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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.

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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:

https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/social-english/

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:

https://www.usingenglish.com/e-books/social-english/

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