HyLite Commercial (April 2012)

ESL Discussion Questions about Danger & Darkness

Danger and Darkness

Danger

What is danger?  

What is dangerous?

What is the opposite of danger? 

How much danger is in your life?

Is there enough danger in your life?

What is the most dangerous thing you do every day?

What is the biggest danger you face every day?

What is the most dangerous thing you have ever done?

Do we live in dangerous times?

What is happening in dangerous times?

Do you like to court danger?

What do you call people who like danger or who court danger?

What jobs are dangerous?

Is your job dangerous?

What is the biggest danger of your job?

What animals are dangerous?

What kind of people are dangerous?

How do we feel in dangerous situations?

What do most people do in dangerous situations?

Darkness

What is it?

Are you scared of darkness?  Of the dark?

Why are some people scared of the dark?

What kind of people or creatures like the dark?

Have you ever been in complete darkness?

Is the dark dangerous?

What is the opposite of dark?

What times are dark?

Do we live in dark times?

What does this mean?  The day is beautiful; the night is sublime?

Do you like to wear dark colors?  Why?  Why not?

Idioms and Expressions (What do they mean?)

fraught with danger.

He is a danger to himself.

Fly in the face of danger.

Keep someone in the dark.

Dark horse

It is a shot in the dark.

Pitch dark

ESL Discussion Questions about Change

What is change?

Are things always changing?

Do you like change?

What do you call people who like change?  What do you call the people who are always unsure about change?

Is all change good?

What would happen if there were no change?

What is something you wouldn't change?  Why?

Do you need to change?  Why?  Why not?

Are you afraid of change?  What kind of people are afraid of change?

Do you like to make big changes or change a little at a time?

Ask the students the following:

How have they changed?

_________ last year and now.

How has Wuxi changed?  Is Wuxi changing too fast?

Has all the change in Wuxi been good?

How has China changed?

How has life in China changed?

How has fashion changed?

How have mobile phones changed?

How has the Internet changed?

How have your beliefs changed?

How have your tastes changed?

Do they have any opinions on how business has changed?

Look at the text.

Have all the changes discussed in the class been for the better?

How do their parents or grandparents feel about the changes?

Is all change for the better?

Are their lives better than ever?

Are these things from the past that they wish would return?

What are some things that are gone forever?  What are some things that aren't coming back?

What has gotten worse over the years?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  What does this mean?

Does Human Nature change?

Maybe broach the idea of revolution and revolutionary.

Have there been revolutionary changed in your lifetime?

Discussion Questions about the Body for an ESL class

Are you happy with your body?

Are you proud of your body? Why? Why not?

Is there a part of your body that you are particularly (very) proud?

Is there a part of your body that you hate?

Do you like to look at other people's bodies?

Why do some people have wonderful bodies?

Why are some bodies beautiful and some not?

What does a man need to have a beautiful body?

What does a woman need to have a beautiful body?

Finish these sentences: A man's / woman's body should be __________.

Does our idea of what makes a body wonderful change through time?

Is it important to have a beautiful body?

Would you prefer to have a great mind or a great body?

What is the minimum we should expect to get from our bodies?

Whose body do you wish you had?

Who has the most famous body in the world? What people are famous for their bodies?

Do you need more muscles to have a body you can be proud of?

Do you need to be thin to have a beautiful body?

If you had a wonderful body, would you show it off?

Do women show off for other women or for men?

Go through the body parts and ask the students if they are happy with the ones that they have.

What is the most useful part of our bodies?

You have to lost a body part. Which one would you give up? Why?

Can your body tell your life story?

What is the best thing that ever happened to your body? The worst?

Do you take special care of your body? What do you do?

Is it necessary to go the gym often?

Would you like to be a Naturist or a Nudist?

What do we wear clothes? Are clothes necessary?

Is the naked body always beautiful?

Would you get plastic surgery? Why? Why not?

Do you believe that we have a soul that is separate from our bodies?

ESL Discussion Questions about Bags & Purses

Bags & Purses

What are they?

What do we do with them?

Do you use your bag or purse to show off?

Why kinds of bags and purses are there?

What are bags and purses made of?

What kind of bags or purses are in fashion?

Have bags and purses changed over time?

Did you grandmother have a purse?

Do men and women have the same kind of bags and purses?  Why? Why not?

How many bags or purses do you have?

Why do some woman have so many bags and purses?

Do you take certain purses to certain occasions?

What do you carry in your bag or purse?

Do you carry food or drink in your bag?

Is your choice of purse or bag important to you?

Do you like a bag with lots of compartments?

Do purses now have special compartments for mobile phones?

Is you bag or purse well organized?

Is you bag or purse clean?

Do you always carry your bag with you?

Do you like to carry your bag with you?

Have you ever had your bag or purse stolen?

Have you ever forgotten your bag or purse somewhere?

What would happen if you lost your purse?

Do you want to buy an LV Bag?

Is it okay for other people to look in your bag?

What is your bag or purse made of?

Do you always carry an umbrella with you?

What do you think of women who carry guns in their purses?

Do you have chopsticks in your bag?

Do you carry books in your purse?

Have students show off their purses.

Have students show you what is in their purses.

What do the students think the following idioms mean?

Andis is a bag of bones.

He has bags under his eyes.

The group is a mixed bag.

What will the Lakers have in their bags of tricks?

Bag Lady.  (Are there such women in Wuxi?)

The cat is out of the bag.

My wife controls the purse strings.

ESL Discussion Questions about Years

Years

What is a year? How long is a year? Why is a year 365 days long? What is a decade? What is a century? What is a Millennium? What is a leap year? When is the next leap year?

What is a light year?

The cat is 95 in human years. What does that mean?

What does "annual" mean? What does "biennial mean? What does "biannual" mean?

What associations can we make with the word "year"?

What is something you do every year?

What is something you do once a year?

What is something you do twice a year?

What is something that happens every four years?

Are years long or short times?

As you grow older, do the years seem longer or shorter?

When you were young, was one year a long time or a short time?

Have you even been engaged in a year-long project?

What is the best part of the year? What are the best parts of the year?

What was the best year of your life? Why?

The worst year?

Name some important years in history or in your life.

What was the greatest year in history? What was the worst? What were the worst?

Have you had a good year so far? Why? Why not?

How was last year for you? Why?

What has changed for you since last year?

Are you looking forward to next year? Why?

What Chinese animal year were you born? What is the best animal year to be born in ?

You see a thing made in the year 1980. What do you think of it?

You see a thing made in the year 1880. What do you think of it?

You see a thing made in the year 880. What do you think of it?

What do these years mean to you? 1980, 1776, 1949, 1644, 1989, 1789, 1492, 1867, 1912, 44 B.C., 206 BC to 220 AD

What year in history would you like to live?

Why do we number the years as we do? Why is 2012 the 2012^th year?

Then years ago, I _______.

Last year, I _________.

This year, I _________.

Next year, I _________.

How many years do you expect to live?

How many year do you expect to work at your current job?

How many years do you expect to have your car? Computer? Mobile phone? Shoes? Pants? Shirt?

How many years have you known your best friend?

How many year have you studied English?

How long could you live away from Wuxi?

Expressions using year

All year round

be light years away

getting on in years

Never in a thousand years.

Never in a million years.

Put years on.

Year after year.

Year in, Year out.

Twilight years.

As the years go by.

ESL Discussion Questions about Acting

What is it?

Are you good at acting? Are you a good actor?

Is acting something only professional actors do?

Are we always acting?

Is good acting realistic or spectacular?

Do you like to ham it up?

What is the biggest mistake people try to act make?

How to become a good actor or actress?

Who are your favourite actors? Why?

Have you ever acted in a play?

Can you act happy when you are not feeling happy?

Can you act calm when you are really feeling nervous?

Do you pretend to be sad to get sympathy?

Do you pretend to be angry to get your way?

Why are good-looking people more likely to be actors or actresses?

Do the Chinese like to show their emotions?

Do the Chinese like to hide their feelings?

Have the students act out some emotions. Frustration. Joy. Love. Anger. Sadness. Irritation.

How would you act in these situations?

You child tells you they are gay.

Someone, you hate, asks you to marry them.

Someone, you love, asks you to marry them.

You are given a raise or a promotion.

A beggar asks you for money.

A man or woman whistles at you and calls you "honey."

Your child asks you again and again and again to buy a toy.

Someone tells you they just saw a tiger.

Someone wants to sell you a monkey, insurance, a second-hand bicycle.

Someone cuts in line right in front of you.

Expressions and idioms using act (What do they mean?)

a balancing act

a tough act to follow

Act your age!

Act the fool.

An act of god.

An act of war.

Caught in the act.

Get your act together!

Act all high and mighty.

He is putting on an act.

ESL Discussion Questions about the Alphabet

Alphabet

What is the alphabet?

What is the difference between "A" and "a"?

When did you learn the alphabet?  Do you know your ABCs?

What is your favourite letter?  Why?

Which letters are vowels?  Which letters are consonants?

Does pinyin use 26 letters?

What letters don't you like?

What does this mean?  The ABCs of computers.

Do you sort things in alphabetical order?

Is the alphabet easy?

What does this mean?   It is as easy as ABC.   What is alphabet soup?

Have the students heard of a game called scrabble?

In English we use Acronyms?  Letter words.  e.g.  USA FBI CIA  

Can you make an acronym sentence with your name.  Andis: Almost never does interesting Subjects.  Allen:  Always love ladies extra nice.   Bob: Big on Beer.

Class activities using the alphabet

Word association in alphabetical order.  Thing of a word that starts with "A".  Then find a related word that starts with the letter "B".  Students have to justify their choice of word.

Going through the alphabet, stop a thing in the classroom that begins with the letter "A" and then the letter "B".

Choose three or four categories and a letter.  e.g food, flower, river, city, movie.  Now find one of each that starts with a particular letter.  The first student who can wins.

Find an alphabetical list on the Internet.  Have students guess words from it.  Maybe divide the class into teams.

Also:  here is a list ranking the frequency of letter usage from most to least:

1  E

2  A

3  R

4  I

5  O

6  T

7  N

8  S

9  L

10 C

11 U

12 D

13 P

14 M

15 H

16 G

17 B

18 F

19 Y

20 W

21 K

22 V

23 X

24 Z

25 J

26 Q

ESL Discussion Questions about Wishes and Wishing

Wishes

What are they?

Wants, desires, longings, greeting, biddings, requests, 

What do the following sentences mean?

I wish to travel.

I wish the problem was settled.

I wish him ill.

I wished him a good morning.

I wish you could come to my party.

I wouldn't wish Cancer on anyone.

When you wish upon a star.  (What are some other things you can wish on?)

You may go if you wish.

He wishes more than he works.

When do we make wishes?  (When we blow out the candles of a birthday cake, etc.)

Where do we make wishes? (fountains)

What can we make wishes with?  (magic bottles with genies inside)

What are you wishing for now?

Do you have a wish for today?

What are some wishes you have had fulfilled?  What wishes have you had come true?

You are given three wishes.  What would you wish for?

Do you have a wish list?  Have students make a wish list with five items on it.

Who can grant wishes?

What do students wish for?

What do men wish for?

What do women wish for?

What do children wish for? 

What wishes did you have as a child?

What do parents wish for?

What do grandparents wish for?

Would your life be better if all your wishes were granted immediately?

What do you wish for others?

What is a silly thing to wish for?

Have you ever wished harm on someone?

Do you wish you change the past?  What would you change in your past and history?

What is better?  To have your wishes granted by someone else or to get what you want by working for it?

Idioms and Expressions using wish

I wish you were here.

Don't you wish!

He has a death wish.

Don't you wish you said that.

If wishes were horses.

I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

Be careful what you wish for.

ESL Discussion Questions about Toys

What are Toys?

Who uses them?

Why do they use them?

What images come to mind when you hear the word "toys"?

Are toys good or bad?

Is it good or bad to play with toys?  Why?

Give me some examples of toys.

What toys are good?  What toys are bad?

What about toy guns and toy military things?

Compare these toys:   Dolls, Toy Cars, Toy animals, Toy blocks, Toy guns, Toy shovels, balls, Toy musical instruments, Toy trains, Toy shovels, Toy soldiers and Toy boats.    Compare them or rate them in any way you like.

What toys do girls play with?  Boys?

Do all girls want to play with dolls?

Do all boys want to play with toy trucks?

Do you still like to play with toys?

At what age should we stop playing with toys?

Why do kids like toys?

What toys do you have now?  Do you have a toy with you now?   Are computers or mobile phones toys?

Parents say to the child:  "That is not a toy!"  What would they say that?

What toys did you have when you were growing up?

What was your favourite toy?  What is your favourite toy?  What is your child's favourite toy?

What is the greatest toy ever invented?

What toy do you want to see invented?

Would you like to work in the toy industry?

If you could be a toy what toy would you be?

Did you sleep with your toys?  Do your children sleep with your toys?

Did you always break your toys?

What was a crazy thing you did with your toys?

Do you still have those toys?

What toys do your children have?  Do they have more toys than you did?

Compare your toys with your child's toys.

Do parents (you?)  like looking for toys?

Where is the best place in Wuxi to buy toys?  Do you like Toys-R-Us?

What do you think of the toys that you can get at McDonald's and KFC?

Are toys too expensive?

What toys are popular now?  What toys were popular when you were growing up?

Can adults have toys?  What kind of toys do adults have?

Are toys educational?  What are the best kind of educational toys?  (blocks?)

Expressions and Idioms using the word "toy."

He is like a kid with a new toy.

To toy with someone.  (do you like to be toyed with?)

To toy with something.  (What do you like to toy with?)

Toy boy.

Scenes from my life in Wuxi, China #8

ESL Discussion Questions about Temperature

Temperature

Vocab:   Hot, warm, cool and cold are adjectives.  Heat, warmth, coolness and cold are the associated nouns.

Celsius, Fahrenheit, degrees, plus, minus, below

Heat

Other words for hot:  scalding, sweltering, boiling, feverish

What temperatures are very hot?

What places in the world are very hot?

What is a hot place you like to go?

What happens when it is very hot?  What happens to water if it very hot?   It Boils.

We say a day is boiling hot?  Do we really mean it?

What is the hottest temperature you have ever experienced?

It was so hot that ________________________.

Heat and water mean humidity.  Is Wuxi a humid place?  (Also use Hot and Muggy)

What can you do to deal with extreme heat or humidity?

How to keep cool in the heat?

What food do we want to eat or drink that is hot?

What does it mean if we say a person is hot?

What does it mean if we say a product or activity is hot?

What can we also mean if we say food is hot?

What does it mean to have a temperature?  What does it mean to have a fever.

What does it mean if we say things are heating up?

What does this mean:  if you can stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen?  The student in in hot water with the teacher.  The worker is in hot water with his boss.

Warmth

What temperatures are warm?

What is thought of as a warm place in China?

Is warmth the best feeling?  Why?

How to keep warm in Winter?

What does it mean if we say a person is warm?  (Who is the warmest person you know?)

When is the weather in Wuxi warm?

What is the best way to keep warm in winter?  A/C, furnaces, central heating or fire?

What warm things do you like?

We received a warm welcome.  What does that mean?

Coolness

What temperatures are cool?

Is coolness the best feeling?

When do we want to be cool?

How can we be cool on a hot day?

What food should we eat cool?

What does it mean if we say a person is cool?  (Who is cool in that way?)

What does it mean if we say a thing is cool?  (What things are "cool" these days?)

He is "cool under pressure."  What does that mean?

What does it mean to lose one's cool?  

He is cool as a cucumber.  What does that mean?

Play it cool.  What does that mean?

Cold

Other words for cold:  chill, freezing, frosty, frozen, ice cold and freezing cold.

What is the difference between freezing and frozen?

Is cold the most uncomfortable feeling?

What do you like to drink or eat cold?  Frozen?

What temperatures are cold?

What temperatures are very cold?

Is cold the worst feeling?

What do you do when it is cold?

What happens to water when it is cold?

What happens when it is extremely cold?

What was the coldest temperature you have ever experienced?

It was so cold that ____________.

What things do we want to be cold?

What does it mean if we say a person is cold?

What does it mean to say a person has a cold?  Do we get a cold because it is cold?

What does it mean to say a person had cold feet?  What does it mean to give someone the cold shoulder?  What does it mean to quit cold turkey?

Conclusion

What do you like best:  Heat, warmth, coolness or cold?

Finish these sentences:

I like hot _________.

I like warm________.

I like cool _________.

I like cold _________.

What does it mean to take a temperature?  Also:  to take a temperature of the audience.

ESL Discussion Questions about the Senses

Senses

What are the five senses? Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell, and Touch.

What are the verbs associated with each sense? See, Hear, Taste, Smell and Touch.

What body parts are associated with each sense?

What do you like to see?

What do you like to hear?

What do you like to taste?

What do you like to smell?

What do you like to touch?

(*What do you hate to _________?)

What is the sixth sense? Intuition

What is your favourite sense?

Which sense gives us the most pleasure?

If you had to lose one sense which sense would you lose?

If you had to have only one sense which would you have?

What is common sense?

What do you think it means to have your senses overwhelmed?

Can you feel someone is close to you without seeing, smelling, touching and hearing them?

Do animals have senses that we don't have? Which animals are associated with each particular sense?

Ways of expressing our senses:

It feels like___________.

Expressions using the word "Sense"

Nonsense

out of one's senses

bring (one) to one's senses

have more luck than sense

horse sense (common sense)

In a sense (in a way)

knock some sense into

make sense

make sense out of something

sense of humour

take leave of one's senses

Idioms of the Senses

I see the light. Seeing is believing. I see something coming.

I smell a rat. to come up smelling like roses.

To get in touch. To stay in touch To be out of touch. Not touch with a ten foot pole

There's no accounting for taste. To have different taste. To be in bad taste.

So quiet, you can hear a pin drop. I hear you!

ESL Discussion Questions about Sleeping

Sleeping

Other words for sleep.  Snooze, forty winks, shut-eye

Do you like it?  Why?  Is sleeping important?

Why do so many Chinese insist that it is a hobby or their favourite thing to go?

Did you have a good sleep last night?  Did you sleep well last night?

Have you been sleeping well lately?

How many hours of sleep should you get every night?  How many do you get?

How do you feel is you can't get enough sleep?

What is the longest you have slept?  What is the longest you have gone without sleep?

What equipment do you need for a good sleep?  Pillow, mattress, quilt, blanket, sheet, pyjamas, nightie, sleeping cap, eye-covers, ear plugs.....

Do you think long and hard about your sleeping equipment?  Which special equipment do you use?

Dreams?  Nightmares?  Do you have any?   Have you had any recently?  Tell us about them.

Do you fall asleep quickly?  Do you need to take sleeping pills?

Can you sleep anywhere if you are tired enough?

Naps.  What are they?  Do you have one every day?

Do you sleep on the bus or train?

Where is the strangest place you have slept?

Have you ever slept outdoors or in a tent?

What can stop us from having good sleeps?  What do you do when you can't fall asleep?

Do you have problems that keep you awake at night?

What are things that we drink or eat that can stop us from sleeping?

Do you snore?  Do you know anyone who snores?

Do you need an alarm to wake you up in the morning?  How many alarms do you have?  What do you use for an alarm?  How often do you press the snooze button?

Do you often sleep in?

Do you often sleep over at other places?

Expressions

How do you sleep at night?

Beauty sleep

let sleeping dogs lie

lose sleep over

didn't get a wink

put to sleep

lull to sleep

sleep like a log

sleep on it

sleep through

sleeping giant

sleep together

sleep around

sleep with

ESL Discussion Questions about Reading

Do you like to read?

How often do you read?

How long can you read at one sitting?  (One hour?  Two hours?)

Where do you read?

How do you read?

How many books are you reading these days?

What have you read today?

What kinds of books do you read?

Do you prefer to fiction or non-fiction?  Novels or short stories?

What do you like to read about?  What do you want to read about?

Can you read one book at a time or do you have several started?

What is you favourite book?

Who is your favourite author?

What is your favourite fiction genre?

Is there a book that changed your mind, your thinking or your life?

Are there books that you are ashamed to admit that you read?

Some books are brain candy. What does that mean?

Have you read a book recently that you couldn't put down?

Does reading make you smarter?

Is reading better than playing computer games?  Conversation?  Doing sports?

Is there a book you always have besides your bed?

Is there a book that you have read over and over and over again?

Do you ever read aloud?

Do you always carry something to read you with?

Can you read minds?  Can you read lips?  Have you ever had your palms read?

Expressions and Idioms using "Read" or "Reading"

Read book

Read between the lines

Read cover to cover

Read from the same page

Read into something

Read it and weep

Read like a book

Read my lips!

Read oneself to sleep.

Read the handwriting on the wall

Read you loud and clear