200+ Discussion Questions for English Learners (Sorted by Topic and Level)

Speaking is the part of English that a textbook can't give you. You can know every rule of the present perfect and still freeze when someone asks about your weekend. The fix is the same for everyone: talk more, about things you actually care about. That's what these questions are for.

Below are more than two hundred conversation questions, grouped by topic and sorted roughly by level — from simple A1–A2 warm-ups to open-ended C1 discussions. Skim to the level you want, pick a handful, and start talking.

How to use them

Learners: Answer out loud, not in your head. Record yourself, or better, find a partner and take turns. Don't aim for perfect — aim for finishing the thought.

Teachers: Drop any set straight into a lesson or a conversation class. They work as warm-ups, fillers, or a whole speaking session. Mix an easy topic with a harder one to stretch a mixed-level group.

Conversation groups: These are built for small-group practice. One question can carry ten minutes if you keep asking "why?" and "what about you?"

Easy warm-ups (A1–A2)

Short, concrete, present-tense. Good for beginners and for the first five minutes of any class.

Daily life and routine

1. What time do you usually wake up?
2. What do you have for breakfast?
3. How do you get to work or school?
4. What do you do on the weekend?
5. What is your favourite day of the week, and why?
6. Do you prefer mornings or evenings?
7. What do you do before you go to sleep?
8. How often do you cook at home?
9. What is one thing you do every single day?
10. Do you like to plan your day, or take it as it comes?
11. What time do you have dinner?
12. What is your least favourite chore at home?

Getting to know you

1. Where are you from, and what is it known for?
2. How many languages do you speak?
3. Why are you learning English?
4. What do you do in your free time?
5. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
6. What is your favourite kind of weather?
7. Are you a morning person or a night owl?
8. What is one word your friends would use to describe you?
9. Do you prefer the city or the countryside?
10. What is your favourite food?
11. What kind of music do you listen to?
12. If you had a free afternoon right now, what would you do?

Everyday topics (B1)

The core of most conversations. Familiar subjects, a bit more room to explain and give reasons.

Family and relationships

1. Who are you closest to in your family?
2. What is a tradition your family always keeps?
3. Are you more like your mum or your dad?
4. What did you enjoy doing with your family as a child?
5. How do families in your country usually spend time together?
6. What makes someone a good friend?
7. Is it better to have a few close friends or many friends?
8. How do you stay in touch with people who live far away?
9. What is the best advice a family member has given you?
10. Do people in your country usually live near their relatives?
11. How have friendships changed for you over the years?
12. What is something you learnt from an older relative?

Work and jobs

1. What do you do, or what would you like to do?
2. What is the best thing about your job?
3. What was your very first job?
4. Would you rather work in a team or on your own?
5. What job did you want to have when you were a child?
6. Is it better to love your job or to earn a lot of money?
7. What skills are useful in almost any job?
8. Would you like to work from home or in an office?
9. What is a job you could never do, and why?
10. How do people usually find work in your country?
11. Do you think people change jobs too often these days?
12. What would your ideal working week look like?

Food and cooking

1. What is a dish everyone should try from your country?
2. Can you cook? What is your best dish?
3. Do you prefer eating out or eating at home?
4. What did you eat as a child that you still love?
5. Is there any food you really dislike?
6. What is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?
7. Do you follow any special diet?
8. What is a typical breakfast where you live?
9. Do you prefer sweet or savoury food?
10. How important is food in your culture?
11. What would you cook to impress someone?
12. Has the way you eat changed as you have got older?

Travel and holidays

1. What is the best place you have ever travelled to?
2. Do you prefer the beach or the mountains?
3. Where would you go on your dream holiday?
4. Do you like to plan a trip or be spontaneous?
5. What is one thing you always pack?
6. Have you ever had something go wrong on a trip?
7. Would you rather travel alone or with friends?
8. What can you learn from travelling that you can't learn at home?
9. Is there a place in your own country tourists should visit more?
10. What is the longest journey you have ever made?
11. Do you prefer a relaxing holiday or an adventurous one?
12. Where would you like to travel next?

Hobbies and free time

1. What is your favourite way to relax?
2. Have you picked up any new hobbies recently?
3. Do you play any sports?
4. What did you enjoy doing as a teenager?
5. Would you rather read a book or watch a film?
6. Is there a hobby you would love to try one day?
7. How do you usually spend a rainy afternoon?
8. Do you prefer doing things indoors or outdoors?
9. What is something you are good at that most people aren't?
10. How much free time do you get in a normal week?
11. Do you think hobbies are important? Why?
12. What hobby would you take up if money and time didn't matter?

Shopping and money

1. Do you enjoy shopping, or do you find it tiring?
2. Do you prefer shopping online or in person?
3. What was the last thing you bought?
4. Are you a saver or a spender?
5. What is something you would happily spend a lot of money on?
6. What is the best thing you have ever bought?
7. Do you think people buy too many things they don't need?
8. Is it better to buy something cheap now or save for something better?
9. What would you do with a sudden gift of money?
10. How has shopping changed since you were a child?

Bigger conversations (B1–B2)

More opinion, more "why," more disagreement. Good once a group has warmed up.

Technology and social media

1. How many hours a day do you spend on your phone?
2. What app could you not live without?
3. Has social media made us more connected or more lonely?
4. What is one piece of technology that changed your life?
5. Should children be allowed to have smartphones? At what age?
6. Do you believe everything you read online?
7. What did people do before smartphones existed?
8. Would you ever go a whole week without the internet?
9. Is technology making us lazier or more capable?
10. What technology do you think we will all be using in ten years?
11. Do you prefer texting or calling?
12. What is the worst thing about social media?

Health and lifestyle

1. What do you do to stay healthy?
2. Do you get enough sleep?
3. Is it easy or hard to eat well where you live?
4. How do you deal with stress?
5. Do you prefer going to the gym or exercising outdoors?
6. Has your idea of a healthy life changed over time?
7. Do you think people worry too much about their health, or not enough?
8. What is one healthy habit you would like to start?
9. How important is mental health compared to physical health?
10. What helps you feel better after a hard day?
11. Do you think modern life is healthier or less healthy than in the past?
12. What is one unhealthy habit you find hard to give up?

Culture and traditions

1. What is a tradition you love in your country?
2. Is there a tradition you think should change?
3. What holiday is the most important where you live?
4. How do people usually celebrate a birthday in your culture?
5. What can a visitor do to be polite in your country?
6. What is a common gesture in your country that might confuse a foreigner?
7. How is life today different from your grandparents' time?
8. What part of your culture are you most proud of?
9. Are old traditions disappearing where you live?
10. What festival would you recommend a tourist attend?
11. How do people greet each other in your country?
12. Is there a custom from another culture you admire?

Education and learning

1. What was your favourite subject at school?
2. Did you enjoy your school years?
3. What is the best way to learn a new skill?
4. Is a university degree still worth it?
5. What is something you learnt outside of school?
6. Should schools teach more practical life skills?
7. What makes a teacher great?
8. Do you learn better alone or with others?
9. What is the hardest thing about learning English?
10. Would you like to study something new one day?
11. Do you think exams are a fair way to measure learning?
12. What advice would you give someone starting to learn your language?

Environment and nature

1. Do you spend much time in nature?
2. What is a beautiful natural place near where you live?
3. What is one small thing people can do to help the planet?
4. Has the weather changed where you live over the years?
5. Do you recycle at home?
6. Are cities or the countryside better for a good life?
7. Should we all eat less meat for the environment?
8. What animal do you find the most fascinating?
9. Do you think enough is being done about climate change?
10. Would you like to live somewhere greener?

Opinions and debate (B2)

Designed to split the room. Ask people to explain and defend their answers.

Would you rather

1. Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible?
2. Would you rather live by the sea or in the mountains?
3. Would you rather have more time or more money?
4. Would you rather always be ten minutes early or always ten minutes late?
5. Would you rather lose the ability to read or the ability to speak?
6. Would you rather travel to the past or the future?
7. Would you rather have a job you love with low pay or a job you dislike with high pay?
8. Would you rather never use social media again or never watch television again?
9. Would you rather be famous or be rich but unknown?
10. Would you rather live in a big city or a small village?
11. Would you rather speak every language or play every instrument?
12. Would you rather have a rewind button or a pause button for your life?

Agree or disagree

1. Money can't buy happiness.
2. It is better to be honest than kind.
3. Social media does more harm than good.
4. People should retire earlier.
5. Working from home is better than working in an office.
6. Everyone should learn a second language.
7. A short life full of adventure beats a long, quiet one.
8. Technology is moving too fast.
9. It is never too late to change your career.
10. Children today have it easier than their parents did.
11. Travelling teaches you more than school.
12. First impressions are usually right.

Deeper discussion (B2–C1)

Open, reflective, sometimes philosophical. Best with advanced learners who want to stretch.

Hypotheticals and imagination

1. If you could live in any period of history, when would it be?
2. If you could master one skill instantly, what would it be?
3. If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?
4. If you woke up tomorrow in a different country, where would you want it to be?
5. If you could change one decision in your life, would you?
6. If you had to give up either music or films forever, which would you choose?
7. If you could send one message to your younger self, what would it say?
8. If money were no object, how would you spend your days?
9. If you could solve one problem in the world, which would you choose?
10. If you could know the answer to any one question, what would you ask?
11. If you had to live in another city for a year, where would you go?
12. If you could relive one day of your life, which would it be?
13. If you could be excellent at one thing but average at everything else, what would you choose?
14. If you could add one hour to every day, how would you use it?

Life, goals and the future

1. What does a good life mean to you?
2. What is something you have changed your mind about?
3. What are you most proud of so far?
4. Where do you see yourself in five years?
5. What is a goal you are working towards right now?
6. What is the best decision you have ever made?
7. What advice would you give your twenty-year-old self?
8. Is it more important to be happy or successful?
9. What does success mean to you?
10. What is something you would still like to learn?
11. What matters more as you get older: friends, family, work, or health?
12. What is one thing you hope will be different about your life in ten years?
13. When do you feel most like yourself?
14. What would you like people to remember about you?

The other half of the conversation

A list of questions is only ever half of it. The other half is a person to have the conversation with — someone who answers back, disagrees, asks "why?", and gently fixes the word you reached for and missed.

That's the whole idea behind Parlora. You can join a small conversation group — up to eight learners, $9 a seat — and work through prompts exactly like these with a teacher guiding the room and real people to talk to. Or book a one-on-one lesson with a tutor who'll steer the questions towards whatever you're actually trying to say. Want to build some vocabulary before you speak? Browse the free and low-cost worksheets in the Parlora Library and walk in prepared.

Pick five questions from any list above, find someone to ask them to, and say the answers out loud. That's the part that moves you forward.