your job?

Is your job demanding?

What is your opinion about work in general?

What is your dream job and why?

Environment

Topics about the environment are always inspiring and can lead to many other, even different, topics.

So, it is good to talk about the environment, as long as the conversation remains polite and without arguing.

What are serious environmental problems?

How can people help the environment? 

What is your opinion about climate change?

What do you think about pollution?

What should the government do to help the environment?

Television And Social Networks

Talking about television and social networks is entertaining and it gathers people together.

There are plenty of things you can chit-chat about television and media and here are some of them.

What is your opinion about television?

Do you watch television?

How often do you watch television?

Which tv programs do you watch?

Is watching television good for kids and if not, why?

Why are social networks so popular?

What do you think about social networks?

Do you use social networks?

Do people use social networks for bad purposes?

Which social networks do you use?

Don’t think that only men like talking about sports. You would be surprised to hear that many women actually like talking about this topic. Therefore, don’t divide people by gender. If you like talking about sports, ask your speaker about the opinion, no matter if it is a woman.

Do you like sports?

What is your favorite sport?

Do you watch sports?

Did you play any sport while you were in school?

Do you play sports now?

How often do you play sports?

Animals And Pets

These living beings that are part of our lives and our best friends are the topic everyone would gladly talk about. That’s why in the following lines, you can find some questions about animals and pets.

Do you like animals?

Do you have any pets?

Which is better to have as a pet, a dog or a cat?

What is your favorite animal?

What do you think about using animals for various types of testing?

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What do you think about killing animals for food?

Are people responsible for the extinction of some of the animals?

Do you help animal shelters in your town?

What is your opinion about the zoos and animals there?

Do animals suffer in zoos?

Making Plans And Goals

Making plans and goals has always been one of the favorite topics people like to discuss. Why then it wouldn’t be one of the English-speaking topics you can talk about with native English speakers?

What are your plans for…?

What are your plans for learning English?

What are your goals in life in general?

How do you plan to reach your goals?

How do you feel when you reach your goals?

Books And Reading

With so many amazing books, this topic is always the right one to discuss with others.

This is an especially favorite topic about book lovers. They could talk about books for days.

Here are some of the questions about reading and books in general.

Do you like reading? If not, why?

What type of books do you usually read?

Do you have a favorite book?

Do you have a favorite writer?

Have you read something currently?

What was the last book you’ve read?

What do you think of e-books?

Do you read books online?

What are (dis)advantages of reading books online?

Do you usually buy or borrow books?

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15 Speaking Projects And Activities For ESL Students

I don’t think I am sticking my neck out too much by saying that most ESL students enjoy speaking activities more than typical reading, writing and listening activities. Tending to be more dynamic, true to life and fun, a good speaking activity can really enhance an ESL student’s fluency and confidence.

Here, I am going to offer you a series of ESL speaking projects that you can adapt and use for your ESL students. Let’s go:

Infomercial Activities

This is one of my favorite speaking projects by far. Show students some typical adverts from a shopping channel; I like to show some of the funnier products just for giggles and to encourage students minds to wander, take a look at this compilation to see what I mean.

Next, I ask students usually in pairs to come up with their own completely original product to sell on an infomercial. If students struggle to come up with a completely new product you can suggest they add a new twist to arnold product, or make a new product based on a combination of two or more others.

For example, in the past I have had: microwave televisions, hair dryers that double as vacuum cleaners and laptops that double as portable stoves.

I tend to also do a language lesson based around the language of selling and persuasion so that when students make their infomercial they will send realistic and they often like to know some of the sales phrases, tactics and strategies that are used in real life.

Just for fun, you can tell students that they have a certain amount of money to spend and after they have seen all the infomercials they get to spend it. Sales can be recorded and you can see which idea/pair has made the most money and are the winner!

Presentations

Give students a presentation of a topic of your choosing, perhaps your own hobby and model the format and language that you want the students to use.

I tend to share slides with the student with the title of each slide already inserted. Students then have to fill the space with suitable information for that slide.

So, for example, if I wanted my students to present their own hobbies then I would probably have six slides titled with questions:

What is my favorite hobby? Why did I start this hobby? What have I achieved doing this hobby? Who do I do this hobby with? What will I do next in this hobby? Other interesting info about my hobby.

Students then fill the slides full of pictures that relate to the question and then they talk about these to the group and answer questions.

Some students always want to write out a script for a presentation which I let them do on the understanding that they can’t actually read it when they present. I allow them to write it out just so they can build up some confidence in what they are going to say and check the language accuracy of it. 

I do usually place sentence starters and linking words on posters behind the audience so that the presenter always has some support if needs be.

Of course, this could also be done as a recorded video task. I sometimes ask students to record a voice over on top of the slides. This can then be converted into a video format for sharing later.

A few other simple presentation topic titles for ESL students that could be used are: My Best Friend, Who Am I?, My Pets, My Future Career, My Family, The Last Celebration I want to, Why I am a fan of __________ (insert name of whatever they are a fan of).

At this point you might also want to read one of my popular article about how to make your students speak English , here

Hot Seat ing

Become an expert – As it sounds. Students spent a certain amount of time researching a topic that either they choose or that is given to them. They are then to become that character and the rest of the group has to ask them questions to find out as much as they can about them in a set amount of time.

You can award points for correct questions being asked and for grammatically correct sentences in response. Personally I like to do this at the beginning of a new topic and direct students to research different famous people.

For example, if we are going to be covering the topic of Travel as in the IGCSE ESL then I have students research characters, such as: Dr Livingstone, Joe Simpson, Ernest Shackleton, Amelia Earhart, Ranulf Fiennes, and so on. 

I often have students create a mini glossary for their characters as well which other students can refer to as they are quizzing the character.  

This activity is best for intermediate level and above students and even then you may need to provide texts at a suitable level for students to be able to access, otherwise students end up on Wikipedia reading very difficult text.

You can have the group make notes and write summaries of each character for homework if you also wish to work on summary writing skills.

Recommended reading: 15 Research Projects For ESL Students

The Detective Game

For this activity you make up a crime that occurred in a given location, the more gruesome the better and if you can personalise it to your location and environment more the better.

Divide the group into smaller groups of three or four people and then ask them to create their alibis for the morning, afternoon, or evening in question. These people are the suspects.

One group, however, is assigned as being the investigators and they individually quiz different suspects one to one to try and find inconsistencies in their group’s stories. This forces each group to consider exactly what they were doing, where and with whom very carefully and in great detail. 

After interviewing as many members of each group and making notes about inconsistencies between group members the investigators then confer with each other to decide upon which group’ alibi is the most inconsistent. This group are then sent to jail.

Whilst the investigators are discussing this, the suspects discuss which investigator was the best at questioning them and finding out the inconsistencies. The suspects will then announce who this person is, and they earn a promotion. Finally, the investigators announce the losing group which will go to prison.

This ‘game’ has got real legs and could go in so many different directions, so don’t be afraid to improvise and have fun with this one.  

Drama Activities

Acting out a chapter of a book. Pretty much as it sounds. Read through a chapter of a book with students or have them read it for homework before letting groups act out the chapter, or a scene from it.

This works well even if they all act out the same scene as each group will learn from the last and the acting/performance and language should get increasingly better throughout. Alternatively arrange it so that each group acts out the following scene to the last group and so the full story is told.

Storyboard and act out the student’s own story. Rather than act out a book, you could have students plan out a story, or at least part of a story on a storyboard. This can give a greater sense of ownership, achievement and ‘buy in’ from the students.

What happened next. Read the opening of a book and as a ‘cliffhanger is reached’ pause and have students work together to act out the ending of the story or the next scene at least.

This also works well with videos from YouTube, crime videos work well as do Walt Disney cartoons – even with adult learners for some reason!

You might also be interested in reading my helpful article on how to get your students speaking fluently , here.

Mind Map ping

Vocabulary relationships. Engage students in a subject which contains lots of relationships of cause and effect. Basically, you need to pick a topic and analyse what the different factors were that affected the main decision or characters involved.

In the centre of your mind map place the decision or a character that was made and then arrange influencing factors around this. 

The larger the circle each factor is in and the closer it is to the centre of the paper the stronger the influence is. Students then need to explain their mind map and the relationships to the group. Others can question and agree/ disagree with them. 

Topics can range from serious issues from history through to celebrity scandals, or even plots in a movie, such as, why did celebrity couple X and Y get divorced, or why did actor x decide to y in the movie xyz. Obviously, you can let the students self select these issues for greater interest. 

Backs To The Board

A timeless classic not so much a speaking project but this can be developed into a full lesson’s worth of speaking and it works for groups of all sizes. It is excellent for reviewing vocabulary at the end of a project or to see what students know at the beginning of a topic.

Simply split the group into teams of no more than five and have one member of the group come to the front and sit with their back to the board.

The other members of the group form a ‘u’ shape around the person, or, rather than being sat literally against the board groups can be sat at tables with just one student having their back to the board. 

All you then need to do is to write a word on the board and the students facing the board have to get the person not facing the board to say the word without literally telling them the word. They should be encouraged to use definitions, synonyms and examples of the word where possible. 

Depending on numbers, students can just shout out when they think they have the answer, or with large groups I make the students raise their hand if they think they have the answer.

The danger with debates is that to the teacher they may seem boring, or at least they do to me but have to remind myself that just because I have done the debates dozens of times, they haven’t and even the most overdone/boring sounding debates may go down like fireworks with some groups.

With that in mind here are a few of the more traditional/boring debates for your students to get their teeth into:

Which is better, country life or city life?

Should animal testing be allowed?

Should school uniforms be gotten rid of

Are cats better than dogs?

Should women be paid as much as men?

Online learning is better than classroom learning

Does money equal success in life?

I also like to see if there is something going on in the students view of the world that is worth debating. For example, in Thailand the debate over whether Korean pop music is better than Thai pop music is a popular one. 

I have had colleagues dive into debates about serious political topics with higher level students which have worked really well.

However, some topics are just too hot to handle and you don’t know who you are upsetting so be careful what topics you do debate, you never know who is listening, or who is going to offense at any of your personal views that you may let slip!

Here is a good resource for more ESL debate ideas .

Book And Movie Review s

This is pretty much as it sounds. I like to set a reading task for students over a holiday break and when they return they have to submit a video review of the book or movie they watched/read. 

I usually show them a good movie review for ideas and ask them to follow the same format. Something like this review of Kung Fu Panda . This goes along the lines of: background information, main characters, plot explanation, favorite moments, final recommendation.

I’ve also done this with higher level groups for documentaries but with enough support and speaking frames pre intermediate students can engage well with this activity.

Conversation Question s

Don’t underestimate the value of pure lists of conversation questions. Students are often happy to just ‘have a chat’ and use the English that they do know.

It is great for their confidence and fluency, as well as requiring zero lesson prep, which is always a nice thing. Just be sure to rotate speaking partners to avoid students getting bored with the same partners and used to different accents.

Sometimes, depending on ability and interest levels I will teach three or four idioms at the beginning of the lesson and set the task of trying to naturally drop them into conversation later on.

There are lot of good sources of conversation questions, here are a couple: eslconversationquestions.com and esldiscussions.com .

ESL Exam Preparation Material

Some students are hugely motivated by doing well in exams such as the IELTS test, and IGCSE ESL speaking tests. Exam boards for tests such as these produce a plethora of practise material that is often available for free online and ready to be use.

My students particularly enjoy the IELTS speaking part 2 task where they are required to speak about a given topic and are given three bullet points to talk about. They are given one minute to prepare their ideas before they have to speak on their own for two minutes. 

If you think your students might enjoy this then here are some good sources of free IELTS style questions: IELTS IDP and ielts-exam.net , and for IGCSE ESL speaking questions check out the role play paper here.

The added bonus of these activities is that there is always a grading criteria ready to be used so you can grade students and give them real reasons why they scored a certain level and what they need to do to score higher in the future.

Here are the IELTS speaking criteria for example which clearly spells out what is expected of students at different levels.

Finger Puppet Shows

One really good way to get shy students speaking I have found to introduce sock puppets. As silly as it sounds, there is something about using a puppet that takes away the pressure on the speaker and frees them up to speak.

Whether it is the element of hilarity of  speaking sock or the fact that people are generally looking at the sock rather than the person it seems to work well.

Depending on the ability level I will either give pairs of students scripts to act out with puppets. They can introduce their own props as well to make it even more funny. Alternatively, I will do this as an improv.

I will read out a situation, for example, one of you has lost their passport at the airport. Then the students have to act out this scenes as best as they can.

Switch partners and introduce more situations and watch the energy level of the room pick up!

By the end of the lesson you may well notice previously shy students speaking confidently with other students having been drawn into the magic of sock puppets! A great little speaking project.

Role Plays With Idioms

I use this lesson pattern quite regularly and it works well. I start off with student matching idioms to meanings and then to example sentences with the idioms missing.

After going through these answers and doing any teaching necessary to aid understanding I will then hand out a dialogue but with all the sentences jumbled up.

Students then have to unjumble the conversation which contains one or more of the idioms being used in a natural way. Next, they read the dialogue through taking different roles each and then doing the dialogue again without looking at the words.

Next, students are given the task of creating their own dialogues using at least one of the idioms in an appropriate way. Students write out the dialogues, rehearse them and then act them out for the group.

You can also do this with phrasal verbs but either way it works out well and the routine can be used again when you are a bit short of material or are having a hangover day!

Barrier Activities

One favourite of mine that never fails to stimulate plenty of language use is to simply create your own barrier exercise. I like to get a nice chunky newspaper article related to what we are learning and then go through each paragraph and remove key details, such as: names, dates, place names, times, location etcetera…

I create two versions of this, the first one will have words missing from odd number paragraphs and the second copy will have words missing from even number paragraphs.

This prevents it from becoming confusing and make sure to keep one master version with no details missing and if you have time highlight the missing words in red so it is easy for students to check later.

Once the missing word copies are ready you can divide the class into two halves distributing sheet A to one half and sheet B to the other half. Allow them to work in groups at this point to work out what questions they need to ask the other half of the group in order to get the missing details filled in.

If you think this will be too difficult for them you can provide the questions in a jumbled up format so they have to rearrange them to make the questions,, or even give them the questions but they have to work out the order in which to ask them to correspond to the paragraph order.

After this preparation period students can then pair up with someone from the opposite half of the group to take turns asking and answering each other’s questions.

Make sure that students do not show each other their articles and simply just sit and copy the answers, clearly this simply defeats the whale point of the exercise.

Before starting this I also pre teach any tricky vocabulary that I know is going to come up in the article just to make sure the final questions and answer session goes without too much stopping and starting to ask about vocabulary.

After students have got the answers then you can either display the answers on an overhead projector, or send students back to their original half of the group to see if they have all gotten the same answers.

Jigsaw Reading

This is another easy way to get students involved in the language and speaking. Select a relevant article related to the topic you are studying and chop it up into paragraphs. Hand out A4 paper with a simple one column table with as many boxes as there are paragraphs.

Hand out the paragraphs to the students considering which paragraphs are more difficult and should go to the higher level learners and which are slightly easier and can go to the lower ability students. 

Individually, students now summarise in their own words as far as possible their paragraphs and write the summary in a box in the table. Following this students pair up with students who had a different paragraph and they then read out their summaries whilst the other students make notes of it.

Rotate partners so that everyone can get every paragraph and after the first couple of times students have read their summaries, force students to turn over their paper and explain their paragraph from memory.

After the first couple of goes they should be able to do this and by the time they have explained to everyone in the group they should be reeling off their summary very comfortably.

A Word On Differentiation …

There is a lot of fun to be had for the students in the above activities but it is important to not forget that some students will require more support than others. Just asking students to do a role play with no support may be too much for some. 

Always consider using speaking frames, having sentence starters placed around the room, ‘useful language’ handouts, and always show a clear model of what it is you are expecting the students to produce. 

If you can tick those boxes then your speaking lesson will go that bit more smoothly.

All the best with your ESL speaking projects!

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15 Different English Speaking Topics For Intermediate Students

For every ESL student, speaking with native English speakers is like a dream come true. To get to a decent conversational level to be able to talk to native speakers, you have many things to learn and many words and phrases to remember.

And while we are talking about words and phrases, have you been thinking about some English-speaking topics?

There are plenty of entertaining topics you can chit-chat about. The following topics are suitable for intermediate students, so keep reading and see which ones you find most entertaining or which ones are your favorites.

15 Different English Speaking Topics For ESL Intermediate Students

You don’t know what to talk about with native English speakers?

Don’t worry because, in the following lines, you can find 15 different discussion topics ideal for English intermediate students.

Everyone likes to travel. Visiting other places, learning about other cultures, and meeting new people is always fun. Besides, it is one more experience and opportunity to practice the language.

• What country would you like to visit?
• Which country you would never visit again?
• Which country did you visit more than once?
• What do you like to visit in a foreign country?
• Do you like traveling in summer or winter?

Food And Cooking

Food is also one of the favorites topics because everyone likes talking about food and delicious dishes.

It is mainly one of the topics suitable for beginners because of the related vocabulary, but you can expand and ask for more details for a more advanced level.

• What is your favorite food? And why?
• Which country, according to your opinion, has the best dishes?
• What is the worst thing you’ve ever tasted?
• Do you like to cook?
• What do you like to cook?
• How often do you cook?
• What are the advantages or disadvantages of cooking?
• Where do you get ingredients for cooking?
• What do you think about organic food?
• Do you eat only organic food?

Hobbies are something we enjoy doing in our spare time, so, naturally, everyone loves talking about their hobbies.

• Do you have any hobbies?
• How often do you do your hobbies?
• How did you start these hobbies?
• What do you think about (not) having hobbies?
• What hobbies did you used to have and which ones you would like to do?

Work is a very important part of our lives. Most of us have jobs and work, so we always have to say something about that. Talking about work is one of the topics that can get people together.

Here are some suggestions when talking about work.

• What work do you do?
• Do you like your job?
• Is your job demanding?
• What is your opinion about work in general?
• What is your dream job and why?

Environment

Topics about the environment are always inspiring and can lead to many other, even different, topics.

So, it is good to talk about the environment, as long as the conversation remains polite and without arguing.

• What are serious environmental problems?
• How can people help the environment? 
• What is your opinion about climate change?
• What do you think about pollution?
• What should the government do to help the environment?

Television And Social Networks

Talking about television and social networks is entertaining and it gathers people together.

There are plenty of things you can chit-chat about television and media and here are some of them.

• What is your opinion about television?
• Do you watch television?
• How often do you watch television?
• Which tv programs do you watch?
• Is watching television good for kids and if not, why?
• Why are social networks so popular?
• What do you think about social networks?
• Do you use social networks?
• Do people use social networks for bad purposes?
• Which social networks do you use?

Don’t think that only men like talking about sports. You would be surprised to hear that many women actually like talking about this topic. Therefore, don’t divide people by gender. If you like talking about sports, ask your speaker about the opinion, no matter if it is a woman.

• Do you like sports?
• What is your favorite sport?
• Do you watch sports?
• Did you play any sport while you were in school?
• Do you play sports now?
• How often do you play sports?

Animals And Pets

These living beings that are part of our lives and our best friends are the topic everyone would gladly talk about. That’s why in the following lines, you can find some questions about animals and pets .

• Do you like animals?
• Do you have any pets?
• Which is better to have as a pet, a dog or a cat?
• What is your favorite animal?
• What do you think about using animals for various types of testing?
• What do you think about killing animals for food?
• Are people responsible for the extinction of some of the animals?
• Do you help animal shelters in your town?
• What is your opinion about the zoos and animals there?
• Do animals suffer in zoos?

Making Plans And Goals

Making plans and goals has always been one of the favorite topics people like to discuss. Why then it wouldn’t be one of the English-speaking topics you can talk about with native English speakers?

• What are your plans for…?
• What are your plans for learning English?
• What are your goals in life in general?
• How do you plan to reach your goals?
• How do you feel when you reach your goals?

Dream a Little Dream

Dreaming and dreams have been fascinating topics both for scientists and psychologists and ordinary people. 

Dreams can inspire you and help you with your consciousness.

Some of the fun questions about dreams can include the following questions.

• Do you dream often?
• What kind of dreams do you usually dream?
• Which dreams do you still remember?
• Do you think about dreams a lot the following day?
• What do you think dreams and dreaming mean?

For Shopaholics

Some people love shopping so much that they can’t live either one day they don’t buy something. Others, on the other side, don’t like shopping and when they have to go buying things it’s like a punishment.

All in all, this topic is always interesting to discuss, so here are some questions that might help you start the conversation.

• Do you like shopping? If don’t, why?
• What do you mainly shop for?
• What is your favorite shopping store?
• How often do you go shopping?
• Do you like going shopping alone or with friends?
• Do you do online shopping?
• What do you think about online shopping?
• What are (dis)advantages of online shopping?
• What do you think people will do the shopping for in the future?

Life Experiences

Age doesn’t guarantee you the knowledge, but it may guarantee you experience. Besides, it is always entertaining to talk about your life experiences and hear the experiences of others.

• What is the greatest experience you’ve had?
• What is the worst experience you’ve ever had?
• What is the best idea you’ve ever had?
• Do you learn from your own experiences?
• On what achievement you are the proudest of?

Life in General

Talking about life, in general, is a great way to practice words and phrases you don’t use every day.

Since everyone has different views on life, here are some questions you may use while talking about life.

• What is the meaning of our lives?
• Do you think that there is an afterlife?
• What do you think about your life?
• What are you grateful for?
• Is there some secret to a happy life?

Money, Money, Money

Money is essential in today’s world. Without it, we simply can’t live; we can’t buy food, pay the rent and have the food over our heads. As much as it may seem difficult to sometimes talk about money, besides being one more thing you can talk about, talking about money helps you expand your vocabulary and learn money-related terms.

• What do you think is money the most important thing in our lives?
• Do you manage to save some money? 
• How do you organize your money?
• If you win a lot of money in the lottery, what would you do with it?
• Are there some tips and tricks to save money and spend less?

Books And Reading

With so many amazing books, this topic is always the right one to discuss with others.

This is an especially favorite topic about book lovers. They could talk about books for days.

Here are some of the questions about reading and books in general.

• Do you like reading? If not, why?
• What type of books do you usually read?
• Do you have a favorite book?
• Do you have a favorite writer?
• Have you read something currently?
• What was the last book you’ve read?
• What do you think of e-books?
• Do you read books online?
• What are (dis)advantages of reading books online?
• Do you usually buy or borrow books?

Would you like to take your English skills to the next level? Enroll in this Lower Intermediate course on Coursera .

Final Thoughts

These topics can inspire you to continue talking about other things or expand the existing topics.

After all, talking about entertaining and pleasant things is what matters. As long as you enjoy the conversation as well as your speaker, and practice the language, the topic is ideal.

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Level: B1 / Intermediate

The power of social media

Navigate the territory of social media with this lesson! Students discuss the use of social media, watch a video about the feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out) and practise vocabulary to talk about the topic.

Changing careers

With this speaking lesson, students navigate the territory of career changes. They discuss job market trends, as well as benefits and challenges of transitioning careers. They also talk about important skills and watch a video about a woman who changed careers.

Calm down and carry on! (phrasal verbs)

With this lesson, students review and practise phrasal verbs. They create sentences, play “two truths and a lie” and complete phrasal verbs. They also develop endings to stories, create dialogues and complete statements to talk about their opinions and preferences.

Community gardening

Engage in the exploration of gardening with this lesson! Students review vocabulary, talk about their experiences and watch a video on community gardens. They also elaborate on how they would create a community garden and discuss different ideas for city agriculture.

I keep it for luck (prepositional phrases)

Step into the world of prepositional phrases! Students talk about important objects, watch a promotional video, practise prepositional phrases and write short stories.

It’s your special day!

With this fun lesson, students talk about celebrations and their personal experiences. They watch and discuss a video about celebrating someone’s birthday on a budget and discuss birthday celebration ideas. Students also practise phrases related to birthdays.

Technology and the future

In the first lesson, students learn phrases to speculate about the future. Depending on your choice of the second lesson, students further practise the phrases while talking about smart lenses, robot chefs or ChatGPT.

The things we want and the things we need (stative verbs)

In this lesson, students dive into the world of self-expression, watch an ad for a trading website and practise stative and active verbs. They also talk about their preferences and use the target vocabulary to describe people’s personalities.

Discussing how business works

This lesson set lets students work on their Business English and provides useful vocabulary as well as plenty of activities to practise it. 

Spring is in the air

This fun lesson contains various standalone activities that allow students to explore vocabulary to talk about spring, do a crossword puzzle and practise collocations with ‘green’. They can also discuss reasons for enjoying or disliking spring and practise phrasal verbs.

Coffee time!

Discuss weirdly interesting cafés around the world with this lesson! After reading an article, students practise vocabulary related to coffee and cafés, talk about their personal experiences and preferences, and analyse the establishments from the piece they read.

Making comparisons

This lesson set provides opportunities to practise making comparisons and discuss interesting and relatable topics for intermediate learners.

Prioritizing and to-do lists

With this insightful lesson, students practise vocabulary to talk about priorities, watch an explainer video about the Eisenhower Matrix and discuss time management. They also give advice on how to organize tasks.

Culture shock

With this speaking lesson, students talk about culture shock, share their perspectives and discuss what the experience of a foreign exchange student might be. They also watch a short video and practise vocabulary related to the topic.

How to deal with misunderstandings

With this speaking lesson, students discuss situations that might cause misunderstandings, watch a short and funny ad and analyse tips on how to avoid miscommunication.

Phone communication skills

The lessons in the set cover the topics related to phone communication. In the first lesson students talk about things one should and shouldn’t do when on a business phone call, and in the second lesson they practise phone conversations and talk about challenges of talking on the phone.

The youth changing the world

With this highly relevant lesson, students discuss youth activism, examine different causes and practise vocabulary related to the topic. They also watch and discuss a video about Malala Yousafzai and reflect on the impact of youth involvement in social causes.

Excited to go passwordless?

Explore the future of passwords with this flipped lesson! Students talk about online security, learn and practise the phrases ‘be required to’ and ‘be supposed to’ and discuss safety measures for digital activities.

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50 Creative Ideas to Nail Your College Presentation

We’d be willing to bet that most college students enjoy presentations about as much as they like their 7am class. Whether they’re designing them, or in the audience, there are likely a million and one things they’d rather be doing (like napping in their dorm room). In fact, 79% will say that most presentations today suck. And 35% of millennials say that they will only engage with content they feel has a great story or theme. With a reputation like that, it’s no wonder students avoid presentations at all costs. 

As a result, many will end up procrastinating, losing sleep over choosing a topic, and piecing a deck together at the last minute. According to research, 47% of presenters put in more than eight hours into designing their presentations. You do the math. Eight hours at the eleventh hour equals an all-nighter.

Luckily, that doesn’t mean the final product has to be a poorly thought-out frankendeck. 

Creative presentation ideas for college students

A lot can ride on a class presentation. It might be your last project at the end of the semester that determines the fate of your final grade, or maybe it’s a group project that counts for half of your participation in the class. Whatever the stakes are, we’re here to help you nail your next college presentation.

Pick the right topic

Before committing to your topics for presentations in college, you should consider things like what excites you, what you’re knowledgeable in and what you’d be interested in learning more about, books or movies that inspire you, world events, buzz-worthy pop culture, and what topics relate to your class course. How can you apply these things to your next class presentation?

You’re in college, so it’s very likely that your classmates will be sleeping, or staring out the window, while you’re presenting at the front of the room. To keep them engaged, make it interesting with these unique college presentation ideas.

College presentation ideas

• The evolution of a specific product— like the cell phone
• A presentation on your favorite celebrity
• A history of the most influential presidents of the United States
• How modern medicine is made
• The highest paid [BLANK] in 2021
• A how-to presentation on something you’re passionate about— like building cars
• A book that you think should be made into a movie (and why)
• Your favorite cultural recipe
• Who built the Sphinx of Egypt
• Social media now and then
• Shakespeare’s hits and misses
• Debunking a conspiracy theory
• Unexpected traditions
• Who invented the SAT, and what is it?
• The most popular travel destinations for young adults in their 20s
• What is van life anyway?
• How is education different now than it was in the ‘70s
• How to live a more sustainable life
• The evolution of humans
• The history of the Internet
• Is organic really better?
• How to get the most out of an internship
• What employers are actually looking for on your resume, and how to write one
• Everything you need to know about global warming
• The top places with the most expensive cost of living in the United States
• The rise of TikTok
• What is influencer marketing and why is it so important?
• Classic movies that should be cancelled in 2021, and why
• Is eating vegan really better for your health?
• Are aliens real?
• Everything you need to know about the Big Bang Theory
• Why streaming services are the demise of classic cable
• Marijuana then and now: the process of getting it legalized
• 15 Memorable things about [blank]
• A comprehensive timeline of feminism
• Is print— newspapers, magazines, books— dead?
• The easiest foreign language to learn on your own
• The best life hacks I learned on TikTok
• What does white privilege mean to millennials and Generation Z?
• Understanding finance for young adults 101
• Everything you need to know about life after college
• The difference between electric cars and gas cars
• What is artificial intelligence anyway?
• How thrifting can help the environment
• The evolution of presentations: from caveman to TedTalks
• Applying your degree in real life
• The origins of your favorite music genre
• Everything you need to about becoming a surgeon
• The life cycle of [blank] 
• Life without technology: where would we be without modern technology?

Make it beautiful

You have your topic, now what? Did you wait until the absolute last second to get started? Here’s the good news: no need for an all-nighter. Beautiful.ai can help you nail your college presentation in a pinch. The ease of use, and intuitive controls, help you create something brilliant in minutes, not hours. Start inspired with our inspiration gallery of pre-built templates and customize them to fit your content.

It’s important to connect with your audience on an emotional level, so make sure to pick trendy colors, modern fonts, and high-quality visual assets to compliment your presentation and evoke emotion. Engage your audience (especially your professor) with dynamic animations, or videos, to help control the narrative and direct their attention to the key takeaways. 

Pro tip: use the shareable link to share your deck out with classmates, teachers, or social media friends after class. 

Jordan Turner

Jordan is a Bay Area writer, social media manager, and content strategist.

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120 Presentation Topic Ideas Help You Hook Your Audience

Updated: January 15, 2024

Published: August 09, 2023

Cooking is easy. The puzzle is figuring out what to eat. As soon as you know that, you can get started. The same holds for presentations. The sooner you can whip up a good, informative, and catchy topic, the easier the rest of the process becomes.

Pick a good topic that resonates with you and your audience to set a strong foundation. But select the wrong topic, and it becomes difficult to connect with your audience, find mutual interests, or hold their attention.

So, let’s learn how to develop thought-provoking and relevant topics for your presentations. You’ll also find some best practices to make your presentation memorable.

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How to Choose a Great Presentation Topic in 5 Steps

120 presentation topic ideas, 5 presentation tips.

4. Choose an appropriate presentation style.

There are many ways to present a topic. Your personality, the topic at hand, and your audience’s personas will help you determine which style would best fit you and your audience.

Select a presentation style that will communicate the main idea clearly and have a lasting impact on your audience.

For instance, explore a freeform style presenter by Sir Ken Robinson.

5. Engage with your audience.

Work on your presentation skills to make a strong connection with your audience, get through to them and leave a mark.

Think of the presenter as the link between the topic and the audience. A strong or a weak presenter can make a difference between a presentation being a thriving success or a boring failure.

Hone your skills by engaging and interacting with your audience. Make them feel like a part of the presentation and not just spectators. 70% of marketers have found presentations with interactive content to be more effective than those without.

Here are a few ways you can make your presentation interactive:

• Start your speech with uncommon questions to your audience. Involve them from the get-go, like ask to raise their hands if X.
• Make eye contact to build credibility and show confidence. Don’t stare at your slides or notes. Smile occasionally and talk to the audience directly.
• Have an active and confident body language. Don’t stand in the same place the entire time. Move around the stage.
• Don’t be monotonous. Speak as you would to a colleague — with enthusiasm.
• Ask close-ended questions in between to keep the audience engaged without losing time. Address them using their names to keep things interesting.
• Share personal experiences and stories that your audience will find fascinating and relatable.
• Practice thoroughly before you present so you’re fluent with the material and delivery.
• Energy and excitement can be quite contagious. Make sure you exude enough to spread some to your audience.

Feeling Inspired Yet?

Now you have all the right ingredients for choosing amazing topics and a hundred ideas to drive inspiration from. So, go ahead and start cooking presentations that will blow your audience away.

Don’t forget to choose a super-relevant topic and add meaty information. Do it with excitement to make it enjoyable for you and your audience. Best of luck!

Don't forget to share this post!

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20+ Great Business English Topics and Lesson Activities

For Business English students, it’s important that ESL lessons are based on the needs of their day-to-day work.

They want to practice situations taken from their professional environment, and discuss real-life Business English topics.

Some are: making phone calls, being able to hold and carry on conversations, speaking with colleagues, preparing and giving presentations, or negotiations. 

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Coming up with creative activities and finding good topics for your lessons can be tough and time-consuming.

The Business English activities in this post will save you time and effort in making quality content for your lessons.

About the Business English Topics And Activities

Topic: airbnb business travel, topic: commuting to work, topic: big business (amazon, coca-cola, netflix, etc.), topic: artificial intelligence and future technology, topic: music, bonus activity.

Lessons including well-designed activities will prepare your students for their professional lives and give them the necessary skills and vocabulary needed to communicate effectively in English.

The 20 activity suggestions you’ll find in this post relate to the topics of business travel, commuting to work, big business, artificial intelligence, technology, and music.

The activities you can do on these business English topics are from specific lesson plans based on videos , which come equipped with a range of different printable Business English worksheets , conversation topics, speaking exercises, listening activities, and writing exercises for adults.

Below are some examples of activities from these lessons that can help your Business English students improve their communication skills.

Airbnb has been expanding their services to open up the market for business travelers.

They are simplifying the process of booking and launched some tools which automatically organize your business trip expenses. This new business travel program is coming out strong.

• Phone Calling
• Writing Accommodation Descriptions
• Leaving Reviews
• Mobile App Concepts
• Debate With Hotel Owner
• Comparing and Contrasting

This topic works especially great with Business English lessons in the real estate, hospitality, or mobile app industries, but also in general for any businessmen or women who have to travel for their jobs.

This is an especially engaging Business English topic for a few reasons: it’s controversial (hotel owners aren’t happy about AirBnB) and it’s a hot topic (more and more people are choosing Airbnb over hotels).

Airbnb is a relatively new global powerhouse, revolutionizing the hospitality industry the same way that Uber revolutionized the taxi industry.

Activity: Phone Calling

Put students in pairs or a group. Assign each student a different role from the roles below, or they can choose one.

Students have to imagine that they are Airbnb hosts who just hosted:

• A small group of middle-aged business travelers
• A small group of young adult party travelers
• A small family of 4 with young children
• An individual traveler who came with his dog

Students then ‘call’ their ‘friends’ (another student in the class) to either leave a voicemail or talk about the experience (or complain about the experience!).

They should describe how the experience was as the host for these types of travelers:

• What was different about hosting each of their stays?
• Was it positive or negative and why?
• Did anything good, bad, surprising, or unusual happen during their stay?

You could even have them imagine what could be a positive and negative experience for hosting these types of travelers.

You could even get a bit more creative with this one by assigning a pair of students a role from the list above, and they have to call the ‘host’ (their partner) and ask them questions or make special requests about their stay, e.g:

• Am I allowed to bring my dog to your property?
• Is there a nice cafe in the area where I can bring my laptop to do work?
• We have a baby who cries a lot during the night. Will this bother you?

Even though with Airbnb, you would probably just message the host online, but in this case, you can make it a phone call to practice speaking.

Activity: Writing Accommodation or Property Descriptions & Reviews

Students work with a partner or group and imagine they are Airbnb hosts offering a special, exotic, or unique type of accommodation rental.

They should discuss and agree on the type of home rental they have to offer, where in the world it is, and create their own online listing for this rental on Airbnb.

In the listing, they should explain what type of rental it is, the location, the check-in and check-out procedure, a description and special features of the accommodation, and other housing details and rules.

Make students offer something different or special about their property – something they wouldn’t get somewhere else. Remember, they want to sell the experience!

Students then present their accommodation profile description to the other students in the class and then give their listing to another student or group.

The other student or group then makes a detailed review for that listing, imagining they actually stayed there.

Activity: Creating Mobile App Concepts in the Sharing Economy

Put students in pairs and give them a list of other mobile apps in the sharing economy.

• Neighborgoods

Based on the name of the app, students have to discuss and explain what they imagine the concept of the app to be and how it works.

After students work together for a couple of minutes, go around the class and ask them to report their answers. If they’re not able to imagine what it might be, you can just tell them.

Ask them questions like:

• Would this type of app be useful for you? Why or why not?
• Which app from this list would help you the most?

Try to create an in-depth class discussion about all of these apps.

For the apps listed above specifically, you can discuss things like:

• If parking is a problem for your students (JustPark)
• What they do with their dog when they go on a trip (DogVacay)
• If they would be interested to drive with a stranger for many hours (BlaBla Car)
• If they’ve ever eaten at someone’s home, from another country or culture (HomeDine)

Then, students can either work with the same or different partners to create their own concept for a mobile app in the sharing economy.

They should focus on things like:

• The special features of the app
• What problem it solves / Why it’s a good idea
• How it works
• What problems could happen when people use your app

An alternative to this one is I’ve also had students imagine that they were the founders of Airbnb, and they have to come up with their own detailed story behind the establishment of the company, which turned out to be a fun activity.

Activity: Debate Between AirBnB Representative and Hotel Owner

Put students in pairs or two small groups and they prepare for a debate.

One student or group takes the position of an AirBnB company representative and the other takes the position of a Hotel Owner.

Each side must prepare, defend, and present their positions to the other groups, presenting information about…

• Why they believe their accommodation service is better (at least 3 advantages of your service) Students must talk about the top reasons to stay in a hotel over Airbnb, or vice versa.
• If you think Airbnb should be legal or illegal and why (obviously the AirBnB rep will say it should be legal and the hotel owner will say it should be illegal)
• The positive impact your service has on society and the economy
• What actual people and guests have said about your accommodation services

You can refer to this article to help students talk about Airbnb versus hotels  if they are having trouble coming up with ideas.

Your role as the teacher will be the moderator during the debate – generating follow-up questions for the students or groups when they present their sides. Keep the debate clean and flowing smoothly.

Activity: Comparing and Contrasting (Hotels vs. AirBnB or Uber vs. Taxi)

If for any reason you don’t want to make this an official ‘debate,’ another thing you could do is just make it a general, in-depth class discussion, conversation, or compare & contrast about the advantages and disadvantages of staying in Airbnb in comparison with hotels.

Make sure students talk about their own experiences.

Transition the discussion to the conflict between Uber and Taxi, because they are facing a similar conflict for similar reasons.

If your students enjoyed the discussion about AirBnB and hotels, an interesting follow-up lesson topic for you might be about a  businessman who is building hotels designed for outer space .

Many businessmen and women in the modern world have to commute for hours and hours per week to their jobs or for work purposes. Sitting in the car or public transit like this can really have a negative impact on one’s overall lifestyle.

• Telling a Story
• Commenting on YouTube
• Expressing Frustrations or Complaining
• Talking About Lifestyle & Daily Routines

The reason this topic works so well in Business ESL lessons is that it reaches such a wide spectrum of people.

Everyone who has a job as an employee in a company, a school, a factory, etc has a unique situation. All Business English students usually have a lot to say about their experience commuting (or home office if they have that privilege!).

Activity: Telling a Story

Students work in pairs.

Student A: This student imagines that he/she spends a lot of time commuting and is very pessimistic about the situation.

This student believes that they have the worst commute in the world. Describe the situation in detail. The student should complain about it as much as possible and why they hate it so much.

They should take notes on:

• Where you live
• Your daily routine
• Where you go to work
• What’s so bad about the commute / What are the conditions of the commute
• How commuting makes you feel

The student then has to tell one negative story that they have had during their commute.

Student B: This student imagines that they spend a lot of time commuting but is very optimistic about the situation.

This student loves the situation that they have. They should discuss and explain in detail why they have the best commute in the world, talk about it as much as possible and why they enjoy it.

Also, they take notes on:

They tell one positive story that they’ve had during your commute.

After the students write notes for their roles (give them a few minutes), have them describe their situations to their partner.

They should listen to their partner’s situation carefully because they should then report the details of their partner’s situation back to the class!

Activity: Commenting on YouTube

At the beginning of the video, the reporter complains about her long daily routine and commute, and then she says to the audience:

“Before you go and post that comment telling me to ‘move closer’, you need to see that I’m not the only person doing this.”

In pairs, students should come up with a response that the following type of people would write or say to the reporter in the YouTube comments section, e.g:

• What could be a rude response to that statement in the comment section of the video?
• What could be an empathetic response to that statement in the comment section of the video?
• What could be a funny response to that statement in the comment section of the video?

Another activity you could do is give students some imaginary comments to that video, and then the students have to write responses to these imaginary comments. You can make it a speaking or writing activity.

For example, here are a few possible comments to that video:

Comment #1:

“Americans are completely crazy and lazy. You drive these huge cars to work and in  reality , you don’t need to. Look at the Netherlands and Denmark – they have very efficient bicycle transport systems and bicycles are much more environmental. It’s stupid to drive everywhere.”

Comment #2:

“The best solution to this problem is self-driving cars. Our tax money should go more to support the production of self-driving cars. That way when people commute they can do productive things.  The solution to public transit is getting better wifi connections on the subways and buses.”

You can instruct one student to write a response which agrees with each comment, and the other student to write a response which disagrees with each comment, something along those lines.

Activity: Expressing Frustrations & Complaining

Put students in pairs, or in two groups. You’ll distribute to each student pair or group two cards which read:

• A: Riding on public transport
• B: Driving in a car

Students must work together to come up with a list of all the things that frustrate them, annoy them, stress them out, or make them angry while (1) riding on public transport and (2) driving a car.

The group which comes up with the most things in the time limit (3 minutes should be good) wins.

This activity usually works really well because everyone gets angry, stressed, frustrated, etc. at some point while driving a car or riding public transportation.

A lot of good vocabulary can also come out of this one. You can even teach a couple of fun phrasal verbs related to driving when you talk about this topic:

• Cut (someone) off  – “I hate when I’m driving and someone cuts me off and then I have to slam on my brakes.”
• Pull (someone) over  – “I hate when I’m driving only a little bit above the speed limit and a police officer pulls me over.”
• Freak out  – “I hate driving with my father. He always drives aggressively and freaks out about small things.”
• Run over  – “I hate when I run over a nail or a sharp object and my tire goes flat.”
• Hold (someone) up  – “I hate when traffic holds me up and makes me late for work.”

You can use this activity for teaching students other terminology that is useful for expressing complaints or frustrations:

• I get frustrated when…
• I get all stressed out when…
• It gets me so worked up when…
• It pisses me off when…
• I totally freak out when…
• I lose my mind when…
• It drives me nuts when…

Have students then use these expressions to talk about their frustrations commuting or about their job in general.

Activity: Talking About Lifestyle, Commuting, and Employment Situations

Spending hours commuting and then hours at the office has become so integrated into the modern working world that it can have quite a profound impact on our quality of life and lifestyle, which is why it’s good to talk about in a language lesson.

Here’s an activity you can do that will give your students a good opportunity to talk about their lifestyle, commute, and employment situation.

It’s also simple, easy to prepare, and generates quality conversation.

Print a number of statements on cards and give them to the students or write them on the whiteboard in class.

Put students in pairs or groups. Have them discuss if they think the following statements are generally true or false and why:

• People are generally happier if they travel to work by car instead of public transportation.
• In the USA, people generally commute to work or school by train or bus.
• 10 days of paid vacation per year is fair from an employer.
• Regular exercise helps people deal with stress from work.
• People are more productive if they have a 4-day working week instead of 5.

Put students in pairs or groups. Have them discuss if the following statements are true or false for them personally and have them explain why:

• There is a positive working atmosphere at my job.
• I am satisfied with my work-life balance.
• Every day I eat a balanced and healthy breakfast before work.
• When I commute to work I try to be productive on the way.
• I prefer working from home rather than going to an office.
• I spend too much time at work socializing with my colleagues.

Speaking about daily routines is also a great activity if you’d like to focus on the present simple as a grammar point for your lesson.

Using big companies and corporations as a topic in your Business English lessons is practical for obvious reasons and you can make it fun too for your students.

It’s especially great to use big business as a topic if you actually have adult students who work in big companies, but they’re also applicable topics for students who have their own business or who work in smaller companies.

• History & Fun Facts
• Developing a Product
• Making Slogans
• Analyzing the Impact of Technology on Jobs

Activity: History & Fun Facts About Big Companies

As a lead-in or warm-up exercise to a lesson about big business, you can search and find some fun or interesting facts or history about the companies.

One quick activity you could do to lead to a topic is a simple fill-in-the-blank that looks something like this:

Below are 5 interesting facts about Amazon. Let the students fill in the blanks with words that they think fit.

• The founder Jeff Bazos wanted to name the company Amazon which has products from ‘A to Z’ symbolizing a large size, just like the Amazon ________________________ .
• Amazon.com started as a bookstore in Jeff Bazos’ ________________________ .
• The combined ________________________ of Amazon’s warehouses is enough to hold more water than 10,000 Olympic pools.
• Today Amazon has more than 350,000 ________________________ .
• One of Amazon’s first offices had a ________________________ which employees would  ring every time a sale was made.

Below are 5 interesting facts about Coca-Cola. Fill in the blanks with words that you think fit.

• The Coca-Cola ________________________ is recognized by 94% of the world’s population.
• The word “cola” is derived from the kola ________________________ , which contains caffeine and can have medicinal value.
• Coca-Cola can be a good ________________________ for insect bites on your skin.
• Coca-Cola spends more money on ________________________ than Microsoft and Apple combined.
• A few people once tried to sell the Coca-Cola ________________________ to Pepsi, but they were reported to the FBI.

A fun activity you can follow up with this one is instruct students to research any big business they have in mind and search for some fun facts about that company or the story behind how it started.

If they can’t think of one, you can give them  a list of the biggest or most well-known companies  in the world.

Have them give a few-minute presentation in the following lesson about the start or history of the company and a few fun facts about it. This is also good for developing presentation skills for adults in English.

They can use the questions below to help them give their presentation:

• Who started the company and when? How did the idea originate?
• What were some important moments in the company’s history?
• What are some of the company’s most successful products or services? Describe them in detail.
• What’s special or different about this company compared to the competitors?
• What are some fun facts about your company?

Activity: Developing a Product

Amazon launched a prototype store called ‘Amazon Go’ in December of 2017 – it’s a type of grocery store where you can go shopping and add things to your virtual cart so that you don’t have to wait in line or check out.

You add the products to your shopping cart and you can just leave the store, and Amazon will automatically charge your account.

They have developed other types of products and services over the years that have been successful, such as the Amazon Kindle (E-Reader) and Amazon Echo (voice-controlled smart speaker/personal assistant).

In this activity, what you do is have students work together on product development for Amazon or for another big company.

Students work with a partner or group. They imagine to be product developers for Amazon and create two of their own products, or services provided and sold by Amazon.

They should discuss and create names for the products or services, which industry the products or services are in, and then write a description for each explaining how it works, what problem it solves, what’s so special about it, as well as what problems they have experienced in the development.

It can be a special kind of mobile app, tech gadget, clothing item, or something else.

Of course, it doesn’t necessarily have to be from Amazon. You can have students choose another company.

One way you could get your students to come up with a good idea is instruct them to think of some brands that they generally buy, and then brainstorm what products they think would be cool to have from those brands.

Or you can have them think of some problems or frustrations they have in their daily life and what product or service would solve those problems for them. In the case of Amazon Go, the problem was that people hate waiting in lines at supermarkets.

Remind students that it doesn’t have to be realistic, it can be something imaginary.

Most of your students who will do this activity probably haven’t developed a product before. Keep it basic, simple, and fun, and it should go ok.

You just want students to be creative and work together to make something special.

One time I had a group who made a personal assistant who did all of his presentations for him because he hated public speaking, which I thought was pretty funny.

Students should then present their new product to the other students or groups.

Activity: Making Slogans

This is a straightforward activity and easy to assign and it works great with any student who is in marketing. Students also tend to have fun with it.

Basically, all you need to do is assign students to make a slogan for whatever company or brand you’re discussing.

One thing I’ve done to make it interesting and add a little twist to it is to have students make a list of good and bad slogans for one company.

That one has definitely brought a couple laughs to the lesson, especially for the bad slogans.

Here are a few examples I’ve gotten from students for bad company slogans for Coca-Cola:

• “Feed your sugar addiction.”
• “Put on the big pounds.”
• “Teeth are overrated.”

Anyway, give them some examples of some real slogans that have already existed for the brand before they make their own.

A few actual ones for Coca-Cola are:

• “Open Happiness”
• “Life Tastes Good.”
• “Taste the Feeling.”

The advantage of having students make their own slogan or quote is that it lets student use creativity. When students have to think creatively, they’re forced to use important vocabulary terms and language structures in a special kind of way.

In any case, have your students share and present their slogans and quotes to the other students in the class.

Another great type of ESL group activities are information gap activities. Get 10 ideas here.

Activity: Analyzing the Impact of Technology on Jobs

Another great theme and activity that comes from a discussion about companies like Amazon, is analyzing the impact of technology on jobs.

That’s one big criticism of concepts like Amazon Go that I’ve discussed with my students. The more jobs that robots do for us, the more jobs they take away from humans (Amazon Go takes jobs away from cashiers).

One activity you could do on this is to have students brainstorm and come up with two more jobs, companies, or businesses that have been taken over or lost to technological advances.

Students should specify the name or type of the technology, which industry it is in, and three general impacts of this technology (can be positive or negative impacts).

Two examples I remember hearing from students was about VHS and video rental stores being lost to online streaming services like Netflix, and driving jobs being lost to self-driving cars.

Technology : Online streaming

Industry : Entertainment

• It put VHS video rental stores out of business
• It makes people lazier because they don’t go to the video store anymore
• Illegal online pirating of films and TV becomes easier

Technology : Self-driving cars

Industry : Automotive

• Less need for delivery drivers, truckers, and taxis
• Fewer accidents on the road because machines are more precise than humans
• People can focus on other things in the car if they don’t have to concentrate on driving

You can give these examples to your students if they don’t think of them.

You can also give students the task of coming up with two jobs where it could be very difficult for technology to take over. Which jobs do you think technology couldn’t do in the future? Students should specify why it would be difficult to take over these jobs using this technology.

Doing an ESL lesson activity about the impact of technology on jobs leads us to the next point: Artificial intelligence and future technology, which has its feet in many industries and certainly draws interest from Business English students.

• Interview With a Humanoid Robot
• Making a Sci-Fi Film Plot
• Forming Opinions

This topic works especially great with Business English lessons in the IT or programming industry, but also in general for any businessmen or women who use technology regularly for their jobs.

This is an especially engaging Business English topic for a few reasons – it can get a little dark (a humanoid robot which can communicate freaks people out a bit!) and it’s also relevant – artificial intelligence and machine learning is making its way into a lot of industries, products, and software these days.

It’s interesting when the stuff that used to be sci-fi stuff turns into reality, and that’s what you want to focus on in your Business English lessons.

Activity: Interview With a Humanoid Robot

Watch the video about Sophia the robot with your students.

Basically, what students do is make an interview with her.

Sophia the robot makes for a great English lesson, period. Students are usually quite intrigued by “her” and there are so many different directions you can take this lesson.

After watching the video, instruct each student to create and write five extra questions that they would want to ask Sophia. (Questions which are not in the video interview).

After they are finished making their questions, they ask their partner the questions they made. Students then answer their partner’s questions from the perspective of Sophia the robot.

Here are some words or topics students could either use in their questions or use just as general topics to help them make their questions:

After a student answers each question, their partner should try to ask a follow-up question or two – a question you ask on the spot based on the answer you get.

Explain the concept of a follow-up question to your students and show them examples:

Original question : “What emotions do you feel?”

Answer : “I feel curious.”

Follow-up question : “Why do you feel curious?”

Answer : “I feel curious because I want to know why I was created and why I’m different than normal humans.”

Follow up question : “Can you imagine why you were created?”

Having students ask follow-up questions is great practice for developing interview and conversational skills because they have to think on their feet without time to prepare.

Activity: Making a Sci-Fi Film Plot

Watch the sci-fi short film about ‘Sight Systems’ which forecasts the evolution of ‘Google Glasses’ and Virtual Reality (which are also great topics to discuss in your Business English lessons).

After you watch the video with your students, a fun activity you could have your students do is to imagine that they are directors creating the next scenes to the short film they just watched about Sight Systems.

They should work in pairs and discuss and write what the next five scenes will be. Have them describe the scenes in detail and explain what happens in each scene.

Students then share what they came up with the other students in the class.

After this, put the students back together and they should come up with a short plot for a similar type of short film that they saw.

The plot must focus on the dangers of future technology. Alternatively, you could give them the option of creating a movie plot focusing on the bright sides of technology.

Activity: Forming Opinions and Interview Quotes

This activity can actually be applied to a range of different topics.

Put the students in pairs and have them imagine to be speaking from the perspective of the following companies or people.

Students have to make an opinion from the standpoint of each company or person.

• Gas Company
• Electric Car Company
• Solar Panel Company
• Environmental Activist
• Auto Technician
• Car Consumer

For the people above, you could have students imagine they were interviewed about their thoughts on electric charging highways.

What do they think about electric highways? Do they support or oppose them? Let them explain their opinion.

Then they have to agree on what would be the most important quote or statement from that interview.

Give students some  useful phrases for expressing opinions  to help them make their opinions or quotes, which are at least three sentences long and they explain their opinion.

You could give students an ideal example quote from an interview with an Environmental Activist:

“In the long-term, electric charging highways will be a great solution for decreasing pollution because it promotes the consumption and usage of electric vehicles, which are much better for the environment than gas-powered vehicles. However, in the short-term, electric charging highways could produce a negative impact on the environment because of the intense construction work that will be needed to create these highways all across the country. Therefore, I see a positive long-term effect and a negative short-term effect.”

You want your students to form something similar for each of the roles, then students should present the opinions or quotes they made together to the rest of the class.

Doing ESL lesson activities about music is fun and there’s a lot of different directions you can take this topic in a lesson.

Music is also a big business with all of the jobs in music production, sound technology, festivals, online streaming services like Spotify, and these days even vinyl is making a comeback.

• Organizing an Event
• Making a Business Plan
• Giving a Presentation

This topic works especially great with Business English lessons in the music industry, but also in general for any businessmen or women who use are interested in music.

This is an especially engaging Business English topic for a few reasons – people love music and it’s a big part of life for many people.

Activity: Organizing an Event

Have students work with a partner. They should imagine they are event organizers and are planning a festival concept for next summer.

They want to make it even better than the Belgian festival “Tomorrowland” and the most luxurious festival in the world.

What luxuries will there be? What special things can be added, implemented, planned, organized, or done in order to create a better festival experience for the guests?

Students should discuss these points together. They can use the discussion questions below to help them:

• What special luxuries, things, offers, products, facilities, and features you will provide?
• What will be different about the campsite? How will you make it better than Dreamville?
• Describe the atmosphere. What’s unique about the stages and performances?
• Describe the security concept. How will you make the event safe and what are the policies?

Students should then give a presentation about their festival concept to the other groups and describe in as much detail as possible what the festival will be like.

After hearing from the other groups, students can discuss which festival concept was the best and why and give advice about what might help their festival to be better.

Activity: Making a Business Plan

Students work together with a partner or group. They imagine that they are opening a vinyl store in their town. They must make a business plan and a to-do list.

Watch the video “Czech businessman leads vinyl revival” here.

They can answer these questions in their business plan:

• What is the name of your vinyl shop?
• Other than vinyls, what will you need to get started?
• How will your vinyl shop stand out from the competition?
• Describe what kind of theme or atmosphere the shop would have. How would you decorate the shop/front window?
• Describe your ideal kind of customer or target market.
• Describe your ideal kind of employee or shop assistant.
• What could be some clever ways to advertise your shop?
• What will be the biggest challenges of opening the shop?

Students can then present their business plan to the other students in the class.

Activity: Giving a Presentation

Students work with a partner or group. They imagine they are giving a presentation to a group of vinyl fanatics.

They should choose from one of the topics below they’d like to do a presentation about, or they can also make their own topic.

They should prepare and give a one-minute presentation to the other groups on their chosen topic.

Even if they don’t know much about the topic, you can just instruct them to be as creative as possible and come up with some interesting things to talk about.

Here are the topics they can choose from:

• How to create a sustainable future for vinyl
• The guide to shopping for and listening to vinyl like a pro
• The future of music
• Why the age of vinyl in the 70s beats today’s digital age
• The steps to starting up a successful vinyl shop

You can have students do research on the internet if they have access.

You can also give students the choice to also come up with their own idea for a presentation, anything in the music sector. It doesn’t have to be specifically related to vinyls.

The most important thing is that students have a structure for their presentation, have researched important information about it, and teach the class something interesting.

You can also have students include one of each of the following things in their presentation:

• A problem (Music has become too digital in modern ages.)
• A statistic or fact (Over 7.6 million vinyls were sold in the US in 2018.)
• An opinion (We believe that vinyls will continue to be popular for years.)
• A quote (Zdenek Pelc said, “If people like something, they need something touchable.”)

This one last bonus activity you could do will help your students develop the skills they need for business and professional reasons.

Have them give a “show and tell” presentation or just simply talk about three gadgets, tools, products, services, etc they’ve bought in the recent past related to one of their personal interests.

Have the students teach the class either how to use this product or service, how it works, why they bought it, what the features are, what problem it solves for them, etc.

Here are some actual examples from my students, which you can show your students to give them an idea of what you’re looking for:

• A new running watch
• A subscription to Netflix
• A Nintendo NES Classic Edition
• A new bicycle helmet
• A portable speaker

All of these activities referenced are meant to be engaging for your adult students in Business English lessons, but the most effective way to do them is with the full lesson plans via the links above.

Watching the videos with your students should generate extra discussion and give you extra content to work with.

Find more resources and ideas for your ESL lessons here.

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3 thoughts on “20+ great business english topics and lesson activities”.

Brilliant content. Relevant topics and articles with comprehensive structural lesson plans. Thank you.

Practicing the business English lessons in he student life can be very helpful in longer run. This helps in the proper development of the individual for professional world. Thanks so much for sharing this!

This sight seems to be very good. Complete lessons for a teacher like me. Thank you so much for sharing it free of charge.

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ESL Worksheets for Teachers

Check out our selection of worksheets filed under level: intermediate (b1-b2). use the search filters on the left to refine your search..

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Intermediate (B1-B2)

In this lesson, students learn language related to human rights law and the law of the sea by discussing issues related to refugees and migrants searching for safety or a better life.

by Susan Iannuzzi

Upper-intermediate (B2-C1)

Students describe a process in an IELTS Writing Task 1. They watch a short video about making tofu at home before examining a writing task and model answer about the commercial production of this foodstuff. They then prepare to write a response to a similar task about how cheese is produced. Exam tips and marking frameworks are provided. There is also an optional extension task which provides practice in understanding and describing a similar process: making soap.

This lesson is part of one unit in the IELTS preparation course plan which provide practice in listening/speaking, reading and writing for the IELTS exam. The full lesson plan takes a minimum of 60 minutes.

by Stephanie Hirschman

Mixed levels

This lesson looks at DNA and the recent announcement that scientists have completed the human genome for the first time in history. Students will listen to a news report, read an article and be introduced to higher-level idiomatic language. There will be opportunities for students to personalise the vocabulary and build their fluency by sharing their opinions on the topic.

by Peter Clarkin

This lesson will focus on the digestive process and conditions that are related to digestion. The listening will look at the problem of lactose intolerance while the reading comprehension discusses the issue of gluten intolerance. Grammar will focus on quantifiers.

by Patrice Crysler

Students find out more about the Muslim month of Ramadan in this video-aided lesson which supports vocabulary development, listening and note-taking skills. The lesson also includes discussion questions, and an optional extension activity explains how Muslims manage to fit in sporting activities during Ramadan in the UK.

A breaking news lesson about the recent incident at the Oscars, with a news report about actor Will Smith hitting comedian Chris Rock and an article giving the opinions of four members of the public on the scandal. Students will learn related vocabulary, practise reading and listening skills and reinforce their new vocabulary with conversation practice.

by David Marriott

Note: Select the audio/video file for the appropriate level you’d like to use with your students. To change the level of the embedded audio or video file, click the play button for the level you want to use in the multimedia box.

Elementary (A1-A2)

This lesson focuses on the spelling and pronunciation of common words with silent letters. Students start by reviewing the alphabet before listening to a short speech from a tour guide and completing related activities. They list and categorise words with silent letters and then practise the target language in speaking and writing. There is a short optional extension activity in which students describe a day out in London, using words from A to Z.

Students work with the theme of cause and effect in an IELTS Reading task about children’s TV viewing. They discuss some speaking exam style questions related to the topic of television and media and then define relevant vocabulary. They also read an article and respond to matching sentence endings, matching features and true/false/not given questions, before examining useful phrases and vocabulary from the text. Exam tips are provided. There is an optional bonus reading extension activity which provides additional information on the same topic. This lesson is part of one unit in the IELTS preparation course plan which provides practice in listening/speaking, reading and writing for the IELTS exam. The full lesson plan takes a minimum of 60 minutes.

A special report news lesson about South Korea’s new solar power flowers, with a news report about the flower-shaped solar panels and an article about strange methods of generating energy. Students will learn related vocabulary, practise reading and listening skills and reinforce their new vocabulary with conversation practice.

by David J. Marriott

Advanced (C1-C2)

In this worksheet, the concept of ‘time poverty’ is discussed in relation to the workplace and how it affects families, and particularly women. Exercises focus on reading and listening skills as well as relevant vocabulary. Students will also have the opportunity to discuss ideas relevant to the topic.

by Joe Wilson

In this lesson, students learn language related to government and human rights by discussing control of technology and information. The control of technology and information is important to lawyers working in diverse fields, ranging from human rights to business.

In this lesson, students will listen to an interview discussing the trend of "boomerang kids" – young adults moving back home with their parents – and read an article about the situation. Exercises focus on reading and listening skills, related vocabulary and students will have an opportunity to discuss the issues relating to the topic.

Pre-intermediate (A2-B1)

This lesson looks at both San Diego Zoo and Taipei Zoo and the way they take care of their pandas. Exercises focus on authentic listening, through a video news report, and reading skills. Related vocabulary will be looked at and students will be given the opportunity to discuss several issues that are related to the topic.

This video-based lesson follows a thought experiment about disappearing satellites to explore cause and effect, one of the major themes of the IELTS exam. The lesson supports development of subject-specific and academic vocabulary and provides practice in conditional structures to express cause and effect. This lesson is the first part of Unit 5 in the Linguahouse IELTS preparation course plan, which provides exam practice in listening/speaking, reading and writing. The full lesson plan takes a minimum of 60 minutes.

The topic of this lesson is fundraising and how different organisations and individuals raise money for charity. Students read an article about how four different charities raise money and listen to a radio programme live from a charity fun run where the presenter is taking part and interviewing some of the competitors at the same time. Students learn level-appropriate vocabulary connected to raising money and good causes. They will also choose a good cause they would like to raise money for and try to collect sponsors for a charity fun run in the roleplay. In addition to this, students are asked to do some research on a fundraising website and select a charity they would like to donate to.

by Richard Moon

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29 ESL Conversation Topics Adult Students Really Enjoy

One key goal almost every adult ESL student shares is  gaining the ability to speak English with others.

What better way to learn to speak English than to speak about the very same things that you speak about on a daily basis ?

ESL speaking activities work even better when someone speaks about their own personal recollections, thoughts and ideas on these topics.

Use these topics and questions to get conversations started!

8. Television

11. first dates, 13. motivation, 19. restaurants, 20. cooking, 22. shopping, 26. learning, 28. computers, 29. problems.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Everybody has hobbies, and everybody loves talking about them. Hobbies could be passions too, you know. Some simple questions to ask include:

• What are your hobbies?
• Why do you like your hobbies so much?
• How often do you do these hobbies?
• How long have you been doing these hobbies, and how did you get started?
• What hobbies did you used to have, but now do not?
• Is it important to have hobbies? Why/why not?

Lots of people work and have lots to say about it. I mean, if you’re spending about a third of your waking hours at work, you may have lots to say.

Some good questions are:

• What work do/did you do?
• Do/did like your job? Why or why not?
• What is your dream job?
• What work is common in your city/area/country?
• What is your general view about work? Why?

Food is possibly the most universal topic of them all and everyone loves to discuss what they eat. Food-themed ESL activities are always a hit with students.

This is also an ideal topic for beginners because the vocabulary is usually pretty simple. You could use questions like:

• What is your favorite food? Why?
• What food do you eat a lot?
• What food comes from your country?
• How do you feel when you eat food?
• What foods do you dislike? Why?
• Where do you usually get food from?

This is a topic that many people get very excited about. If someone is passionate or emotional about a topic, they can be more motivated to speak and understand things related to it.

A few good example questions are:

• Do you like sports? Why/why not?
• How often do you exercise/play sports?
• Did you play any sports as a child?
• What sport/physical activity is popular in your country?
• What is your opinion on professional sports?

As people get older, their perceived value of time increases, so it’s a practical topic that everyone has something to say about.

You could ask questions like:

• How much free time do you usually have?
• How important is time to you?
• If you had more free time, what would you do?
• “Time is money.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?
• How do you feel about time that is wasted?

As people get older, they start to appreciate a good night’s sleep more and more. This topic is often a favorite.

Some example questions are:

• How much sleep do you usually get?
• Why do some people sleep well while other people do not sleep well?
• What do you do when you have trouble sleeping?
• What time do you usually go to sleep? What time do you usually get up?
• Have you ever slept in a strange place that was not a bed?

Everybody loves music and most people feel very strong emotions toward it—especially when it comes to the music that they love (or hate) most. Some simple questions to ask could be:

• What types of music do you like/dislike?
• How do certain kinds of music make you feel?
• What types of music come from your country?
• What’s your favorite song/album/artist?
• What music is popular in your country right now?

Listening to music with English lyrics can be fun and engaging activity that can also start conversations.

Watching music videos with subtitles will help students remember the vocabulary they hear in a song.

Television is one of those topics that everyone has an opinion about.

TV will enable you to showcase native English forms and provide some great context before diving into discussion questions. Good questions include:

• How often do you watch TV?
• Should everyone have a television in their home?
• What is the best way to watch television: On a television set, computer, tablet or phone?
• What television programs are popular in your country?
• What do you think will be the future of television?
• What is your opinion on television?
• If you had your own TV show, what would it be like?

If your students enjoy learning from TV and other native content, you can try a media-focused resource like FluentU .

This website and app teaches English with authentic videos, including clips from TV shows, news segments and commercials.

The video dictionary also links to other videos that use the word for additional context. Students can also take quizzes based on the videos and their flashcard learning.

The pop-culture content on FluentU is more interesting to students than more traditional materials, and it increases the motivation to understand the dialogue.

Authentic media lets students hear English the way native speakers use it and helps them recall the meanings of words better by creating memorable associations with stories and characters.

The FluentU program is available both for schools and for individual learners .

Like television, movies are a popular conversation topic. I mean, who doesn’t watch movies? A few good questions to be asked could be:

• What was the last movie you saw? How was it?
• What is your favorite movie? Why?
• How are the movies in your country? What are the best ones?
• How often do you watch movies in English?
• If there were a movie about your life, what kind of movie would it be? Why?

Travel can be a great discussion topic – it encourages storytelling in the past tense and inspires students to talk about culture and similar topics.

Here are some possible questions:

• Where have you traveled?
• What countries have you been to?
• Where would you like to travel to in the future?
• When you travel, what safety precautions do you take?
• Do you like to prepare a lot before you travel, or just wing it?
• What are some cultural issues that you have experienced while traveling? Do you have any funny or embarrassing stories?

Talking about first dates gets everybody interested. We’ve all been there.

• How many first dates have you had?
• How do you feel about first dates?
• What is a common first date like in your country?
• What is the best/worst first date experience you’ve ever had?
• What makes a good first date in your opinion?

Everyone feels a certain way about risk. Some are risk-oriented, others are risk-averse. Talking about risks seems to generate some good conversation. You could ask questions like:

• What is your definition of risk?
• Are you a risk taker? Why/why not?
• What are the advantages/disadvantages of taking risks?
• What risks do you come across in your work/life?
• What risks have you taken in your life?

Whether or not the students are a motivated bunch, motivation is a good topic to discuss in order to inspire your students.

• How motivated are you in general?
• What motivates you to do things?
• What is the best motivator to succeed?
• What do you do when you feel unmotivated?
• What is a good way to motivate others?

Anyone can appreciate beauty in all its forms, and anyone can recognize the importance of the concept of beauty in our cultures, societies and behaviors.

This makes it a good topic to discuss to get some opinions and various views within a group.

• What is “beauty”?
• What/who do you consider beautiful?
• What does “inner beauty” mean to you?
• Do you consider artificial beauty (cosmetic surgery) to still be beauty? Why/why not?
• How do you feel about the emphasis that people put on beauty these days?
• What would you tell your children about beauty?

Crime may not be on the top of people’s lists of favorite topics but it’s something that’s talked about.

Depending on someone’s life experiences, it may be something that has affected their lives. Learning to discuss it could help in the long run.

Good discussion questions are:

• Is crime a big problem in your city/country?
• Have you ever been a victim of crime?
• What crime is common in your city/country?
• What would you do if you noticed a crime being committed?
• How is the law enforcement in your city/country?

Most people have had some firsthand experience with love that they’d like to talk about. It’s another one of those universal topics that gets the conversation going.

Even if it’s not about romantic love and heartbreak, students can talk about familial love with their parents and children, as well as love between friends.

Questions like these are good:

• What is love?
• Who/what do you love?
• What good/bad experiences have you had with love?
• Can you be too young to be in love? Why/why not?
• How do you feel about love?

We all have goals and talking about them actually gets us more encouraged to do something about them. Sharing goals is also a good way to help get them achieved.

A good set of questions is:

• What are your current goals in life?
• How do you plan to reach your goals?
• How often do you set goals for yourself?
• What goals have you set and achieved in the past?
• How do you feel when you reach your goals?

We all have dreams, sometimes on a nightly basis, and they can make for a great discussion topic as it inspires students to be creative and even whimsical.

Great questions for this topic include:

• What kinds of dreams do you have?
• What do you think dreams mean?
• How much of your dreams do you remember? Why?
• What is your opinion on premonitions? Are they real?
• What are examples of memorable dreams you have had?

Along with eating, people love talking about their favorite eateries and restaurants. Some students might even relate to each other with their choices and views.

Good questions include:

• How often do you go to restaurants?
• What is your favorite restaurant? Why?
• What do you usually order at a restaurant?
• What is the restaurant experience like in your country?
• Have you ever worked in a restaurant?
• If you owned a restaurant, what kinds of food would you serve?

Cooking is another topic that may allow for some good conversation. Most people in most countries do a good amount of cooking.

A few good questions could be:

• In your home, who usually cooks?
• How often do you cook?
• How well do you cook? What can you cook well?
• What are the advantages/disadvantages of cooking?
• What food would you like to learn how to cook?

Recipes can be a fun way to introduce students to assorted cooking vocabulary and phrases. And in addition to written recipes, there are tons of recipe videos on the web if you want to work on listening comprehension as well.

FluentU has lots of videos about food and cuisine, as well as several captioned recipe videos.

If there is one topic that affects everyone, it has to be money. People love talking about money.

Well, they may not if they’re broke—but even then it’s a relatable topic that gets conversations going.

Great questions include:

• How well do you manage your money?
• Why do some people have money problems?
• What are some good ways to make money?
• What would you do if I gave you $20/$2,000/$2,000,000?
• How often do you save money? Why?

This one is a personal favorite for many. Shopping just brings out the zest in some people.

Others feel strongly the other way—very few people are completely neutral on this topic.

A few good questions are:

• Do you enjoy shopping? Why/why not?
• What is your favorite shop? Why?
• In your city, where is a good place to go shopping?
• How do you feel about online shopping?
• What do you think shopping will be like in the future?

Everybody makes plans and discussing them could even influence the class to start making plans of their own! A few example questions include:

• How often do you plan things? Why?
• What are your plans for (________)?
• What are your plans for your English?
• What do you think of this quote? “Having no plan is a plan to fail.”
• Do you have any back-up plans?

Books make for a good conversation topic because most people enjoy a good book.

When you read, your mind is filled with new images, feelings, ideas and thoughts. It can be immensely satisfying for someone to share how they feel about reading.

Some questions to ask are:

• Do you like books/reading? Why/why not?
• What kind of books do/did you like?
• What is your favorite book? Why?
• What was the last book you read?
• Do you believe reading books/literature is more important than reading stuff online? Why/why not?

Life discussions go on in all languages and English is no exception.

Life is a good topic since everyone has their own views and thoughts on this universal subject.

You could bring up questions like:

• What is the meaning of life?
• How is your life going up to this point?
• What do you think happens after death?
• What important life lessons have you learned?
•  If tomorrow was your last day to live, what would you do?

Learning is like nature—it’s all around us, even on a subconscious level. Our brains are built to absorb, filter and store information.

A conversation about learning could actually stimulate some English learning!

A few questions that are suitable are:

• How important is learning? Why?
• Besides English, what are you currently learning?
• What things are you good/bad at learning? Why?
• What would you most like to learn?
• What is the most difficult part of learning? Why?

Games are fun and everybody enjoys fun, no?

But in all seriousness, talking about games tends to gear the conversation more toward past tense, which can bring students a fond sense of nostalgia.

Some simple questions could be:

• What is your favorite game ever?
• What games did you play as a kid?
• What games are popular/came from your country?
• How competitive are you when it comes to games?
• What games do you still play now? Why?

It’s hard to go a day without talking about computers. This universal topic could have students discussing quite a few things, much of which could relate to real life too!

Great questions on this could be:

• Describe your computer at home/work.
• What do you usually use a computer for?
• Do you like computers? Why/why not?
• What was the first computer you ever had like?
• What do you think will be the future of computers?

Even though nobody likes to talk about problems per se, everybody still talks about their problems to other people!

Problems are actually a good topic for discussion since they could help others relate to each other and even present solutions too.

A few fine examples of questions are:

• How do you deal with your problems?
• What problems do you come across in your work or life?
• Do you feel that problems are opportunities? Why or why not?
• What was the last problem you solved and how did you do it?
• “Problems don’t matter. Solutions do.” Do you agree or disagree?

Discussion questions like the ones above—questions about everyday things—work well because they really get the brain thinking.

These topics relate directly to students on a familiar level and can even spark some fascinating discussions.

You could even mix up the example questions any way you’d like.

These topics may even inspire you to come up with some of your own, as you begin to understand what works and what doesn’t.

Happy discussing!

For more tips, check out this post next: 

Wondering how to teach ESL to adults? While your lessons might be a bit less chaotic than with younger students, they don’t have to be dull or boring. Everyone enjoys…

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Discussion Topics for Agreeing & Disagreeing (ESL)

These are conversation topics I have used to create discussion in my ESL class. They could also be used as speaking topics for speeches . These speaking topics go well with activities to practice giving opinions (agreeing, disagreeing, interrupting, and changing the topic). For a few activities for agreeing and disagreeing, visit here .

If you are looking for discussion questions, I have created a   longer list   (containing similar ideas) on the conversation questions page .

General Topics for Discussion or Speeches

• English is easy to learn.
• Money is more important than love.
• Students should be required to study English in elementary school.
• Violence is sometimes necessary.
• Personality is more important than beauty.
• People who live in apartments shouldn't own pets.
• No job is perfect.
• Everyone is good at something.
• We are not alone in the universe.
• Life was better 20 years ago.
• The most important thing about a job is the salary.
• You can know a lot about a person from the clothes he or she wears.
• Teachers should be able to use physical punishment.
• Global warming isn't real.
• There are actions we can take to stop global warming.
• There are no such things as ghosts.
• Everyone has the right to have an opinion even if the opinion is false according to well-known facts.
• People get offended too easily nowadays.
• What goes around comes around. (If you do good, good will come to you / If you do bad, bad things will happen to you.)
• Parents should never hit their children.
• Table manners and etiquette have become less important in the 21st century.

Crime Discussion/Speech Topics

• Smoking marijuana should be legal.
• Police officers should not carry guns.
• Criminals who take a life (kill someone) should spend their entire life behind bars.
• Graffiti is art, not crime.
• Prisoners are sent to jail to be reeducated.

Gender Issues Discussion/Speech Topics

• Men should open doors for women.
• Men and women can never really be equal.
• Women are better at teaching children than men are.
• Men are smarter than women.
• Companies should have quotas on their executive boards to make them 50% female.
• At a bar, men should initiate conversation with women (and not the other way around).

Health Discussion/Speech Topics

• People who get plastic surgery usually look worse later in life.
• Nowadays, people are too dependent on medicine.
• This country's healthcare system needs a lot of improvement.
• If you feel unwell, you should go to the doctor.
• Western medicine is more effective than Eastern medicine.
• People who use acupuncture are crazy.
• People should be more concerned about their health.
• Beauty products, vitamins, and mineral supplements generally provide the benefits they promise.
• Home remedies can be just as useful as medicine from a pharmacy.
• Obesity is a disease.
• Humans shouldn't drink the milk of other animals such as cows.
• There should be an extra tax on unhealthy food.
• Worrying about cancer can give you cancer.

Politics Discussion/Speech Topics

• Life would be better without government or rules.
• People should be able to criticize the government.
• The government has the right to monitor phone calls and e-mails.
• The government should increase environmental regulations on businesses.
• Women should be allowed to wear a niqab (or face veil) to civic ceremonies.
• We should tax the rich to help the poor.
• New Canadians who become terrorists should lose their citizenship and be sent back to where they came from.
• The government should be stricter on immigration.
• Canada should not participate in the war against ISIS.
• Voting for a political party that is unlikely to win the election is wasting your vote.

Enjoy your discussion.

- Conversation topics created by Matthew Barton of Englishcurrent.com (Copyright)

Related Pages

• Conversation Questions
• Argumentative Essay Topics (Business-Related)

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12 comments on “ Discussion Topics for Agreeing & Disagreeing (ESL) ”

Little water was left in the pot,….?(question tag)

…, wasn’t it? (but it seems very strange to use a question tag here)

You’re missing “there”; (there was) little water left in the pot, wasn’t there?

This sentence has a negative meaning so it should be:

(There was) Little (not much) water was left in the pot, was there?

As the word”Home” has to function as “Adverb of place and Noun”, and you explained that when it works as adverb of place, the preposition ” To” is not used and when it is used as “noun” , preposition is possible,so school is also adverb of place now if we say that school has only form “Noun” and it does not have adverb form, Is it correct

Hello. ‘school’ does not have an adverb form. It is only a noun. Therefore, verbs that require a preposition use a preposition when school is the object (“I went to school / I arrived at school.”). You cannot omit the prepositions. If that’s what you meant, then you are correct.

Unless you are using the word school for the services it offers. Then you say I go to school. No prep

And what is “to”?

Put thing abt covid

Actually, there is an adverb form of school, “schoolishly.” It is, however, quite rare and pretty nearly archaic. It seems mainly to have been used to characterize the manners and thoughts of the so-called “schoolmen” (a.k.a., scholastic philosophers.) Wordhippo features the term as do older dictionaries.

The English subject is a bit complicated since it requires time and a lot of practice. Money is more important than health but it is necessary for life since many people depend on it. For teachers to teach English in elementary school, this great help for students is necessary to continue learning. Violence is not good but many times anger takes advantage of ourselves by taking revenge for which the act turns into violence. Personality is important Since we must have values ​​in our life And try to be a better person, beauty is natural. Not every job can be perfect as it can also be dangerous and very expensive. We are not alone in the world because there are many people around us but our personality is unique. We can all be good at something, it’s just that for some things we won’t have the ability to do everything perfectly. Money is one of the most necessary elements since if we work it is because we need the salary and trying to do things with love and commitment is the best. The happiness of another person does not have to offend me since we can all be happy as we want. Regarding the phrase that says what you sow, what you reap is very true, the world is turning around and what we do today, right or wrong, will have our reward sooner or later.

English is easy to learn: The english subject its such a beautifu world, you can learn a lot of things about it and you learn to aprecciate it with the pass of the day, It is easy at the way you want to learn it and study. No job is perfect: Because sometimes your body get tired of to many things and at this point you just want to through away those works issues, but also we have other days when we realize that we are blessing of have this job, its a constant feelings of high and lows. Women are better at teaching childrens than men are: No, because God gave to each one of us, the intelligence and the habbility for do all the things and ideal that we have in life, we just need the strengh and good vibes to do it. What goes around comes around: I have always used to think that those things that you sow, you harvest too, thats why we always have to do the good things to our behaviors.

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11 ESL Conversation Topics for Intermediate Students 2024

Explore stimulating discussions with these 11 engaging ESL conversation topics designed for intermediate students in 2024. From delving into cultural experiences and global issues to honing effective workplace communication skills, these topics offer a dynamic platform for language development and meaningful exchanges.

Elevating ESL Learning Through Conversation

Engaging in meaningful conversations is a powerful tool for ESL (English as a Second Language) learners, especially those at the intermediate level. This article introduces a variety of conversation topics tailored to intermediate students, designed to enhance their language skills and encourage active participation.

List of 11 Engaging ESL Conversation Topics for Intermediate Students

• The Impact of Technology on Daily Life
• Travel and Cultural Experiences
• Balancing Work and Leisure
• Personal Development and Goal Setting
• Environmental Sustainability
• Favorite Books and Movies
• Global Issues and Advocacy
• Effective Communication in the Workplace
• Culinary Adventures and Food Culture
• Art and Creativity
• Health and Wellness in Modern Society

People also ask

Everyday Life Conversations

Discussing daily routines, morning rituals:.

• Share your typical morning routine.
• Discuss how it sets the tone for your day.

A Day in the Life:

• Describe a typical day in your life.
• Talk about your activities from morning to night.

Weekend Plans:

• Share your plans for the upcoming weekend.
• Discuss activities you enjoy during your leisure time.

Hobbies and Interests

Favorite Hobbies:

• Talk about your favorite hobbies.
• Discuss why you find them enjoyable and fulfilling.

Discovering New Hobbies:

• Share any new hobbies you’re interested in.
• Discuss what sparked your curiosity about them.

Hobby Challenges:

• Discuss challenges you’ve faced in pursuing a hobby.
• Share how overcoming challenges has contributed to your growth.

Social Interactions and Relationships

Making new friends.

Meeting New People :

• Share your experiences meeting new people.
• Discuss strategies for breaking the ice and making friends.

Cultural Exchange:

• Discuss friendships with people from different cultures.
• Explore how cultural differences enrich your relationships.

Friendship Dynamics:

• Discuss the qualities that contribute to being a good friend.
• Share anecdotes about your closest friends.

Family Matters

Family Traditions:

• Discuss traditions in your family.
• Share memorable experiences related to family traditions.

Siblings and Birth Order:

• Talk about your siblings and their roles in the family.
• Discuss how birth order influences personalities.

Family Celebrations:

• Share stories about significant family celebrations.
• Discuss the importance of these gatherings.

Travel and Adventure

Favorite travel destinations.

Memorable Trips:

• Discuss a memorable travel experience.
• Share highlights and challenges from the trip.

Dream Destinations:

• Talk about places you dream of visiting.
• Discuss the reasons these destinations appeal to you.

Cultural Immersion:

• Share experiences of immersing yourself in a new culture.
• Discuss the impact on your perspective.

Education and Learning

Academic journey.

Favorite Subjects:

• Discuss your favorite subjects in school or college.
• Share why these subjects resonate with you.

Study Strategies:

• Talk about effective study strategies.
• Discuss techniques that help you retain information.

Future Educational Goals:

• Share your aspirations for further education.
• Discuss the careers or fields you’re interested in.

Entertainment and Media

Books, movies, and music.

Favorite Books:

• Discuss your all-time favorite books.
• Share what you enjoy about each book.

Movie Preferences:

• Talk about your favorite movie genres.
• Discuss memorable movie experiences.

Music Influences:

• Share your favorite music genres and artists.
• Discuss how music influences your mood.

Fostering Language Proficiency Through Conversations

Engaging in diverse conversations not only enhances language proficiency but also allows intermediate ESL students to express themselves more confidently. These conversation topics are designed to provide a platform for meaningful interactions, encouraging students to actively participate in the language learning process.

FAQs ESL Conversation Topics for Intermediate Students

Can these conversation topics be adapted for group discussions in a classroom setting.

Absolutely! These conversation topics are versatile and can be adapted for both one-on-one discussions and group settings, fostering collaborative learning.

How can these topics be used to improve speaking skills?

Encourage students to express themselves freely, use new vocabulary, and articulate their thoughts clearly. Regular practice with these conversation topics will help improve speaking skills.

Are these topics suitable for online ESL classes?

Yes, these topics are well-suited for online ESL classes. They promote interaction, making them ideal for virtual learning environments.

Can these conversation topics be used for language exchange programs?

Certainly! These topics provide a foundation for engaging language exchange discussions, allowing participants to share their experiences and perspectives.

How can educators incorporate these topics into lesson plans for intermediate ESL students?

Educators can use these conversation topics as discussion prompts, integrating them into lesson plans to promote speaking, listening, and comprehension skills. Encourage students to share their opinions and experiences related to each topic.

Related Posts:

Welcome to esl DiscussionTopics

Welcome to esl discussion topics.

Quality questions you can use in the ESL classroom to get your students talking

Discussion questions on general topics suitable for the ESL classroom.

Business English discussion questions for those studying English for specific purposes.

Discussion questions designed to practice grammar in the ESL classroom.

PDF Formats

All handouts available for download in a variety of PDF formats.

General Topics

Business topics, grammar topics, how to use this site.

This site contains more than a thousand ESL discussion questions on a range of topics including general, grammar and business English discussion topics. These discussion questions are suitable for teachers to use in the ESL classroom with students at intermediate level or above. The ESL discussion questions are designed to be accessible to a general audience, but are open enough to allow advanced speakers to develop more complex responses.

Select a category above from either the general , grammar or business sections and click on the link. This will take you to a page where you can view the ESL discussion questions and download them in a variety of PDF formats perfect for the classroom. All the materials on this site are provided free of charge.

For further information about the site and its author, see the about page.