26 Fresh ESL Conversation Starters to Get Students Talking!

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Opinion: five ways to guarantee women can speak up and speak out Over years of working in government and in academia, I have been able to study the practical ways in which the most effective male leaders value, praise, and advance women every day in their professional lives. Here are the five outstanding techniques I have seen deployed: Sample the FT’s top stories for a week You select the topic, we deliver the news. BusyTeacher.org The knowledge and experience they share are fascinating, and they get speaking practice to boot. But you can’t just throw students up front and expect them to succeed. There are important steps to get them ready for upfront speaking. Going through each of these steps will ensure your students are prepared, practiced, and poised when they speak to the rest of their class. 1Have Them to Their Research FirstHow many students do you have that panic at the first mention of a presentation?

Talking to Kids: 100 Conversation Starters & Questions Some people are just naturals when it comes to talking to children. They can sit down with virtually any child and engage them in conversation without even thinking about it. These people are born to be in children’s ministry because there is no better way to build a relationship with a child than to talk to them. How to Start a Conversation How to Start a Conversation How to Start a Conversation with a Stranger (also see 101 Conversation Starters) 1. Start with a greeting. For most people, breaking the ice is the hardest part in starting a conversation with someone you don't know but after the ice is broken, everything esle should come easier. To start, make eye contact, smile, and make a greeting

A few discussion activities for English language students What discussion activities work in class? Tekhnologic, winner of the British Council’s Teaching English blog award for a post on setting discussion goals, shares a few ideas. A discussion can bring out your students’ interests and motivate them; it’s a chance for them to talk about the things they really care about. Giving and justifying opinions in English can also bring students a sense of accomplishment, as they are using the language to express complex ideas. Discussion activities encourage critical thinking, and are therefore excellent preparation for speaking tests, such as IELTS or TOEFL, which partly examine the ability to express and justify opinions in English. Perhaps most importantly, discussion activities can be great fun for students.

101 Conversation Starters 101 Conversation Starters (Also see How to Start a Conversation) Ice Breakers Where did you grow up? 250 Conversation Starters Here are some great questions for starting a conversation. There are a lot of random conversation starters to get you started and then conversation questions listed by topic. You can start with the random questions or find a topic that interests you. There’s no right place to start, just scroll down to wherever you want and get started! There are tons of ways to use these questions. I find that the most rewarding way is for everyone to pull up this list of conversation starters on a phone or tablet, and then take turns letting everyone choose a question to ask the group.