ESL Conversation Lessons for Teenagers and Adults: With Vocabulary, Questions & Writing Prompts

By Jackie Bolen

Have better English conversation classes filled with happy, engaged students by using this book filled with interesting speaking topics.

 

Get your students talking with these conversation topics that consist of a warm-up question, vocabulary challenge, idioms & phrases, conversation questions, and 2 writing prompts. It's the ultimate book for speaking or conversation classes with teenagers or adults.

 

The best part? It's a no-prep solution! Seriously. It's designed so that you can just grab it and go so stop wasting too much time doing lesson planning. There are dozens of ESL conversation topics so you can make it through an entire semester in style.

 

Check out the book if you want to...

• Save time when planning lessons
• Help students improve their English conversational skills in a big way
• Talk about interesting things with your students
• Have something you can print off and take to class at the last minute
• See happy, smiling students in your classes

The basis of a good conversation class is giving learners a reason and an opportunity to speak. Combine this with scaffolding of grammar and phrases and that's some serious ESL teaching gold! Your students will love this engaging, interesting approach to working on their English conversational skills.

 

Author and CELTA/DELTA certified teacher Jackie Bolen is sharing her great ideas with ESL teachers around the world. She has 20 years of experience teaching conversational English. These are the lesson plans that she uses in her own classes. It's designed for intermediate-advanced English learners.

 

Pick up a copy of the book today and get ready for better English conversation classes in the future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jackie Bolen
• Release date: Apr 10, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224395156

Book preview

About the Author: Jackie Bolen

I taught English in South Korea for a decade to every level and type of student and I've taught every age from kindergarten kids to adults. Most of my time centered around teaching at two universities: five years at a science and engineering school out in the rice paddies of Chungcheongnam-Do, and four years at a major university in Busan where I taught high-level classes for students majoring in English. These days, I live in Vancouver, Canada where I teach privately as well as in English language academies. In my spare time, you can usually find me outside surfing, biking, hiking, or on the hunt for the most delicious kimchi I can find.

In case you were wondering what my academic qualifications are, I hold a Master of Arts in Psychology. During my time in Korea, I've successfully completed both the Cambridge CELTA and DELTA certification programs. With the combination of almost 15 years teaching ESL/EFL learners of all ages and levels, and the more formal teaching qualifications I've obtained, I have a solid foundation on which to offer teaching advice.

Jackie Bolen around the Internet

ESL Speaking (www.eslspeaking.org)

YouTube (www.youtube.com/c/jackiebolen)

Pinterest (www.pinterest.ca/eslspeaking)

Facebook (www.facebook.com/eslspeaking)

Email: [e-mail]

Get even more things ESL teaching, delivered straight to your inbox: (www.eslspeaking.org/subscribe).

How to Use this Book

These conversation lessons are designed for teenagers, university students, or adults. They do assume a basic knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary so are best suited for intermediate or advanced students.

The main purpose of these lessons is to get students talking about a certain topic and can be used for classes of 30 minutes to two hours. Each lesson includes the following:

−  warm-up question

−  vocabulary challenge (5 scrambled words from the conversation questions)

−  idioms and phrases related to the topic (5)

−  14 conversation questions

−  2-3 writing prompts suitable for class time or homework

For smaller classes of fewer than three students, it's possible to work through each lesson together as a class. It's also possible to use these conversation lessons for 1-1 or private tutoring. However, for larger classes of four or more, I recommend putting students into pairs and letting them work through the lesson together to make classes more student-centered.

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Table of Contents

About the Author: Jackie Bolen.....................................................3

How to Use this Book.............................................................4

AI.............................................................................6

Assisted Suicide .................................................................8

Behaving Badly ................................................................10

Breaking Up ...................................................................12

Cancel Culture .................................................................14

Censorship.....................................................................16

Cyberbullying ..................................................................18

Education .....................................................................20

Entrepreneurship ................................................................22

Fair Trade.....................................................................24

Fame and Fortune ...............................................................26

Fast Fashion ...................................................................28

Foreign Aid ....................................................................30

Fossil Fuels....................................................................32

Free Time .....................................................................34

Gender Equality.................................................................36

Globalization ..................................................................38

Global Warming................................................................40

Homework ....................................................................42

Humans.......................................................................44

Laws and Justice ................................................................46

Marriage and Family ............................................................48

Morality ......................................................................50

Net Neutrality ..................................................................52

New Year's Resolutions ..........................................................54

Open Borders...................................................................56

Plastic ........................................................................58

Politics .......................................................................60

Retirement ....................................................................62

Science .......................................................................64

Smartphones ...................................................................66

Social Media...................................................................68

Sports and Professional Athletes....................................................70

Stress .........................................................................72

Superstitions ...................................................................74

The Service Industry .............................................................76

Time..........................................................................78

Tourism .......................................................................80

Universal Basic Income ..........................................................82

Vaccines ......................................................................84

Water ........................................................................86

Weather.......................................................................88

Work From Home ...............................................................90

Before You Go.................................................................92

AI

Warm-Up

What does AI stand for? Do you have any experience with it?

Vocabulary Challenge

i e g n c t e n l e l i = The ability to aquire knowledge and/or skills.

t c g h p a t = One of the most popular AI chatbots.

n e t x i t i o n c = Something dying out, or no longer existing.

o r t o b = A machine that resembles a human.

r i s e g o u l n a t = Rules.

Idioms and Phrases

take over the world, human intelligence, out of hand, around the corner, machine learning

Don't you think that AI doctors are just _____?

AI can potentially help humans, but not if they get _____.

_____ will always be required to manage machines.

There is a lot of danger to _____. What if they get too smart?

I'm nervous that machines will one day _____.

Answers

Vocabulary: intelligence, chatGPT, extinction, robot, regulations

Idioms: around the corner, out of hand, human intelligence, machine learning, take over the world

Let's Talk!

What are some of the potential benefits of AI?

What are some of the dangers?

Machine learning tries to get machines to imitate the way humans think. Do you think this will ever be fully possible?

Do you think human intelligence is superior to machines?

One concern that people have with AI is that it will take over the world and get out of hand. Do you think that this is possible?

What's the difference between AI and robots?

What kinds of jobs will be impacted by AI?

Does AI have the potential to change healthcare?

Would you feel safe in a driverless car? Why or why not?

Can machines learn to display emotion?

Writing Prompts

Machines taking over our world is just around the corner. Do you agree or disagree?

Will AI do more harm or good for our world? Share your opinion, along with