Conversation Questions and Activities to Aid in the Learning of English 1 Arranged according to tense, topic, and levels of difficulty By Prof. Mark McDowell, M.A. Mark’s ESL World ~ http://www.marksesl.com Table of Contents 100+ FREE-TALK QUESTIONS, TOPICS, AND ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN ............................. 4 1500+ FREE-TALK QUESTIONS, TOPICS, AND ACTIVITIES FOR ADULTS ............................... 7 1. SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE ............................................................................................................ 7 Personal Information: ......................................................................................................................... 7 Interests and Hobbies .......................................................................................................................10 The Weather ......................................................................................................................................13 Easy General Present Tense Topics..............................................................................................14 2. SIMPLE PAST TENSE................................................................................................................ 18 3. SIMPLE FUTURE AND IMAGINARY FUTURE TENSE ...................................................................... 22 Simple Future .....................................................................................................................................22 Subjunctive Mood or Imaginary Future Tense (Use “would” “I would like ….”) ......................23 4. THE CONTINUOUS TENSES ....................................................................................................... 25 Present Continuous Tense ..............................................................................................................25 Past Continuous Tense ....................................................................................................................26 Future Continuous Tense.................................................................................................................26 Present Continuous Tense Used for Future ..................................................................................26 5. THE PERFECT AND PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSES .................................................................. 27 Present Perfect Questions Requiring Present Perfect Answers ................................................27 Past Perfect ........................................................................................................................................28 Future Perfect ....................................................................................................................................28 The Perfect Continuous Tenses .....................................................................................................28 Quick Mixed Tense Drill ...................................................................................................................29 6. PRE-INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES ...................................................................... 30 (YOU SHOULD BE GOOD AT ANSWERING QUESTIONS NOW, SO NO MORE EXTRA ROOM TO WRITE YOUR ANSWERS.).................................................................................................................................. 30 7. INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES .............................................................................. 40 8. POST-INTERMEDIATE QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES .................................................................... 54 Mature Topics ....................................................................................................................................54 Focus on Interviewing for a Job ......................................................................................................56 Giving Opinions .................................................................................................................................56 Focus on Technical Issues ..............................................................................................................57 Debates...............................................................................................................................................58 General Discussion…, Describe …, Explain …, Tell About …, Chain Stories, and Role Plays .............................................................................................................................................................60 Chain Stories .....................................................................................................................................68 Role Plays ..........................................................................................................................................68 9. ARTICLES AND DISCUSSIONS ................................................................................................... 70 10. JUST FOR FUN ~ FIFTY SILLY QUESTIONS ............................................................................... 78 APPENDIX...................................................................................................................................................81 GAMES AND ACTIVITIES ............................................................................................................... 81 Crazy Story ..........................................................................................................................................81 Describing Appearances & Characteristics of People ........................................................................81 Bang Bang............................................................................................................................................81 What's the Question? ...........................................................................................................................82 Counting Liar Game ............................................................................................................................82 Vacation Cards ....................................................................................................................................83 Truth or Lie? ........................................................................................................................................83 Extreme Situations ...............................................................................................................................84 The Brag Game ....................................................................................................................................85 Twenty Questions .................................................................................................................................86 Stop ......................................................................................................................................................86 2 Conversation Questions and Activities to Aid in the Learning of English Arranged according to tense, topic, and levels of difficulty By Prof. Mark McDowell, M.A. Mark’s ESL World ~ http://www.marksesl.com Create Your Own Similes .....................................................................................................................86 Word Grab with Songs .........................................................................................................................87 Add a Word ..........................................................................................................................................87 Time Indicators ....................................................................................................................................88 Who am I?? ..........................................................................................................................................89 "Tic Tac Toe" or "Noughts and Crosses" ............................................................................................89 VOCABULARY ~ SOME VITAL WORDS IN KOREAN ......................................................................... 90 LANGUAGE FORMS (VARIOUS STRUCTURES) ................................................................................. 91 SOME COMMON VERBS ............................................................................................................... 93 GRAMMAR ................................................................................................................................... 95 Parts of Speech .................................................................................................................................95 The Three Part Sentence .................................................................................................................96 Word Order .........................................................................................................................................97 Types of adverbs and their placement in a sentence ..................................................................98 Tenses in English ..............................................................................................................................99 COMMON PROBLEMS AND MISTAKES ......................................................................................... 101 A, An, The .........................................................................................................................................101