Improve your speaking and listening skills in English with our helpful FREE ESL water discussion questions.

This material is completely free to use, so please feel free to share it widely!

If you have any feedback about this free resource, we’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment or review below or on Facebook or Twitter.

Water – Discussion Questions for ESL Classes

Discuss the following questions about water with a partner or small group:

1. What is water? Why do we need it? What do you use water for each day? How much water do you use? Where does it come from? How much does it cost? Tell me about a time when a) you had too much water, b) you didn’t have enough water. What happened?
2. Describe and compare: a drop, a trickle, a puddle, a stream, a spring, a pool, a fountain, a river, a waterfall, a lake, a glacier, a sea, an ocean. Tell me some containers which can hold water, e.g. a bucket. Is ‘water’ countable or uncountable in your language? Why is it uncountable in English?
3. What kinds of weather involve water? How do they affect your day-to-day life? Why is more than 71% of the planet covered with water? What is the water cycle? Describe it. Are you concerned about water pollution? Do you drink bottled water? Do you think we should dump plastic waste in the oceans? Why? / Why not?
4. Do you like drinking water? Why do we consume drinks other than plain water? Do you like ice in your drinks? What else do we use it for? Why do our bodies contain so much water – around 50-60%?
5. What leisure activities are connected with water? Which ones do you enjoy? Do you like swimming? How did you learn to swim? Tell me about your local swimming baths. How clean are they? Have you got a paddling pool or outdoor pool? Have you ever been ‘free swimming’ in a lake or river? What happened? If not, would you like to?
6. Have you ever been scuba diving? Why can’t human beings breathe underwater? What would the difference be if we could? What would it mean for marine life? Would you like to be amphibious like a frog or duck-billed platypus? Where would you go? What would you do?
7. How dangerous is water? Discuss the following: capsizing, drowning, squalls, typhoons, tsunamis, marine life, dehydration, overhydration, hypothermia, drinking polluted water, plastic particles in water. Have you ever come close to danger due to water?
8. Would you like to live beside the ocean or go on an ocean cruise? Tell me about some of the creatures that live in the ocean. What is your favourite? Do you eat fish and/or seafood regularly? Have you ever caught your own meal, cooked it, and eaten it? How does that differ from buying food?
9. How is water used in business and agriculture? If the amount of water we have on the planet is finite, how can we secure safe access to it for everybody? If water is constantly ‘recycled’, have you ever considered that water you drink could once have been drunk by a dinosaur or a famous figure from history like Pocahontas or Boudicca?
10. Have you ever travelled by… a) sailing boat, b) ferry, c) catamaran, d) motorboat, e) barge,   f) canoe, g) narrowboat, h) pedalo, i) yacht, j) pleasure cruiser, k) steamer, l) submarine,      m) surfboard, n) dinghy, etc.? Compare and contrast your experiences.
11. When is water… a) awesome, b) annoying, c) deafening, d) terrifying, e) beautiful,                    f) fascinating, g) ugly, h) refreshing, i) hilarious, j) mysterious, k) expensive?
12. Discuss these water idioms: a) Have you ever felt like a fish out of water? b) Do you usually take to new things like a duck to water? c) Have you ever been in deep (or hot) water, or…   d) felt like you were just treading water? e) Do you tend to pour cold water on your friends’ plans? f) Have you ever thrown the baby out with the bathwater? g) What makes your mouth water? h) Did you know that you can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink… i) or that blood is thicker than water? j) What does it mean if something holds water – or doesn’t? k) What can be like water under a bridge? l) What can be watered down? m) Why must we try to keep our heads above water?

Images: David Mark, Free-Photos, Martin Str, and Hebi B. from Pixabay