Small talk on the news
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Suggested questions and topics to chat about the news, good for Social English and current affairs lessons.
Lesson Plan Content:
Small talk on the news
Use questions and topics like those below to chat with your partner(s) about the news for
about five minutes. Try to keep the conversation as light as possible, so don’ get into really
heavy topics and don’t get stuck on one topic for too long.
Ask about any questions or topics which you are not sure how to use/ chat about.
Change groups and have a similar chat without looking at the worksheets below.
p. 1
Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019
300 pages of other social English materials:
Are you following/ interested in…?
Are you worried about…?
Did you hear (the good/bad news) about..?
Did you know… (before…)?
Did you read about/ see/ hear…?
Do you believe…?
Do you ever… in other languages?
Do you ever kill time…?
Do you follow…?
Do you get (much/ the) news from…?
Do you have… delivered?
Do you ignore/ skip/ avoid…?
Do you (try to) keep up with…?
Do you know (much about/ a lot about)…?
Do you read/ watch…?
Do you (often) share…? (How?)
Do you spend much time…?
Do you subscribe to…?
Do you trust…?
Do you understand…?
Don’t you find… boring/ depressing/…?
Had you ever heard of… before…?
Has your… ever been in the news?
Have they found out…?
Have you been following…?
Have you heard if/ whether/ wh…?
Have you seen… (yet/ today)?
How do you find out about…?
How interested are you in…?
How much attention do you pay to…?
How often do you read/ watch/ listen to…?
Is it important for you to stay up to date
about…?
Is there any (more) news about…?
Were you shocked/ surprised by/ that…?
What are your predictions for…?
What do you do when…?
What do you think about…?
What’s the best (unbiased) source for…?
Which… do you read/ watch?
Where do you get your… news from?
Why do you think…?
Your company/ country/ hometown/
industry/… was in the news… Did you…?
Sunday papers
back pages
bloggers
broadsheets – tabloids
business/ economics
celebrities/ celebrity gossip
column/ columnists
(BTL/ below the line) comments
commercial…– public (service)…
conspiracies/ conspiracy theories
crime
domestic news
editorials
fake news
front page
headline
health
interviews
international news/ politics/ affairs
leaks/ whistleblowers
left wing/ liberal…
lifestyle
local newspaper
local politics/ elections
(news) magazines
mainstream media
markets/ the stock market
national politics/ elections
natural disasters
… News/ Times/ Express/ Post/
Daily
newsagent
online (influencers)
paparazzi
right wing/ conservative…
(financial/ sexual/ political) scandal
social media (e.g. Twitter)
society/ social issues/ problems
sports (pages)
talk radio
technology
terrorism
the environment
the weather
p. 2
Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2019
300 pages of other social English materials:
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