Discussion Topics for Intermediate and Upper Intermediate ESL B1-B2

B1 and B2 topics contain some juicy discussions that include scaffolding techniques so that the Whole Language Approach can be feasible. At the intermediate stage, vocabulary building is still important, but we are tweaking grammar and practising speed and fluency so that students feel as though, more and more, they are sharing their authentic inner thoughts.

Everyday Life and Preferences

What movie do you want to see?
Bring the magic of cinema into your classroom. Movies, film genres, and personal entertainment preferences get them talking and exchanging preferences. Included targeted vocabulary and stimulating discussion prompts to get students sharing their favourite films and future watchlists.

What do your hobbies do for you?
Discover this complete guide based on the Huffington Post article Healthy Hobbies That Will Improve Your Life, featuring discussion questions and vocabulary to get your students talking about their favourite activities.

Can kindness make you happy?
Explore the topic of kindness and its impact on our wellbeing using the animated short Mr. Indifferent by Aryasb Feiz’s and a handy vocabulary collection handout. Free discussion prompts as well.

How are you feeling?
Listen to a poignant TED Talk by Tiffany Whatt Smith and reflect on what words we use to describe emotion. Do we have enough vocabulary to say how we feel? Are there words for certain feelings that exist in some languages and not in others?

What kind of music changes your mood?
Have your ESL students read an engaging article on the relationship of mood and music, including a comprehension quiz and discussion questions. This lesson will ask your students to express preferences, perhaps reminisce and maybe even break into song.

Can kindness make you happy?
This thought-provoking ESL lesson on kindness uses a brilliant animated short and handout to prompt a reflection and discussion on what and how acts of kindness can improve well-being. One of my all time favs.

What museums would you recommend?
Take a little cultural trip with your ESL students. This discussion lesson has students read through National Geographics top 10 list to then talk about which museum they would like or recommend.

Why do humans treat their pets like human beings?
Explore the psychology behind why we anthropomorphize our animals with this ESL conversation lesson focused on how humans treat their pets like people. This lesson features vocabulary matching, a mind-mapping activity, and discussion questions centred on a New York Times video about pet behaviour and relationships.

Do you believe in luck?
Some have it and some don't. Or do we make it? Discuss luck with your ESL students with this lesson featuring a wordless animated short, a handout and discussion prompt.

What was better then, what is better now?
Was it really better in the old days? Get your students to practise toggling past and present tenses with this thought-provoking ESL lesson. Prompting video and discussions included.

What movie de you want to see?
An ESL discussion favourite, let's talk movies. This lesson offers useful movie vocab and sends students to Rotten Tomatoes to choose a film, read through the description and put together a little spiel to talk about their preferences.

If you were a car, which would you be?
For your ESL car aficionados dive into this fun lesson that leverages a video of one of the most extensive car collections and prompts a discussion of a topic that should get the wheels in motion,

5 of the most interesting talking points
This fantastic ice breaker lesson takes a new spin on questions that get people sharing and connecting. It comes with a true-false prompt page and an insightful article.

What is your comfort food?
This ESL lesson uses video and discussion prompts to get students talking about food, culture, and the memories that make certain dishes so comforting.

What is your best/worst first date?
Generate a laugh or two with this ESL lesson on dating dos and don'ts. It features an animated short, a handout and plenty of discussion prompts.

What do you do for Valentin's Day?
Nothing? All in? Do what you have to? This ESL lesson on Valentin's Day does the opposite of glorifying this rather controversial holiday. Good material for reflection and discussion. It features two hilarious videos, discussion prompts and an article about the business of love. All for free.

What bad habits would you like to break?
This complete ESL conversation lesson plan uses engaging discussion prompts and vocabulary activities to help your students debate how to change routine behaviours, featuring thought-provoking conversation questions about willpower, discipline, and personal growth.

What book would you want to read?
Although your ESL students may not be at the stage a reading full on books, they can still look through the summaries and pick something they might like to read. This lesson asks students to look through various book descriptions and prepare a short list of things they might like to pick up.

When you go to someone's house, what do you look at?
Put a new spin on household vocabulary with this lesson that takes you into houses all around the world. Compare bathrooms, dishes, toilets, even toothbrushes, and discuss how household items can have cultural significance. It includes a TED Talk, discussion prompts and a fascinating website.

Psychology and Life Lessons

What makes you feel grateful?
Let’s talk about gratefulness: the good, the bad and the ugly. Ready to use ESL lesson with warm up prompts and reading comprehension on gratefulness.

Are you a multipontialite? What?
Is it possible that we don’t have one true calling? That we have more than one talent? One gift? That is the question that Emilie Wapnick asks her TED audience. She is a self-proclaimed “multipotentialite”,she opens the discussion of the many paths we may have. See what your ESL students have to say about it.

What bad habit would you like to break?
Teach a zero-prep ESL discussion lesson on the science of bad habits with this super interesting ASAP Science (PBS) YouTube video that looks at bad habits from the scientific perspective. Discussion questions included.

What body language should we avoid?
Did you know that 90% of communication is conveyed outside of the message? Take a look at the ESL reading comprehension activity on body language to avoid and reflect on its relevance. Handout included.

What matters most in life?
What matters most in life? A nice juicy ESL discussion question that is maybe not so easy to answer. Listening activity, handout and discussion prompts included.

Is failure always bad?
Is failure always a bad thing? Whether consciously or unconsciously, the fear of failure might be telling us a lot about who we are and how we can turn that fear into a constructive element in our lives. Take a look at the ESL discussion lesson for an introspective discussion. Watch author Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) talk about what failure has done for her.

Do you talk to strangers?
Are we encouraging isolation, apathy, disengagement, fear, and tribalism with the stranger-danger paradigm? Even though it is natural to gravitate toward people who have familiar ideas and beliefs, could we be missing something in those who are different from us? Use this ESL listening activity to discuss the art of connection.

How are you feeling?
Can you describe what emotions you are experiencing right now? This is the question Tiffany Watt Smith asks her TED audience to sensitize them on how easy or how hard it is to put words on our emotions. This is a fantastic intermediate-advanced ESL lesson conjures the vocabulary of emotions. Handout, discussion prompts and listening activity included.

How do you define success?
Success can drive us, but also plague us. What’s more, it can be defined in so many ways. Money, fame, happiness, and many things can be considered hallmarks of success. So what are we chasing, really? And are we chasing the right things?Talk about is with your intermediate and advance ESL students.

Do you have a job or a mission?
Finding your passion is complicated, changing, and doesn’t always match the needs of the market. Let your ESL students listen to Celeste Headlee, a trained opera singer turned radio show host, insights on the difference between a job and a mission. She also has a lot to say about how we get stuck focusing on our education and job expectations. Questions and ESL activities included.

What kind of music improves your mood?
Read through a thought-provoking article (comprehension questions included) and facilitate a discussion with your ESL students on the connection between music and mood. Your class is sure to be grooving and vibing.

Do you want to climb a mountain?
Walk inside this fascinating ESL lesson with your intermediate and advanced students to explore the mechanics behind fear. There is a fine line between fear as the voice of a wise consultant and the voice of insecurity. In other words, sometimes fear is something you should conquer and sometimes it’s something you should heed. Listening activity and discussion prompts included.

How does my body language affect my mood?
Your body language may not only affect how people perceive you, but it may also have an impact on your brain chemistry. Watch Amy Cuddy’s famous TED talk to find out just how profound the way we carry ourselves changes our outlook.

Are you stressed about being calm?
From meditation to prioritizing, exercising, sleeping, making lists, can we get stressed about being calm? Discuss it with your intermediate ESL students through this thought providing reading comprehension. Quiz, article and discussion questions included.