CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH

ADOPTION
• Is adoption common in your country?
• What do you think of adoption?
• Would you adopt?
• Do you know anyone who was adopted?
• What problems do you think there might be with adoption?
• Do you think parents who adopt have the same kind of love for their adopted child as
natural parents have with their child?
• Is it better to adopt a baby or an older child?
• What happens if the biological parents turn up ten years later and ask for their child back?
• Should an adopted child have the same legal right as a non-adopted child?
• When should you tell a child he / she is adopted?
• Should same-sex couples or single people be allowed to adopt?
• Would you prefer to adopt a child from your own country or a very poor country?
• Should brothers and sisters be split apart for adoption?
• What happens if the adopted parents decide they don’t like the child after a year or so?
• Matilda and Gio had been married for 10 years but never had
children. They are considering adoption. They are asking for your
advice. What will you tell them?

• If Matilda gets pregnant 5 years after adopting a child, what should

they do with the 5-year-old child?

• Should they tell the child that he/she is adopted?

ACCIDENTS
• What’s the biggest accident you’ve ever had?
• Are you accident prone?
• Have you ever been in a car accident?
• Have you ever seen a very bad accident?
• Have you ever caused an accident?
• Do you know what to do or how to treat people in an accident?
• Do you worry about having accidents?
• Have you ever received compensation for an accident?
• Have you ever visited the accidents and emergencies department of a hospital?
• Do you think there’ll be another major nuclear accident?
• Have you ever run into an old friend by accident?
• What do you think of the expression “he / she was an accident”, meaning his / her parents
didn’t plan on having him / her?
• What do you think “accidentally on purpose” means?
• What was the last tragic accident you read about?
• Karlo had always been prone to accidents. Recently, he was hospitalized
for a month for drunk driving and was seriously injured. As a friend what
will you tell him.

• Assuming you work for an insurance company, will you tell him to buy
insurance?

• How can he avoid accidents?

ABORTION
• What is abortion?
• Do you think abortion should be legal or illegal?
• Do you think there are any special cases in which abortion is acceptable?
• How does the law regard abortion in your country?
• Some people think doctors who carry out abortions are murderers. What do you think?
• Why allow an unwanted baby to be born?
• Does the mother have the right to control her own body?
• Is abortion a social problem in your country?
• Do you sympathize with the pro-life argument?
• If a woman wants an abortion, what rights does the father have?
• Do you think abortions should be encouraged for girls of 12, 13 or 14 years old?
• When is the fertilized egg a human being?
OPINION
• Annalisa, your 16-year-old neighbor got pregnant by his then 17-year-
old boyfriend. They are still in high school and getting pregnant at this
stage might ruin their education and life as they have to work to
support the child. They are asking for your advise.

• If you are the parent of Annalisa or her boyfriend, would you consider
abortion?
AGE
• Do you like being the age at which you now are?
• What is the best age to be and why?
• What is the worst age to be and why?
• Do you worry about getting older?
• Do you look your age?
• Do you think scientists can slow the ageing process?
• Why do some people seem to age faster than others?
• Until what age would you like to live?
• Are there any age groups you currently don’t like?
• What is the best age at which to get married?
• What do you think your old age will be like (or what is it like)?
• Do you agree that you can never be too old to start something new?
• What problems are there of an aging population?
• What do you least like (like most) about getting older?
• Would you like to turn back the clock?
• Alex is in his 40s and is thinking of retiring to start a business. He said
that if he retires at 65, he cannot travel the world and experience great
things as he will be too old to do other things. What is your advise for
him?

• If he start his own business what will be the pros and cons?

• How about if he retires at 65 from his company?

ANGER
• What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘anger’?
• What are you like when you are angry?
• What’s the angriest you’ve ever been?
• When you get angry, do you stay angry for a long time?
• Do you like looking at other people getting angry?
• What makes you angry about modern life?
• Someone once said: “For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of
happiness.” Do you agree?
• Is there anything positive about getting angry?
• Who is the angriest person you know?
• Why do we get angriest with the ones we love?
• Is it easy for you to control and hide your anger?
• A Chinese Proverb said: “Never write a letter while you are angry.” Do you think this is
good advice? Have you regretted writing an angry letter?
• Robert asked David to present the proposal in front of the clients.
Unfortunately, his presentation was quite lousy so the clients didn’t sign
a contract with the company. Robert got so mad. He yelled at David
saying he is ‘stupid, unreliable, lazy and not taking things seriously’. He
realized he was wrong to do that once his anger had subside. Now, David
is not talking to him in the office anymore. What should Robert do?

• If you were David, will you accept Robert’s apology?

• How will you control your anger if you were Robert?
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
• What is the difference between capital punishment and corporal punishment?
• Do you agree with capital punishment?
• What is the history of capital punishment in your country?
• What does the government do about people wrongly executed?
• What different methods are there of applying the death penalty?
• What do you think of the argument “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”?
• Do you think victims’ families get a sense of closure knowing a killer has been executed?
• Should the death penalty be applied to mentally disabled people?
• What do you think the executioner feels?
• Do you think capital punishment is murder?
• Which is worse, life imprisonment or the death penalty?
• What do you think is the most humane way to put someone to death?
• Miguel is an 18-year-old teenager who has been suffering from
depression and anxiety. He suddenly light up a match and poured gas on
his neighbor’s house where his 2 neighbors were sleeping. His neighbors
died and he was charged for murder. Aggravated murder has the penalty
of death in his country.

• Is the death penalty the right punishment for Miguel?

• How should they solve the penalty for him?
• If Miguel doesn’t go to jail assuming he has been diagnosed with mental
illness at the time the crime has been committed, how would you feel if
you were related to the victims?
CENSORSHIP
• Do you think the Internet should be censored?
• Is it up to the government or other agencies to censor things?
• What things should never be censored?
• Does censorship result in reduced chances of education for society?
• Would you like to be a movie censor?
• What do you think censors are more afraid of: print, songs, movies or the Internet?
• Are history books in your country censored to hide your nation’s historical wrongdoing?
• Many world governments have asked Google Earth to censor parts of its maps that show
sensitive areas. Do you agree with this?
• The European Union is considering censoring racism and hate propaganda on the Internet – is
this good censorship?
• Do you think censorship violates freedom of speech?
• Do you think musical lyrics need censoring?
• Is it necessary to censor nudity on television and in movies?
• What would the world be like if there was no censorship at all?
• A disease was spreading all over the world and most countries had
locked down. Your country is also the same. You are a reporter who was
asked to monitor the number of people suffering from the disease. You
saw that it soared four times. Your company asked you to not announce
the number on air. What will you do?

• What will be the affect if you don’t announce? How about if you
announce it?
CYBER-BULLYING
• What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘cyber-bullying’?
• How can someone be bullied in cyber-space?
• Do you think online bullying is worse than or not as bad as physical bullying?
• What would you do if you were cyber-bullied?
• Why do cyber-bullies bully other people online?
• How much of a problem do you think cyber-bullying is?
• What can people do to stop cyber-bullying?
• Do Internet companies and mobile phone companies have a duty to stop cyber-bullying?
• What examples of cyber-bullying can you think of?
• Do you know anyone, or have you heard about anyone who has been cyber-bullied?
• How do you think cyber-bullying affects the life of those bullied?
• Should someone who is being cyber-bullied go to the police?
• A group of teenagers were mocking and teasing your 10-year-old
daughter online. They were posting indecent things and also drawing her.
They tried to make fun of her funny answer during in class and posted
about it online. Now, everyone knows about this and she was humiliated
not only in school but also online. How will you deal with it as her
guardian?

• What actions will you take?

• What are the pros and cons of it?
CRIME
• Have you ever been a victim of crime?
• Are you afraid of becoming a victim of crime?
• Is crime a problem where you live?
• Is anyone capable of turning to crime?
• Who are the world’s biggest war criminals?
• Do you think the punishment always fits the crime?
• Do you have any crime prevention tips?
• Have you ever committed a petty crime?
• Have you ever witnessed a serious crime?
• How can governments reduce crime?
• Is juvenile crime on the increase in your country?
• What is hate crime?
• A childhood friend of your visited you from a far provincial area. It’s been
10 years from the last time you saw each other. You allowed him to stay
in your house since he doesn’t know anyone around. Upon watching the
news from your phone, you realized that he was wanted for stealing/
embezzling money from the company. The cops are looking for him.

• Will you tell the cops about him?

• What will you tell your friend?
DISCRIMINATION
• What is discrimination?
• What kinds of discrimination exists in your country?
• Are there strong laws in your country to prevent discrimination?
• What do you do when you see discrimination?
• Have you ever been discriminated against?
• Have you ever discriminated against people?
• What is the worst kind of discrimination?
• Do you think discrimination in the world will ever disappear?
• Is there discrimination in your school / company?
• Where does discrimination come from?
• A company is hiring and is looking for a secretary. One of the
requirements mentioned are the physical requirements like the height,
age, gender and character.

• Do you think physical requirements are needed for the job?

• Are secretaries supposed to be females only?
• Do you think there are job requirements that are discriminating gender
and age?
DRUNK DRIVING
• What do you think about drink driving?
• Are the penalties for drinking and driving strict enough in your country?
• Do people in your country follow the drink driving laws?
• Have you ever been over the limit while driving?
• Do passengers have a responsibility to stop drunk people from driving?
• Should the passengers of a drunk driver also be punished?
• What are the penalties for drink driving in your country?
• Do you think the police stop and test enough drivers?
• What penalty would you want for a drunk driver who hit you?
• Should drink driving laws also apply to cyclists? How about drunk walking?
• You went out with your friends to party at a far local bar wherein all of
you got so drunk. One of your friends started spitting blood. It was a far
area and there were no phone signals, no taxis and since it was late,
there were no trains. You have your car keys but you drunk alcohol at an
intolerable level.

• Will you drive your friend to the hospital?

• What will you do if you got in an accident and the worst thing happened
to your friend?
• Have you experienced a similar scenario?
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
• What is freedom of speech?
• How does freedom of speech improve a society?
• Should there be some limits on what we are free to say?
• Should people be free to spread hatred, incite violence and ridicule others’ religions and
nations?
• Some countries forbid school teachers from introducing subjects like homosexuality in
their classes. Is this denying free speech?
• Many countries censor websites to control what their citizens can and cannot see. Is this
dangerous?
• Does freedom of speech include spreading lies about people?
• A Danish newspaper angered the world’s Muslims by publishing cartoons of the Prophet
Mohamed. Is this freedom of speech?
• Are there things you’d love to talk or write about that you dare not?
• Do children and teenagers also have rights to freedom of speech?
• David is pissed because his boss didn’t approve his leave for a week. He
decided to post nasty things about the company and his boss online. He
also included all the bad things that had been going around there. Your
manager saw this post and asked you to take it down. Will you do it?

• Is this still freedom of expression?

• What is the limit when it comes to posting things online?
• Does freedom of expression have any limits?
GAMBLING
• Why do you think so many people like gambling?
• What damage does gambling do to society?
• Have you ever been to a horse race or a casino?
• Do you think online gambling is dangerous?
• What makes people so addicted to gambling?
• Do you know anyone who is heavily into gambling?
• How different do you think the world would be if there was no gambling?
• Do you think buying lottery tickets is a form of gambling?
• Have you ever won or lost a lot of money through gambling?
• Why don’t governments make all forms of gambling illegal?
• What forms of gambling are legal and illegal in your country?
• Gabriel is always working from home. It all started during the pandemic.
This is the time when he got so bored so he started playing in an online
casino. He would sometimes win but most of the time he would lose.
Now he is incurring a lot of debts from his gaming addiction. What will
you advise him?

• Is there a way to unlike something which you enjoyed doing?

• What are the pros and cons of this on Gabriel’s life?
GOSSIP
• Why do people gossip or like gossip?
• Have you ever started any gossip?
• Do you think it’s right that gossip columnists can make a lot of money writing bad
things about people that may not be true?
• What is the most malicious piece of gossip you’ve ever heard?
• How do you feel if people gossip about you?
• What’s the difference between gossip and a rumour?
• Eleanor Roosevelt said: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events;
small minds discuss people.” Is this true?
• Have you ever been the victim of gossip?
• How quickly does gossip spread in your school / workplace?
• What are the most common subjects of gossip?
• A rumor of your friend and another married coworker spread in the
office. It all started when he offered to drive her home and when they
were seen having lunch together by coincidence at a café nearby on a
weekend. They are so close so they are often seen in public together.
Rumors were spreading in the office. As a good friend, what will you tell
your friend?

• Are you going to confirm the gossip about them?

• Are you going to clean his name in the office?
• How do we solve this?