Friends

• Are there any famous stories of friendship in your culture? (Eg. David and Jonathan)
• Describe one of your closest friends.
• Do you have any childhood friendships that are still strong today? Tell us about them.
• Do you have any long distance friends?
  • How do you keep in touch with your long-distance friends?
  • How often do you see your long-distance friends?
• Do you think it is a good idea to borrow money from a friend? Why or why not?
• Do you make friends easily?
• Has a friend ever let you down?
• Have you made any friends over the Internet?
  • How often do you write to them?
  • Have you ever met them in person?
• How are your friendships different now than they were when you were a child?
• How do you maintain a good friendship?
• How do you make new friends?
• How many people do you consider your "best friends?"
• Is it common to have friendships across generations?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of these types of friendships.
  • Do you have any friends from a different generation than you?
• There is a saying "To have a good friend, you need to be a good friend."
  • How can you be a good friend?
• What do you usually do with your friends?
• What factors may result in the breakdown of a good friendship?
• What is a best friend?
• What is the longest friendship that you have had?
• What makes friends different from family?
• What qualities do you think are important in a friend?
  • What is a friend?
• What things should friends never do?
• Why do you like your best friend?
  • What are some things you like about your best friend?
• Where is a good place to meet new friends?
  • Where is a good place to meet a new boyfriend/girlfriend?
• Do you think it is possible to have a best friend of the opposite sex without becoming a girlfriend or boyfriend?
• Do you think it would be possible for you still be friends with an ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend?
• There is a proverb that says, "A friend in need is a friend indeed." Do you agree?
• Do you believe that there is an end to any true friendships?
• Do you believe your parents should be your friends?
• What do you do if you receive a friend's call but you forgot his/her name?
• Friendship is the most important relationship. Do you agree? Why? Why not?
• What do you like best about your best friend(s)?
• What are some ways your best friend has influenced your life in a positive way?
• What are some ways your best friend has influenced your life in a positive way?
• How close do you get to your friends?
• Why do you need a friend?
• What do you do when you have a misunderstanding with your friend?
• Do you trust all of your friends? Why?
• What is the best time for making new friends?
• What was your best friendship?
  • Are you still friends with him or her?
  • What life lessons did you learn from this relationship?
• What qualities do you appreciate in your friends? What makes someone special or best friend?
• Why are friendships important for you? Do you still maintain friendships from the past?
• How long have you known your best friend? Where did you meet and what did you have in common?
• What are some good opportunities to meet new people?
• How can you get to better know a person?
• What is the relationship between love and friendship?
• Who is the most interesting person you have ever met?
• Do you think famous people are happier than ordinary people? Why?
• What type of people do you get along with best?
• What quality do you admire most in people and which one do you find the most objectionable?
• What behavior of others hurts you most? When you have upset someone by your actions, what do you try to do?
• What do you consider to be your good and bad qualities?
• What qualities help you to have good relationships with others?
• What traits or actions make an interpersonal conflict worse?
• Are relationships among people better or worse than a few years ago? Why? Give some examples.
• Do you think that dysfunctional family life contributes to worsening relationships in society?
• Is getting along with others a natural ability from birth or does it have to be learnt?
• How important is forgiveness in human relationships?
• What are friends for?
• Can you be friends with your student if you are a teacher?
• To what extent can you be friends with your child?

Goals

• What is your biggest goal in life?
• How do you plan to achieve that goal?
• What are your "short term" goals?
• What are your "long term" goals?
• Should parents help their children set goals?
• What are your educational goals?
• What are your career goals?
• What are your financial goals?
• Why are goals important?
• Is having a goal in life effective in becoming successful?
• Is having a goal helpful in motivating a person?
• Do you think people have fewer goals as they get older?
• Do you have any goals that you feel are unrealistic?
• How do people's goals change from country to country?
• What are your goals in your current job?
• What are the main differences between male and female goals?
• Which of your goals have you already achieved?
• How would you feel if you failed to achieve any of your goals?
• Do you think it's a good idea to write your goals down and tick them off as you achieve them?
• How important are goals to you?

Stress

• Recognizing Stress
  • What is stress?
  • What causes stress?
  • How do you recognize stress in your life?
  • Have you been under stress recently?
  • How does stress affect you?
  • Do you have a kind of red warning flag that indicates too much stress?
  • When you are stressful, how do you feel physically?
    • Do you feel tired during the day?
    • Can you sleep well at night?
    • Does your stomach hurt?
  • How do you feel emotionally?
    • Do you feel nervous or worried about the stressful situation?
    • Do you get angry easily?

• Helping Others
  • Have you ever helped someone who was feeling stressful?
    • What did you do?
    • Did you give them advice?
    • Did you listen to them?
    • Did you do most of the talking?
    • Did you take some action to help them?
  • Have you ever helped someone that you didn't know?
  • What are characteristics of a good counselor?
    • Is it necessary to have shared the same experience?
    • Is it important to be an expert?
    • Is it important to be patient?

• Healthy Stress
  • Do you think stress is ever good, useful, or necessary?
    • Why or why not?
  • Do you play games or sports that are sometimes stressful?
  • When can stress be a good thing?
    • If you are playing a sport and your team is losing, does it give you extra energy?
  • Does stress make you feel more alive?
  • Is your home life stressful?
  • Are you busy at home?
  • Can you relax at home?
  • Do you enjoy having discussions about politics with other people who have different opinions?
  • Do you like to argue about different ways to do things at work or at home?

• Personal
  • Have you felt stress recently?
    • Did the stressful feeling last a long time or a short time?
    • Had the cause of the stress happened to you before or was this a new situation?
  • How often do you think you feel too much stress?
  • Do you feel too busy sometimes?
  • In what way does a too full schedule lead to stress?
  • Do you like being busy?
  • If you are very busy at work or at school, do you have ways to balance your life?
  • If you have nothing to do, do you enjoy yourself or do you get bored?
  • Does stress make it hard for you to think or act?
  • How can you judge what is the right amount of stress for you?
  • Is your stress caused by relationships with other people?
    • At work? At school?
    • At home?
    • With best friends?
    • With partners?
    • Can you think of some examples?
  • Does stress come when you worry about your life?
  • Do you keep your worries a secret from other people?
  • Do you have anyone you can talk to when you are worried?
  • When did we start talking about stress as a psychological condition?
  • What do you do when you have stress?

• Stressful Situations
  • Are there situations that you find stressful?
  • Do you feel tense when you meet someone for the first time?
  • Do you get nervous if you have to make a speech?
  • Do you suffer from stress when you have too much work to do?
  • Do you work or study for long hours under stressful conditions?
  • Does the place you live have a low-stress environment?
  • Can you be alone as much as you like?
  • Can you be with friends as often as you like?
  • Is it easy for you to make decisions about important things?
  • Can you relax when you are sleeping away from home?
  • In what kinds of situations do you observe other people feeling stressed?
  • What are some situations that you enjoy?
  • What are some situations that make you feel stressful?
  • How can you eliminate stressful situations?
  • Plan a low-stress, cheap, one-day holiday.

• Controlling Stress
  • How do you relieve stress?
  • What stresses you out?
  • Do you have a stressful lifestyle?
  • How can you eliminate stressful situations?
  • How do you get control of a stressful situation that is getting too tough?
  • What is the "fight or flight" response? How does it relate to stress?
  • Do you enjoy the feeling of being stressed?
  • If you are feeling stressed, what do you do?
  • Do you like to relax or be active when stressful?
  • Are you capable of relieving your stress or do you need help?
  • Can alcohol cure stress temporarily?

• Living Stress Free
  • How can you live a stress free life?
  • Can you give five suggestions that would be inexpensive?
  • Can you give five suggestions for children?
  • Can you give five suggestions for the wintertime?
  • Give us suggestions for making school life less stressful.
  • When stressful do you like to listen to a certain kind of music?
    • Does it help to go shopping or take a long walk?
    • Do you like to be alone or be with other people?
    • Do you eat more or eat less?
  • Do certain colors make you feel happier?
  • Do you always follow the same pattern to relieve stress or do you try different things?
  • What are some positive ways people deal with stress?
  • What are some negative ways people deal with stress?
  • How do you deal with stress?
  • What is the most stressful experience you have ever had?
  • When was the most stressful time of your life? Did you learn anything from that experience?
  • What do you think is the greatest cause of stress for most people?
  • What is your greatest cause of stress?
  • Do you deal with stress differently that your parents do/did? If so, how?
  • Do you know of anyone who likes to break things or become violent when they are stressed? What have they broken? What kind of violence do they do?
  • What is the most stressful job you can think of?
  • What is the least stressful job you can think of?
  • Which would you choose: A stressful job with very high pay or a relaxing job with considerably low pay? Why?
  • Is being single less stressful than married life? What are the advantages & disadvantages of each?
  • How do you reduce stress in your life? Do you think they would be considered good or bad ways of dealing with stress?

Sports

• Are you a good skier?
  • If so, when did you start?
  • How often do you ski?
  • Who taught you to ski?
• Are you a good ___? (tennis player, basketball player, swimmer, ...)
• Are you a member of any sports team? If not, have you ever been?
• Are you good at basketball?
• Are you good at sports?
  • What sports are you good at?
  • Do you often play sports?
• Did your high school have a good baseball team?
• Do you ever listen to baseball games on the radio?
• Do you jog more than once a week?
• Do you know how to play golf?
• Do you like to exercise?
• Do you like to ski?
• Do you like playing tennis?
• Do you like to snowboard?
• Do you like to watch sports on TV?
• Do you like watching car races?
• Do you like wrestling?
• Do you like ___? (insert a name of a baseball player, tennis player, etc.)
• Do you play any sports?
• Do you think athletes earn enough money, not enough money or too much money?
• Do you think everybody should practice sports?
• Do you think playing sports helps people work better as a team at work?
• Do you think that parents are too involved in their children's sports activities?
• Have you ever been skiing?
• Have you ever been to a soccer game? (...a football match)
• Have you ever played golf?
• Have you ever been to watch a professional game?
• Have you ever played tennis with your mother?
• Have you ever tried snow-boarding?
• How often do you exercise?
• How often do you go swimming?
  • Where do you go?
  • Who do you go with?
• How often do you ___? (play tennis, swim, go surfing, ...)
• Is it good that professional sport is so commercial nowadays?
• Were you on a sports team in high school?
• Were you on any sports teams in high school?
  • How about junior high school?
  • How about now?
• What do you think is the most popular sport in the world?
• What do you think of pro wrestling? Thai kick boxing? Japanese sumo?
• What do you think of women playing hockey professionally?
• What do you think the top five most watched sports are in the world?
• What is the most dangerous sport?
• What is the most expensive sport?
• What is the most popular sport in your country?
• What is your favorite summer sport?
• What is your favorite team sport?
• What is your favorite winter sport?
• What new sports would you like to try?
• What sport do you think is the most dangerous?
• What sport do you think is the most expensive?
• What sports did you do in junior high school?
  • How about high school?
  • How about now?
• What sports do you follow?
  • What sports do you watch?
• What sports do you hate to watch?
• What sports do you like to play?
• What sports do you like to watch live?
• What sports do you like to watch on TV?
• What sports do you like to watch?
• What sports do you think are the best?
• What's a sport that you don't like? Why don't you like it?
• What's your favorite baseball team?
• What's your favorite sport?
  • Why do you like it?
  • How often do you play it?
  • How often do you watch it?
• When did you start ___? (playing tennis, swimming, learning to snowboard, ...)
• When was the last time you went to a baseball game?
• Where do you usually ___? (play tennis, swim, ...)
• Where is the nearest stadium to your house?
• Which do you prefer, baseball or volleyball? (..., tennis or golf)
• Which sport would you not let your child play? Why?
• Who do you think is the best athlete in the world? In your country?
• Who is your favorite professional athlete? Why?
• Who swims better, your mother or your father?
• Would you like to become a champion at Wimbledon?
• Would you rather go swimming or skiing?
• How do you feel about extreme sports? Would you like to try any of these?
• Does it bother you that people gamble on sporting events?
• In some cultures, fishing is a sport. Is fishing viewed as a sport in your culture or solely a way of living?
• If you had the opportunity to do away with any sport, what sport would you do away with? Why?
• Which Olympic sports do you like to watch on TV?
• Does your country do better at the summer or the winter Olympics?
• Do you think that the Olympics are important, or have there been too many negative things (use of performance-enhancing drugs, corrupt judges) in recent history?

Culture

• What are some things that define a culture? For example, music, language, ...
• What do you think is interesting about your culture?
• Do you know much about your own culture?
• When people from other countries think about your culture, what do they usually think of?
• In your culture is it polite to be straightforward and direct when you talk to someone?
  • To whom is it OK and to whom is it not OK?
• What has surprised you when you've met people from other countries?
• Have you looked at Internet pages from a different culture? If so, how were they different from those of your own culture?
• What do you like about your culture?
• What don't you like about your culture?
• How do young people in your culture behave differently from older people?
• How do young people in your culture behave differently from people in this culture?
• Are there many people of different cultures in your country? Are you friends with any?
• Have you ever felt confused by the actions of someone from another culture?
  • If so, tell me about it.
• How are your language teachers who are not from your country different from your other teachers?
  • How are they the same?
• Who in your culture do you admire most?
• What your culture are you most proud about?
• Why do you think culture is important?
• If you could change one thing about your culture, what would it be?
• Would you ever consider marrying or dating someone from another culture?
• Would you ever consider living permanently in a country other than your home country? Why or why not?
• What does it mean to be polite in your culture?
• What is considered rude in your culture?
  • Is there anything in this culture that is considered rude that may not be considered rude in your culture?
• If a group of people just came to your country from overseas, what advice would you give them?
• What other cultures have you met people from?
• What do you think is important when visiting another culture?
• Do you think "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" is always good advice? Why or why not?
• Have you ever been in a situation where you felt you had to "do as the Romans do"?
• What culture besides your own do you admire and why?
• If aliens visited your country, what might surprise them?
• Do you pray before each meal?
• How do you feel when you leave your home culture and enter into a completely new culture?
• What is the best/most important thing your culture has given to the world?
• What is the best/most important thing your culture/country has adopted from another culture?
• If you could choose three aspects of your culture to put in a "time box" for the future, what would you put in it?

• Customs
  • What customs do you practice?
  • What are your favorite customs?
  • What customs do you think should be revised?
  • What customs do you think should no longer be practice?
  • What customs (from elsewhere) do you think should be included in our culture?

Science and Technology

• What do you think are the three most important or interesting inventions since 1850? How about since 1950?
• Do you think pets should be cloned? Why or why not?
• Do you think people should be allowed to clone people or organs of people? Why?
• What do you think about GMO (genetically modified organisms) vegetables? Is it better to use natural food although it might not produce as much or should we use GMO crops?
• What do you think about GMO farm animals? Would you eat pork from a GMO pig?
• Do you think couples should be allowed to choose the sex or other characteristics of their baby like eye color? Why or why not?
• Are you willing to pay more for food that is really organic? How much more?
• What do you think robots should be used for?
• Do you think robots will cause unemployment (loss of jobs) in the future or make more work? Why?
• Do you think using cell phones too much is bad for our physical or mental health? Why?
• If you could copy your brain for future generations, would you?
• How do you think face to face communication differs from communication using computers?
• What changes have social changes have cell phones made?
• What are good and bad points of using computers?
• Do you think to stop global warming that the amount of car driving should be limited or changed? For example, should there be some kind of encouragement to use public transportation or to do car pooling?
• What are some local ways you have seen to reduce waste and pollution or conserve energy?
• In your life time what changes have you seen in your environment for better or worse?
• Do you think modern technology reduces or increases stress? Why?
• Do you think money should be spent to explore space or is it better spent helping people on earth? Why?
• What is your opinion about children playing violent videogames or computer programs?
• Should anything be allowed to be posted on the Internet or should certain things be restricted like child pornography, grossly violent real scenes and suicide or hate encouragements?
• What do you think should be done to people who spread viruses, start hoaxes or create SPAM on the Internet?
• How often do you buy things via the Internet? Why do you buy this often or not buy online?
• Do you worry about identity theft or credit card number theft when buying things on the Internet or do you avoid buying things online because of this concern?
• Have you used a chat site? Have you ever used voice chat? What do you think about it?
• Have you used the Internet to learn English or read or talk in English? What are the pros and cons (good and bad points) about improving your English by Internet rather than with a teacher?

Social Problems

• Are there food kitchens for the needy in your country?
• Are there homeless shelters in your country?
• Are there many homeless people where you live?
• Are there many suicides in your country?
• Are there nursing homes in your country?
• Do you agree that teachers should use corporal punishment as a means of discipline?
• Do you know anyone who is homeless?
• Do you think in vitro fertilization should be available to parents so they can choose the sex of their child?
• Do you think it's acceptable for parents to use corporal punishment as a means of discipline? Why/why not?
• Do you think people should be allowed to smoke in public buildings?
• Do you think that minorities should be given job priority because of their race? Why/why not?
• Have you ever been a volunteer at a hospital?
• Have you ever experienced discrimination?
• Have you ever known someone with an addiction?
• In an overpopulated world, should people be free to have as many children as they want?
• Is there assistance available to people that are homeless?
• Is there public assistance in your country?
• What are some expectations parents have for their children?
• What are some reasons people use illegal drugs?
• What are some reasons that people become homeless?
• What are some things people can do to eliminate discrimination and prejudice?
• What are some ways we can help homeless people?
• What do you think is the most serious problem in the world?
  • Why do you think so?
  • What can we do as individuals to solve this problem?
• What do you think when you see a homeless person?
• What types of noise pollution do you hate the most?
• Who takes care of the elderly when they are no longer able to care for themselves?
• Does poverty cause crime?
• Have you ever experienced discrimination on a personal level?
• What is racism?
• Graffiti is considered a social problem. Here are some related questions.
  • What is graffiti? Where do you see it? i.e. walls, trains
  • What messages do you see? i.e. political, love messages, funny, personal, poetic?
  • Should the government punish those who write graffiti?
  • Should the government reserve places for those who want to write graffiti?
  • Is graffiti a type of "art"?
  • If you were allowed to write something, what would you say?
  • What can we do about graffiti writers?
  • What are some ways we can wear words and slogans? i.e. badges, clothes, hats etc.
  • What should be done about football hooligans?
  • Is it morally right to spend a lot of money on pets, rather than helping people in need?