Tag Archives: questions

Summer Discussion Questions for ESOL Classes!

Summer Discussion Questions for ESOL Classes!

Ask and answer the summer discussion questions with a partner or small group:

  1. How many seasons are there in your country? What is your favourite / least favourite? Why? Do you like summer? Why? / Why not?
  2. How is summer different from other seasons in your country? Compare them. What do you do in summer that you don’t do the rest of the year? Do you change your habits?
  3. How many days of holiday do you normally have in summer? Is it enough? Are you able to switch off and relax on holiday, or do you take your work with you, e.g. emailing?
  4. Do you prefer to have a long summer holiday, or several shorter breaks during the year? Do you think school holidays are too long in your country? How long are they?
  5. What kind of summer holiday do you prefer: seaside, lake, mountain, cruise, camping, fishing, city break, cultural break, adventure, desert, jungle, safari, etc.? Have you ever been on this kind of holiday? What did you think of it? Are there any that you wouldn’t like to try? Why not?
  6. Do you prefer to stay in your own country or go abroad? Why? Are you an “outdoorsy” person? Do you like to camp? Could you survive “in the wild” for two weeks without access to a cashpoint, shops, and restaurants? How would you cope if you got lost without a mobile phone?
  7. What is the best summer holiday you have ever had? What has been the most memorable place you have ever visited? Why was it? Have you ever spent the night in a tent, yurt, cruise ship, ferry, train, B & B, motel, or five-star hotel? Tell me a story about each place.
  8. Which hotel or resort would you recommend? Have you ever made friends with people on holiday, but not kept in touch? Tell me about them. Have you ever had any disasters on holiday? What went wrong?
  9. What special events happen in your town / country in summer (e.g. cultural or sporting)? Do you usually attend / take part? If yes, describe each event. If not, why not?
  10. What effect does summer have on your… a) mood, b) attitude, c) health, d) motivation, e) weight, f) relationships with those around you?
  11. What do you like to wear in summer? How does it make you feel? What kind of food and drink do you enjoy in summer? Is there anything you don’t eat or drink in summer? Why not?
  12. Are you a good cook? Do you like to ‘cook up a storm’ on the barbecue with friends, or avoid the hot weather altogether by staying indoors?
  13. What was summer like when you were a child? What can you remember? How was summer different to now? How did you fill the long summer holidays?
  14. How hot is too hot for you? When was the hottest / coldest summer you can remember? Is summer weather changing for better or worse? Is climate change having an effect?
  15. What is the best kind of summer music? Why do you like it? Have you ever been to a festival in summer? Have you ever been on a summer camp or a school exchange?
  16. Have you ever been travelling, hitchhiking, or worked your way around the world during summer? Why? / Why not? What is your dream trip? What are you planning for next summer?
hand holding an ice cream in summer

27 Different Kinds of Holiday – Which do you prefer and why?

Images: https://pixabay.com/ and  Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

FREE Podcast! Episode 8 - Question Tags

FREE Podcast! Episode 8 – Question Tags

Learn about how we use question tags in English. This episode is a really exciting grammar one, isn’t it? Yes, it is!

You can download the free lesson notes and six worksheets for practising question tags from here:

Podcast 8 – Lesson Notes – Question Tags (PDF)

Question Tags – Six Worksheets (PDF)

Answers to worksheets:

Question Tags Worksheets - Answers

7 facts about question tags:

  1. Statement – usually short – plus question tag, with a question mark.
  2. They are often used in spoken English.
  3. In many languages (e.g. Polish) we can use the equivalent of …yes? In English we can say: yes, yeah, right (Am/E), OK, got it, understand, but the tone can be rude and confrontational/angry; too direct; English is not a direct language; it sounds like an order, and we don’t like direct orders. (In Polish, use tak for checking and no nie or nie prawda for small talk (but this sounds old fashioned – old people say this), or no tag.)
  4. We can use any auxiliary verbs, including modal auxiliary verbs. Present simple can be confusing – you have to choose DO/DOES or BE. Also past simple: DID or WAS/WERE. We use contractions; in rhetorical speech we can say, Is it not? Were we not? etc.
  5. It is not as common with pronoun I. I’m… aren’t I? (This is an oddity – we can’t say am not I? amn’t I? There is no contraction for am not.)
  6. We can use them to sound sarcastic, e.g. ‘That was a great film, wasn’t it?’ My descending tone shows that I believe the opposite – it was not a great film.

They are more difficult to use than they look – because of the thought process…

The thought process of using question tags:

  1. Realise what tense it is

e.g. They’re meeting at ten, aren’t they? (present continuous)

  1. Realise what pronoun is used (e.g. two names become they) and match it

They … they

  1. Is it a singular or plural subject? They = plural
  2. Positive – negative; negative (even without not, e.g. never) – positive; do the opposite

They’re meeting… = positive, so the question tag has to be negative: …aren’t they

  1. Match the auxiliary verb – are > aren’t
  2. Understand the context: need info or checking/making small talk; intonation differs:

we are asking a question; we want an answer: information – voice goes up

we are sure that the listener agrees with us; something is obvious; we are just making (phatic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phatic_expression) conversation; we want a response that means a quick agreement – voice goes down

We need information – we’re making plans

Lesson Plan:

  1. SS write x short statements on the board – half of them positive and half negative
  2. T elicits how to gain information or check (small talk) – tak? Look at English options; elicit wrong register/tone; SS practise some sentences together with the wrong tone
  3. Try to elicit question tags; discuss the main points and the thought process
  4. SS complete one or more of the worksheets – check the answers

SS write their own sentences with question tags (or for homework)

Other forms:

  • Positive imperative: Stay here, will / won’t you?
  • Negative imperative: Don’t move, will you?
  • Let’s: Let’s go to the fair, shall we?
  • Need to: We need to return this form, don’t we?
  • There is/are: There’s a cow in that field, isn’t there?
  • There isn’t: There isn’t any jam left, is there?
  • Somebody is/isn’t: Somebody is late, aren’t they? / Somebody isn’t… are they?