Get Your Students Talking! 40 TEFL Discussion Questions for Adults

You’ve probably taught English classes, in-person or online, where students struggled to engage in conversation. Students may be shy and worried they don’t yet have the vocabulary to engage in free talk or respond to TEFL discussion questions. Let’s look at why conversation matters when teaching English online and in the physical classroom. Dive into some sure-fire TEFL discussion questions and conversation starters for ESL adult students to get everybody talking in class.

If you’re new to teaching, you’ll want to get initial training and qualification with a TEFL certificate. You can explore our online TEFL courses to get started.

Why is it important to get adult ESL students talking?

English teaching has evolved from the traditional “chalk and talk” method, where teachers do most of the talking, to an approach centered on reinforcing students’ speaking skills. Adult learners often carry assumptions about classroom norms from their own school years, when a quiet, teacher-led lesson was the standard, so shifting more of the talking to students takes deliberate effort with this age group. Here are some reasons why getting English learners to talk more should be a priority in your ESL lessons.

Students need opportunities to practice using English

As an English teacher, you’ll explain concepts and chat with students, but pay attention to how much time you spend talking during a lesson.

As a rule of thumb, student talking time (STT) should exceed teacher talking time (TTT). If learners have ample time to talk, they have more opportunities to practice their speaking skills in English, interact with their classmates in group classes, and be more active in class. The more students talk, the more comfortable and engaged they’ll become.

Adult students have goals that involve using English

Why are your adult students taking English classes? They may be working for an international company or preparing to move to a native English-speaking country. They may be applying for a job or promotion that will require English language proficiency or preparing for a trip to a native English-speaking country. Most adult learners need to practice speaking in English as much as possible, for personal, academic, or professional reasons, so they can be ready for situations where they’ll have to communicate in English.

Learn about the growing demand for Business English training.

Some students have limited opportunities to practice English

Many adult ESL learners who live outside of native English-speaking countries complain about being “rusty” speaking English because they don’t have many chances to practice it. Therefore, your class could be their only opportunity to talk in English and review what they studied in the past. Online classes may also have students from different countries, presenting opportunities for ESL discussion with varied accents and dialects – valuable practice for Business English students working in multinational companies.

Need to have your students speaking naturally? Here are a few tips for teaching conversational English like a pro.

Regular ESL dialogue eases students’ English-speaking jitters

Adult students can easily get tongue-tied or resort to talking in their native language when fears of sounding silly, losing face, and failure to express themselves block them from trying to speak in English. However, with the right ESL discussion questions for adults, they can overcome these speaking hindrances and build their self-confidence along the way.

Learn how to build rapport with your ESL students with eight strategies for fostering good relationships.

How do you get adult ESL students talking in class?

Aside from incorporating great TEFL/TESOL discussion questions, these effective tips can help your adult students maximize their speaking time in class:

• Gamify it. Adults love games too, and you can try fun, easy games to teach English to adults. Introducing an element of competition often breaks the ice and engages adult learners.
• Ask open-ended questions that prompt detailed answers, rather than questions that generate a simple “yes” or “no” response.
• Be sure that your adult students are engaged and comfortable with speaking about the topic you’ve chosen. Be aware of your students’ cultural norms.
• If you sense that your students feel they’re not doing well speaking English, encourage them and remind them how much they’ve progressed. Let your students know that mistakes are welcome in your classroom and that they form part of the learning process.
• Be patient and give your students time to think and respond to a question. Beginner learners, for instance, tend to translate words in their head before finally saying them in English, a process that can take time.
• Always look for ways to reduce teacher talk time. For instance, students can read instructions for class activities, lead homework reviews, summarize the last grammar lesson they’ve practiced, or answer a classmate’s question (rather than the teacher handling these tasks).
• Use authentic materials. Connect every discussion question to a real-life context that’s relevant to your learners. This could be as simple as a situation they expect to be in, like making acquaintances, or as meaningful as voicing their opinion about issues.

Get your students talking from the start of the lesson with these simple ESL icebreakers

What are good TEFL discussion topics and questions for adult learners?

Teaching English to adult learners lets you talk about a wide variety of topics because these students bring diverse life experiences to share. With that much material to draw from, you can rotate through new topics class after class instead of returning to the same few prompts, and you can match a topic’s tone to the level or mood of a particular group, from casual warm-up topics to more involved discussions. These are some ESL discussion topics for adults that you can include in your lessons.

Hobbies

Most students, whether they’re beginners or advanced, love talking about their hobbies, interests, or free time activities. Let your learners elaborate on their favorite music, books, sports, or anything they’re passionate about. You can also get their reviews on artists, authors, or even new album releases of the singers or bands that they like.

1. What is your favorite book and why?
2. What do you do for fun on the weekend?
3. How do you relax?
4. What hobby have you always wanted to try?

Work/career

Adult professionals usually have something to say about their work, whether it involves their particular job responsibilities or their latest projects. Focusing the conversation on their profession or industry also lets you present and practice contextual vocabulary that adult students can use.

5. Why did you choose to work in the ____ industry?
6. What are your job responsibilities?
7. What is one thing you like about your job?
8. Do you prefer working independently or as part of a team?

Food

Food is one of the most universal topics for fun conversations. Talk with adult students about their favorite dishes, international cuisine, restaurants in their neighborhood, or any gastronomic topic under the sun.

9. Do you prefer cooking at home or going out to eat?
10. Describe one of your favorite dishes.
11. What is the most exotic food you’ve tried?
12. What’s a dish from your country that you’d recommend to a visitor?

Traveling

Adult English students are always up for sharing about their holiday or business trips. If your students haven’t traveled much, you can ask them about their bucket list vacation plans or about aspects of other cultures that interest them or that they’d like to learn more about.

13. Have you ever been to another country? If so, where?
14. Did you take any trips last year?
15. What country/city have you always dreamed of visiting?
16. Would you rather travel somewhere new or return to a favorite place?

Current events

Discussing recent local or global happenings with your intermediate or advanced learners improves their skills in giving and exchanging opinions and broadens their vocabulary. It also provides a real-world context for the language they’re learning and practicing.

17. Do you think it’s important to read/listen to the news every day?
18. Which source(s) do you use for news?
19. What do you think about [insert current event]?

Goals and plans

More often than not, students are keen on sharing what they want to achieve in their personal and professional lives. You can also pose hypothetical questions as conversation starters, along with asking about their plans and goals.

20. What do you hope to be doing with your life in 10 years?
21. If you could have your dream job, where would you work/what would you be?
22. What would you do if you suddenly won the lottery?
23. What’s one goal you’re working toward this year?

TV or other pop culture

Even if your students aren’t pop culture fans, they can always talk about a movie or TV show they’ve watched. Why not turn your adult English students into entertainment critics for a day by having them give their review of a film or deliver a presentation about their favorite Netflix series?

24. Are you currently watching a TV show? Which one?
25. Do you like movies? Why or why not?
26. Have you been to a concert before? Who did you see?

Love pop culture? Learn about eight ways to use pop culture in the ESL classroom.

Family

Adult learners love talking about their families, so family questions are often a foolproof conversation starter. Let’s look at some good examples.

27. What is your favorite family tradition?
28. What do you think makes your family close?
29. Who is the funniest person in your family?

Choose the best method for your group and their needs – here are the most popular ones.

Daily Life

We all have our routines, and talking about how we organize and manage our days can also be great ESL conversation starters for adults. These are some example class questions.

30. What is your morning routine?
31. What is your best advice for staying organized?
32. What is your favorite time of day and why?

Holidays

Talking about holidays and treasured holiday traditions is always a fun topic of discussion. If you teach online, you may have students from all over the world who can share holiday traditions that reflect different cultures. Consider these example questions.

33. What is your favorite holiday and why?
34. What is a holiday tradition you look forward to every year?
35. What is your favorite holiday food?
36. Is there a holiday from another culture that interests you?

Use these ESL activities to explore global holidays and traditions.

Just for fun

Sometimes, thinking outside the box is necessary to draw out those extra shy students. What are some unusual ESL conversation questions for adults? Try some of these questions when you want to inspire some fun or unusual ESL dialog.

37. If you could have dinner with any historical, famous, or fictional person, who would it be and why?
38. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
39. If you could have a superpower, what would you choose and why?
40. If you could instantly learn any skill, what would it be and why?

Choosing the right conversation questions for ESL adult students to start talking rarely comes down to one method. It takes discussion questions that respect what your students already know, habits that shift more class time from you to them, and enough range in topics to match whatever a group needs on a given day.

Now, with these 40 questions, you have material to return to across many classes without repeating yourself or reaching for a question that doesn’t fit a particular group. You are bound to see a class that started quiet, with students hesitant to speak up in a new language, become one where they lead the conversation on their own – and succeed at it.

Teaching speaking is just the tip of the TEFL iceberg. Learn all you need to get more confident and more prepared to teach adults, online or in person, with the Bridge 120-Hour Master TEFL Certificate.