English Conversation Topics for online English Classes

You will all agree with me that conversation is the key to language development. While you can learn through textbooks, movies or online websites, conversation is one of the most important aspects of learning English. Speaking in conversational form is helpful for all our online spoken English class students to learn about different topics.

The more they use distinct topics in discussion, the better practice they will gain when speaking in full conversations as they progress in their career. While studying the written language is important for improving your grammar and building your vocabulary, the most effective learning still happens face-to-face.

As an online English teacher, my first recommendation is to observe conversation tones and then apply them. There are no shortcuts but regular, consistent practice will get you there. And the second being active efforts to improve your English vocabulary. Most of us use fillers or ghost words that adversely affects our conversation tones.

From my experience teaching an online English speaking course in India, the confusion appears deeper. Most students are learning English as a second language (ESL). Thus, students initially think in their mother tongue and then translate, rephrase aloud in English. Thinking in English does take some time, but the main task is to be able to speak formally and the ability to identify casual conversations.

Indian languages offer shades of gender as well grammar specific sentence structures where paying respect is prioritized. Thus, Indian languages have a variety of pronouns and is much more diverse than the limited ones that we see in English. Online English speaking courses will usually focus on pronunciations, identifying formal-informal tones requires practice.

Speaking activities for online spoken English classes:

As an online English tutor, I believe speaking activities work better when the students speak about their own personal recollections, thoughts, and ideas on different topics. Breaking out discussion on general questions and about everyday things work well because these types of questions can ignite the mind of the students as well incite fascinating discussions between the teacher and the student.

Let’s look at a few topics that can all be used for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners!

Hobbies

1. What is your hobby?
2. Is your hobby the same as when you were a child?
3. When did you start practicing that hobby?
4. Is there anybody in your family who you share your hobby with?
5. How much time do you spend on your hobby?
6. Have you ever heard of someone having a very unusual hobby? What was it?

Holiday

1. Where did you go for holiday?
2. Why did you choose that destination?
3. Who went with you?
4. How did you travel?
5. What did you do during the holiday?
6. At what time do people in your country usually go on holiday?

School

1. What school did you go to?
2. Where is the school located?
3. Who was your favourite teacher? Why did you like her?
4. Do you like the school uniform?
5. Why do you enjoy the time there?
6. What important lesson did you learn from school?

Friend

1. Who’s your best friend?
2. How and when did you meet?
3. How often do you see this friend?
4. Do you and her share anything in common?
5. Have you and her ever quarreled?
6. Why is a friend important in life?

Shopping

1. Do you like shopping?
2. What do you usually shop for?
3. Where do you go shopping?
4. Do you spend much money on shopping?
5. Do you usually shop online? What items?
6. What’s the difference between shopping online and offline? Which one do you prefer?

Laptop/ Desktop

1. Do you have your own laptop?
2. How often do you use the computer?
3. Have you ever joined any computer class?
4. What do you use the computer for?
5. What are some advantages of using a computer?
6. Should children learn how to use the computer?
7. Do you use other high-tech devices besides computers?

Animals

1. Are you an animal lover?
2. Are you raising any pets? What is it like?
3. Why do people keep pets?
4. Are pets well looked after in your country?
5. Have you ever gone to a wildlife sanctuary or a zoo?
6. What is the difference between a wildlife sanctuary or a zoo? What is better for animals?

Movies

1. Do you like watching movies?
2. Where do you usually watch movies? At home or at a movie theater?
3. Is watching movies at the theater more interesting than watching movies at home?
4. How often do you go to the movie theater?
5. What’s your favorite type of movie? What movie of that type do you like?
6. Who are the actors/actresses in the movie?
7. Should children watch violent movies?
8. What’s the most important factor of a great movie?

Pollution

1. How many kinds of pollution are there?
2. What can you do to help prevent pollution?
3. Are people in your country aware of the environmental issues?
4. Is there any law to force people to protect the environment?
5. What does the government do to encourage people to protect the environment?

Electronic Media

1. What kind of electronic media is popular in your country?
2. What’s your favorite kind?How often do you access that kind of electronic media?
3. What’s interesting about it?
4. Is it convenient to access that kind of electronic media?
5. Does your family like that electronic media too?
6. Do you feel mass media has changed recently? How?

Exercise

1. Do you usually exercise?
2. What sport do you play?
3. How often do you exercise?
4. When did you start doing exercise?
5. What benefits can you get from exercising?
6. Where do you exercise?
7. What are the benefits of doing exercise?
8. Do you go to the gym?
9. Do you find any difference between going to the gym and doing exercise at home?

Advertisement

1. What is your favorite advertisement?
2. Where and when did you see it?
3. What happened in the advertisement?
4. Why do you like it?
5. Was there any famous actor/ actress in the advertisement?
6. Did it attract much attention?
7. What do you like the most in the advertisement?
8. Do you believe in advertisements?
9. How have advertisements changed recently?

Wedding

1. Have you ever attended someone’s wedding? Who was he/she?
2. Who went with you?
3. Where was the wedding organized?
4. What was the most interesting ritual in the wedding?
5. Do people in your country get married early?
6. What is the ideal age to get married in your opinion?
7. How have weddings changed recently?
8. These days people often use Matrimonial sites for weddings. Are they authentic?

Newspapers/ Magazines

1. What are the benefits of reading a newspaper/magazine?
2. How often do you read it?
3. What’s the best time to read the newspaper?
4. What types of magazines do you usually read?
5. What’s your favorite magazine?
6. Do you read the paper or online news?
7. How much does it cost you to buy a paper newspaper per month?
8. What is the most popular magazine in your country?
9. With the popularity of the Internet, do you think newspapers and magazines will disappear?

Remember, when students use different speaking topics, they are putting information into their memory and accessing old memories to validate their conversations. Interaction and the flowing of conversation is necessary so that children can develop their speaking and listening skills. It also makes children comfortable in the classroom and creates a positive learning environment.

Above are some great topic ideas that you can use to start up some conversations in your class. These topics can be an ice- breaker and help your learners to develop their conversational vocabulary and speaking skills. Get going!

Contributed By- Anjana Dutta

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