Personality Discussion Questions

What is it? (the aspects of a person's characters that we can see)

Can you tell me some types of personalities? What types do you like?  What do types do you hate?  What types scare you?  (e.g determined, quiet, outgoing, shy, stubborn, weak-willed, obnoxious, bad-tempered, violent, etc.)

Describe your personality.

What personalities do you want as your friend? Wife?  Boss?  Workmate?

Can you remember some strange personalities you have meet?  Can you think of people who had a strange personality trait?

What is the best personality trait a person can have?

Are we born with our personalities?

Do we get our personality from our culture?  Do you watch television or movies, and change your ways?  Do the Chinese have different personalities than foreigners?

Do we get our personality from our parents?  Are you like your parents?  Who are you most like your mother or your father?

Do we get our personality from our life experience?  What life events shaped your personality or you view of life?

Do you like people with the same personality as you?  Do you like people who compliment you? (that is they have what you don't have?)

 

Can we change our personality or our ways?  Why?  Why not?  Is it easy?

Have you changed your personality?  Have you changed one part of your personality?

Has your personality changed through life?  How did the change happen?

What would you like to change about your personality?  Do you like your personality?  How do you think others see you?

Do you think some people are acting?  They are not being real?  Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

What 's in your pocket or purse? ESL Discussion Questions.

What are  pockets, wallets, and purses?  

Do you have too many things to carry,and/or not enough pockets, purses, or wallets?

Why do women have purses?  Why can't men have purses?

What do you keep in your purse?

What do you keep in your wallet?

Is it possible to walk about with nothing in your pockets?

Is it a good habit to walk with your hands in your pockets?

Do you have something, sentimental, you always take with you?

Do you have some thing you carry with you for good luck?

Do you carry a first aid kit with you?

Do you take chopsticks with you?

Do you have something you can't be without.

What would happen if you didn't have your papers?

Do you carry a weapon with you?  Why?  Why not?

Do you carry a map with you?

Does your mobile phone carry a lot of things for you?  What does it  carry for you? (e.g. It is my alarm clock, my GPS,.....

Show me your keys?  What do you use each key for?  Tell me about your key chain or lack of key chain?

Do you have a special hiding place for your keys?

Have you ever lost your keys?  What did you do?

Have you ever had your wallet or purse stolen?  What can you do to stop pick-pockets and purse thieves?

Have you ever locked yourself out of the house?

Live to eat, or eat to live?

What is the difference between eat to live, or live to eat?

What about live to work, or work to live? 

What do you do: eat to live or live to eat?  Why?

Did your grandparents eat to live or live to eat?  Why?

Do the children of today live to eat or eat to live?  Why?

Do we need to eat three meals a day?  Do you eat three meals a day?  Do you sometimes skip a meal?  Do you snack all day?  Do you eat at the same time everyday?  Do you wait for your stomach to grumble before you eat?  How often does your stomach grumble?

Do you think it would be better if we just snacked all day?

Do you find some meals can be an inconvenience?  Do you eat junk food because you are too busy?

Are there times when you are doing something, and you don't want to eat?  That is, you want to continue working...?  Do you eat in the office?  Do you eat in the bus or while you are driving?

Do we sometimes eat because we are bored or we are sad?

Is it important that families have a meal together every day?  Do you like to eat alone?  Why?  Why not?  It is unusual for people to eat by themselves in restaurants?

When you are eating, are you doing other things like reading or watching television?  Is this a good habit?

If people are living to eat, what kind of lives do they have?  What should they do to change their lives?

Some English names I would give my Chinese students, if I could (and if I dared).

I always thought to make this list.  Sometimes, the students would like me to give them English names, but lately, I find myself telling them that I would get back to them about it -- the issue of naming is wrought with possibilities.  I would venture to say that it is overwrought. And so after making a mental note about making a list of names and putting it in my wallet, I never do...

 

However, one evening, a few weeks ago, I jotted these possible names into a notebook -- finally getting around to it, as it were.  I told myself to jot down ten.  The first one on the list was easy because I giggled so much when I thought of it that I became inspired to make a list of ten.  However, the longer I made the list, the less resolute and amused I became.  I shelved, as the expression goes, till now.

 

Here goes nothing:

 

1. Oklahoma:  Something about the Grunge scene -- you, know, Nirvana and the band that did the song about Jeremy speaking in class -- just turned me off.  Maybe, I was getting old.  Maybe, I didn't like the fact that these bands, seemed to have descended from the alternative bands I liked (the Smiths, New Order, Husker Du), and had sinned by becoming too popular.  Anyway, it was the Grunge scene that made me decide to go back, way back, in my musical exploration.  I decided that I would become a Sinatra fan.  From there, it was only a matter of time before I discovered the joys of Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Cole Porter, and Rodgers and Hammerstein.  One day, I was flipping through racks of DVDs in Wuxi, and I found a copy of Oklahoma! -- the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.  Putting that in the DVD player was the cultural equivalent of bringing a Husker Du tape back to Brandon, Manitoba.  It was awesome full of real catchy tunes including the one about Oklahoma being okay.  I would name a student Oklahoma as an excuse to sing songs from that musical.  "You're Okay Oklahoma, Oklahoma you're doing okay!"
2. Mahovlich.  I saw Frank Mahovlich in Brandon, Manitoba -- I bring this up because it was a fond reminiscence.  The Big "M" and his brother Pete, the little "M" were awesome hockey players, that I watched on television in my impressionable years.  To see one of them live, even in an old-timers game, was a thrill.  The Big "M" had a way of skating, with a big strong wide gait, that was distinctive, and he still had it in his fifties.  Now, I would name a Chinese student Mahovlich because I love to pronounce that name.  One has to press one's lower lips against the teeth, and then push the word to the top of one's throat.  It would be my way of getting back at the Chinese for having such a tonal language.
3. Autumn.  I have had students named Summer, Spring, and Winter; but never Autumn or Fall.  I know, and  then, I could say, I don't know why this should be.  I would give the name Autumn to students who strike me as being mature.
4. Smoggy.  Same rationale as choice number three.  I have had students named Rainy and Sunny.  Why not Smoggy?  I would give the name Smoggy to students who were avid smokers.  (I actually had a student tell me smoking was his hobby -- God Bless 'em! I said.  True rebellion always wins my admiration.)
5. Cheryl.  I haven't had a Chinese student called Cheryl -- that is my rationale for this name.
6. Mulligan. Same rationale as name number five.
7. Anatole.  Same rationale as name number five and six, except one little proviso:  the way I see it, Anatole is not a name you can give to someone right away.  They have show you they have a personality of an Anatole.  The personality of an Anatole? you say.  They have to have a personality to match the scowl.
8. Esposito.  I named my son Tony after Tony Esposito (Actually I named my son Anthony so he could shorten his name to Tony, but you get the idea.).  Esposito was the coolest  hockey goalie of all-time -- even cooler than Ken Dryden, circa 1971 - 1973.  As well, Esposito like Mahovlich, is just a cool name to say.  And there are lots of students named Tony who don't want to be reminded that they have the same name as my son.  "Hey Esposito!  Make a sentence with "perchance."
9. Jefferson.  Many of the younger male students like to name themselves after NBA players - Kobe and Lebron.  One thing I wish the Chinese would do -- actually they are many but I won't talk about all that -- is follow NFL football.  There are many cool and graceful wide receivers named Jefferson that I can recall.
10. Bonita.  It is like the name of my sister, and there are no Bonita's that I know of in China.
11. Hector.  You got name a student after something Greek and Homerish.
12. Abraham.  The students say they admire Abraham Lincoln, and yet not one of them has named themselves after him.
13. Aina.  My mom's name.

And so I have a list bigger than ten.  It turns out, the list is long on names but short on long-winded rationales.

Discussion Questions about Test or Examinations.

Tests (or exams)

What are they?  Do you like tests?  What is your favorite kind of test?  What kind of tests do you wish you could take?  What is the best kind of test?

The teacher says "we are having test today!"  How do you feel?

Test verbs:  write, pass, fail, take, cheat, ace, cram  (Have you done these?)

Do the tests stop with school?  Is every day a test?  Is every moment of your life a test?

What was you worst test moment?  What was your best?  What was the hardest test you ever took?

What is the hardest test in life?

Does being good at school tests mean you are good at life, love, and business?  How important are tests in China?

Do tests help you learn?  Do tests help you improve?  Do teachers teach to the test?

How do you feel when someone says "this is a test"?

Could we live without tests?

Are most tests: fill in the blank, essay, or multiple choice?

What do you want to do when you make a test for others to take?  

Do you like tests of strength?  What is a good test of strength?

What is a good test of character?

What is a good test of intelligence?  (I.Q. Test)

What is a good test of endurance?

What is a good test of honesty?

What is a good test of your love for another person?

What is a good test of your love for your country?

Give examples of how we test things (not people)?  e.g. Test a battery.

To the adults in the class:  Could you now pass the tests your wrote in school?

To the students in the class:  Could you pass the test you wrote three months ago?

TEST IDIOMS

Put someone to the test.

It stands the test of time.

Let's test this thing out!

Tried, tested .and true.

Litmus Test  something that shows clearly what someone's opinions or intentions are

Acid Test  a test which will really prove the value, quality, or truth of something 

He will test the waters.

You need your head examined.

You passed with flying colors.

Toy Discussion Questions

What are they?  Are toys good or bad?

What do we do with toys?

Why do we play with toys?  Are we practicing for adulthood?

What is the difference between a toy and a tool?

What kind of toys are there?  

What are the famous toy brandnames in China?  In the world?

What is your favorite toy? What is a toy you wish you had?  Greatest toy ever?

What toys are for girls?  What toys are for boys?  What toys are unisex?

Can you give a girl a toy truck?  Can you give a boy a toy doll?

Tell me about the toys you had growing up?  What happened to them?  Do you still have any of your childhood toys?  Did you sleep with a toy?  Do your children play with toys?

At what age do we stop playing with toys?  Do we ever stop playing with toys?

Do parents like buying toys for children?  Do parents buy toys that their children don't like?

Are some adult things really toys?

Are war toys or toy guns bad?  Do they make us violent?

What other toys are dangerous?

Are the simplest toys the best toys?

What did we play with before we had toys?  What toys can you find in the woods?

Do children today have too many toys? Do your children have many toys?  (Ask about boys and girls toys)  Did you have many toys growing up?  Is it better to have many expensive toys or to have a few basic toys?

What toys are best for children?   What is best for a child: a toy, a book, a computer?

Where do you buy toys?  The best place in the city to buy toys?

What kind of toy do you wish they made? (e.g. Toy fission reactor)

Toy idioms

He is like a kid with a new toy!

You are toying with him.

He is your toyboy.

Discussion Questions about Soldiers and Military Life

Soldiers

What are they?  What do they do?  What are their jobs and duties?

Does anyone have military experience?  Tell me about it? Do you relatives have military experience?  Are any of your relatives veterans of war?  Do they tell you some "war" stories?

Do you want to be a soldier?  Why?  Why not?  What would be fun about being a soldier?  What would you hate about it?  Can being in the military be a good job? Are soldiers well-paid?  Do you know people who want to be in the Army?  (have you known?)  Do you think those people are crazy?  What kind of people make the best soldiers?

Soldiers have to be disciplined.  Why?

Soldiers have to march.  Why?  Have you marched in formation?  Do you like watching soldiers parade?

Soldiers have to have rank.  Why?  Anybody has a rank?  What are some examples of ranks?

Soldiers fire guns.  Have you?  What kind do you want to try?

Soldiers do group exercises.  Have you?

Soldiers ride or drive in vehicles.  Have you?  What military vehicles can you name?  Which ones do you think are cool?  Which ones would you like to ride or drive in?  Do you think fighter pilots are cool?

Soldiers have to wear uniforms.  Why?  Do you think uniforms are cool?  Do you admire people who wear military uniforms?  Have you worn any uniforms?  Why do soldiers wear green or brown uniforms?

What kind of military personnel are there?  (Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines)  Which "branch" would you like to be in?

Do you think everyone should spend a year in the Army?  Why?  Why not?  Do you want your children to be in the military?  Should women be in the military?  Can women be in the same units as men?  How old should soldiers be?

Are veterans treated well?  Is there a day to honour veterans in China?

Who is the greatest Chinese soldier of all-time?

Do you think there will be a time when we don't need soldiers?  Is there anything worth being killed for?  Is war ever justified?

ESL Discussion Questions about Materialism

Materialism (* Two aspects to this word: the possessions question and the material-spirit question.  These discussion questions will mostly focus on the first question.*)

What is it?  The idea that people are overly-attached or overly-desirous to have material possessions.  They want too much stuff. It is also the idea that there is no spirit or no soul — here and now is all there is.  There is nothing transcendent.*)

Is materialism a good or a bad thing?  Is this an important question?

Are we spirits in a material world?  Is there a supernatural?  What do most Chinese believe?  Are there questions science cannot answer?

Do you have enough material possessions?  Do you need more?  Do you need less?  Do you feel bad because you don't have the latest gadget or a car or a big house?  Should you feel bad because of this?

Are you materialistic?  Do you like to collect things?  Is collecting a good hobby?

Could you up and leave your material possessions?  Women:  Could you stop wearing jewelery?   Is shopping a good way to use your time?  Does buying things satisfy you permanently or for a short time?  Do you immediately need to buy the next thing?  Can a thing provide constant satisfaction or does it soon bore us?  Do we shop because we are bored?  Do we shop because we don't know what to do?

China has become a consumer society.  Good thing?

What is your most valued material possession?   Have you bought something and then wished you had not?

Do some people value their stuff more than people?

Do you like to travel light in life?

How do you feel when you lose a thing?  Is it really bad to lose a computer or mobile phone?  Why?

Are people happy because they are rich?  Or are people happier because they are richer than people they know?  Would winning a lot of money or having a lot of money given to you make you happy?

Is there a nobility in poverty?  Can poor people be happy?

Who would you listen to first: a teacher, a rich businessman, a scientist, a monk, your parents?

What is Life about?  What are we supposed to do with our lives?

What does this mean "You can't take it with you when you die."?

"He who has the most stuff wins."  Agree?

Discussion Questions about Silence

What is it? 

Other words for Silence?  (quiet, reticence, taciturn, tranquility, serenity, muteness)  Opposites?  (Noise, Din)

What comes to mind when you think of silence?

Pros and Cons of silence?  Do you like silence?

Is it better to be thought of reticent or talkative?  Do you like reticent people?  Do people think you are quiet or reticent?  Who is the most reticent person you know?

How long can you be silent?  Can you remember the longest you went without talking?

Do you feel comfortable when you are with others and everyone is silent?  Have you experienced an awkward silence?

Do you sometimes find yourself talking just to "break the silence"?

Should Lovers, Friends, Family, Spouses always be talking?

"Silence is golden"   Agree?  "Silence is boring"   Agree?

"The sounds of silence"  What can that possibly mean?  What about "the silence was deafening"?   What would it be like to be deaf?  Do deaf people miss music?  What would you miss most if you were deaf?  

How can you use silence as a weapon?

What does it mean to have "a moment of silence"?  When are the times we should be silent?

Do you like watching silent films?

What can we do to communicate if we must be silent?

Where do you go if you want silence?   Is this easy to do in China?  Or do you have to plug your ears?

What places should we be silent?  What occasions should we be silent?

Do you need to get the last word in?  Can you reduce people to silence?

"Silence means agreement."  Agree?  Disagree?

Ratios Discussion Questions

Ratios

What are they? (Two numbers together) e.g km.p.h.   one number over another.

The ratio of water to tea is 1:4, the ratio of women to men in this class is ______

What are some examples of ratio?  fraction, percentage,rates,odds,

What ratios do you use or see everyday?  What is your favorite ratios?

What is a good ratio of men to women?  Work time to leisure time?  sleep to awake time?

Fractions

How do you say these fractions  1/2 1/3 1/4  1/5....

Make a sentence:  one fifth of my company are woman.  I spend 1/2 of my time sleeping.

if concentrated orange is to be diluted with water in the ratio 1:4, then one part of orange is mixed with four parts of water, giving five parts total, so the fraction of orange is 1/5 and the fraction of water is 4/5.

Percentage

What percentages are these?  2/3 1/2 1/4 5/4

What does it mean to give 110 percent?

What percentage of your time is spent sleeping?  thinking?  worrying?  being happy?  playing computer games?

if a mixture contains substances A, B, C & D in the ratio 5:9:4:2 then there are 5 parts of A for every 9 parts of B, 4 parts of C and 2 parts of D. This means that the total mixture contains 5/20 of 

A, 9/20 of B, 4/20 of C, and 2/20 of D. In terms of percentages, this is 25% A, 45% B, 20% C, and 10% D. (The ratio could have been written as 25:45:20:10 but this can be cancelled to the simplest form given above.)

increase decrease   100 to 120  % increase?    120 to 100?  decrease?

Odds  (Chances)

What are the odds you will have chicken tonight?  What are the chances you will have chicken tonight?  Good or bad?  What are the chances it will rain tomorrow?

There is a fifty percent chance, I will have beef.

What are the chances China will one day win the Football World Cup?

What are the chances the Lakers will win the NBA Championship?

What are the chances or odds you will get eaten by a tiger?

What does "one in a million" mean?  You chances are one in million?  good or bad?

Proportionality  same ratios different quantities.

China has the second biggest economy but per capita is poor.

Ratios or numbers used in driving, basketball, football, eating, school, finance, economics, your job.

Make sentences with this ratios.  1/2 1/3 3:2, 60/hour, 110 percent, 2 percent, 3/4, 4/5, one in a million, 25 percent chance.

Discussion Questions about Canada

What comes to mind when you hear "Canada"?

What is the weather like in Canada now?

How old is Canada?

What do you want to know about Canada?

What do you think of Canada? Canadians?

Is Canada an important country on the world? What has Canada done for the world?

Do you want to move to Canada? Why?

How are Canadians different from Americans, English, and Australians?

Have you heard of Eskimos and Aboriginals?

Do you want to live in Canada? Why? Why not?

Are Canadians and Americans alike? How do they differ?

What does this mean: "How's it going eh?"

How are Canada and China similar?

Can you name ten famous Canadians?

Can you name ten places in Canada?

Can you name ten Canadian things?

What are symbols of Canada?

Which is Canadian? Which isn't? Jim Carrey, Kangaroos, Penguins, Igloos, Keifer Sutherland, Texas, Prince Edward Island, Minneapolis, North Dakota, Winnipeg, Winnetonka, Medicine Hat, Minnesota, Beavers, Moose, Tigers, Ice Hockey, and Elephants.

Match up these expressions (Two-Four, Double-Double, Hoser, Loonie, Washroom, Pop, Chocolate Bar, Keener, Mickey, eh, Eskimos) with the definitions (W.C., Beer Package, Northern people, interjection, Cream and Sugar, Weak Person, hard worker, One dollar coin, Soda, Sweet Food, and Bottle of hard liquor)

Photos Discussion Questions

Photos

Do you have a camera?  What kinds of cameras have you had?  Can you remember the days of film?  Do you still have paper photos?  Do you have photo albums?  Where do you store your digital photos?  Do you upload your photos to the Internet?  Do you have many photos of your grandparents? 

 

Do you like taking photos?  What do you like to take photos of?  What is the best ever photo you have taken?  Are there times, you wish you had a camera with you?  Are there photos you just miss taking?

Do you like posing for photos?  Why?  Why not? What is your favorite photo of you?  Do you like looking at photos of you from the past?  Are these photos you wish were thrown away?  Do you have many photos of your childhood?  Are you in many group photos?  What famous person would you pose with?

Do you prefer color photos or black and white photos?  Why?

Is photography an art?  What kinds of photos do you like to look at?  Do you have a favorite photo?

What makes a good photo?  What can ruin a photo?

Do you like to collect photos?  Of what?  What is the best photo you have ever seen?  Why? What makes a good photo?  The subject or the way it was taken?

Video  

Do you think videos are better than photos?  Do you take a lot of videos?  Do you upload them to the Internet?  What your favorite personal video?

Should videos be short or long in duration?