Print Discuss is made to supply a useful resource – ESL conversation questions. Depending on their working situation, instructors often find themselves with limited time to prepare for discussion classes. I hope they can visit this site and get something useful for a class that requires minimal preparation time.
The discussion questions found here are especially suitable for students from intermediate to advanced levels. Low-intermediate students may struggle to answer some of the questions. Moreover, some of the topics may not succeed, depending on the cultural context. Instructors should have a sense of what their students can talk about and direct students to answer those questions.
Each set of questions should provide more than enough material for an hour-long class, especially if the instructor encourages the students to see the questions as just the starting point of their conversations. One version of an ideal discussion class would include a short warm-up task, the pre-teaching of key vocabulary, student discussion in small groups or pairs with periodic monitoring by the instructor, and finally, some kind of corrections, clarifications, or specific praise at the end.
This site started with discussion topics, and somewhere along the line I added targeted practice question sets. These are question sets for practicing specific types of language and grammar. Recently, I've added a blog section, Blog Discuss. With this section, I want to support the discussion sets (with vocabulary) and the targeted practice sets (with grammar essentials and activity ideas). I also plan on sharing ESL graphics and my own thoughts.
The questions aren’t perfect, and I would really appreciate feedback, suggestions, and opinions.
Also, feel free to make requests for topics you think should be on this site.
You can contact me through the Print Discuss Facebook page or use the address [email protected] to email me.