Speaking Prompts Xmas

Christmas conversation prompts

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Conversation prompts

Ask your partner questions about presents.

Ask about:

when/where presents are given in their country

the best/worst present received/given

difficulties choosing presents for friends and family.

Ask your partner questions about

shopping at Christmas time.

Ask about:

the best place to buy presents – shopping centres, local shops, online

if they like/dislike Christmas shopping

their views on commercialism at Christmas.

Ask your partner questions about decorations.

Ask about:

typical decorations in their country

trees – real or plastic decorations in their town.

Ask your partner questions about New Year celebrations.

Ask about:

music and dancing food and drink places – at home, in town, in

discos/nightclubs.

Ask your partner about Christmas dinner.

Ask about:

typical food in their country 24th, 25th or another day staying healthy / indulging at

Christmas time.

Ask your partner about Christmas Eve.

Ask about:

going to church or not food and drink traditions in their country.



Ask about your partner about Christmas weather.

Ask about: what the weather is like in their

country spending Christmas abroad snow sports.

Ask your partner about Christmas parties.

Ask about: work parties family gatherings food and drink.

Ask your partner about Father

Christmas. Ask about: whether he visits, and when discovering Father Christmas

isn’t real their opinion on telling children

the truth.

Ask your partner about Christmas TV.

Ask about: what’s shown on Christmas Day typical films Christmas specials (Christmas

episodes of regular TV series).

Ask your partner questions about Christmas music.

Ask about: pop or traditional songs they like/dislike Christmas concerts in their

town.

Ask your partner about other important days at Christmas

time.

Ask about:

Advent (the month before Christmas Day)

6th December 26th December.



Teaching notes Level: elementary – upper-intermediate (A2 – B2). Aims:

to practise transforming information into questions to practise expressing opinions.

Timing: approximately 20 minutes. Preparation Cut the conversation prompts into cards, one for each student. Procedure Hand out a conversation prompt to each student and deal with any vocabulary questions. Ask them to form questions from the prompts. This can be done spontaneously and verbally, or you might like them to write out the questions first and check them for grammatical errors before proceeding to the speaking part. Point out that there is often more than one way to form the questions, e.g. ‘Ask about: if they like/dislike shopping’ could simply be Do you like shopping?, but encourage higher level students to try richer structures, e.g. How do you feel about shopping?. Ask students to work in pairs or small groups, taking turns to ask questions. Encourage both/all students in the pair/group to discuss the questions in as much detail as possible. Follow up ideas Question forms At the end of the speaking activity, invite students to write out examples of some of their questions for others to see, so they have a collection of different question possibilities. Give time for the students to copy these down. Individual writing Students write about the topic on their card. Group writing In pairs or small groups, students prepare a poster about the topic on the card and then make a presentation to the class. Display the posters around the room.

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Speaking Prompts Xmas