← All topics

Topic 30 of 60

Discussion picture Discussion questions Key words

Picture warm-up

1. What do you see in this picture?
2. Who are these people, and what are they doing?
3. Does this look like your life here, or in your home country? How is it the same or different?

Discussion questions

1. What was school like in your home country?
2. How is the education system in the U.S. different?
3. What was your favorite subject in school? Why?
4. Who was your best teacher, and what made them great?
5. Do you think college is necessary to have a good life?
6. Is college too expensive in the U.S.? What can students do?
7. What do you think about online classes compared to in-person classes?
8. Should school uniforms be required? Why or why not?
9. What skills should schools teach that they don’t teach now?
10. Is it ever too late to go back to school?
11. How do parents in your culture get involved in their children’s education?
12. What was the hardest test you ever took?
13. Do you prefer learning by reading, listening, or doing?
14. Should homework be banned? Why or why not?
15. What would you like to study in the future?

Key words

Say the word, then read the example sentence out loud.

• degree
  She has a degree in nursing.
• diploma
  He received his high school diploma.
• GED
  I’m studying to get my GED.
• community college
  Community college is cheaper than a university.
• tuition
  Tuition goes up every year.
• scholarship
  She won a scholarship to study engineering.
• enroll
  I enrolled in an evening English class.
• semester
  The fall semester starts in August.
• grade
  My son got a good grade in math.
• certificate
  I earned a certificate in medical billing.
• graduate
  My daughter will graduate in June.
• parent-teacher conference
  I have a parent-teacher conference on Thursday.
• credits
  You need 60 credits to finish the program.
• financial aid
  Many students apply for financial aid.
• transcript
  The school asked for my transcript from my home country.

Next topic: 31. Learning English & Languages

Topic chosen by comparing popular ESL conversation resources (see How these topics were chosen). Questions and example sentences are original to this collection. Translations are a guide and should be reviewed by a fluent speaker.