Conversation is a must to enhance speaking and listening skills for English Language Learners. With James M. Taylor’s new book, How Was Your Weekend? 1001 Discussion Questions To Use With Your EFL/ESL Students, you will never run out of topics. James Taylor (@TheTeacherJames) dropped by to tell us more about his book.
Q: What can you find in the book?
A: The book is divided into two sections, the introduction and the questions. In the introduction, you can find recommendations for how to use the book in the classroom. There is also a description of some important things to consider, such as cultural and personal sensitivity.
In the main body of the book, you will find the questions section which has been divided up by subject. There are a huge variety of topics covered, from travel to history, and food to fashion. Some of the questions are more serious, some are more fun, and a few are just weird. The main thing is that they will get your students talking!
Q: Why did you write the book?
A: As I say in the introduction, I realised that I was always asking my students the same old boring question (hence the title!) so I needed to come up with something different, something more interesting and motivating. I spent a year collecting this list together and finished it in July 2018, publishing it on August 1st.
Q: What are your favorite questions?
A: It’s difficult to choose, but the ones in the ‘random’ section were the most fun to write, so I would choose something from there. I can imagine that a question like number 942 “If tall people only dated tall people and short people only dated short people, would we eventually see two different human species?” could provoke some very interesting responses from the students!
Each month we scour the internet to find incredible books to highlight on our various social networks (@TESOL, @AmericanTESOL, and @ESLWebinars). Check out our past favorites here.
