Bill’s Conversation Starters
64 Conversation Kickstarters for Students of the English Language
I currently have 64 Conversation Kickstarters completed and listed at bottom with links to a few Google Doc versions (all CKs are covered in-lesson in PDF format).
Possible future topics include these here and many others. Feel free to email me at therealwrhammons@gmail.com with any of your own CK ideas!
Speaking Practice with our Pets
The Wonders of the World: Loving Them to Death?
GameStop, Robinhood and the Future of Investing
Brejoin: Could the UK rejoin the EU?
The Dayton Accords
Rudyard Kipling’s “If” and the Bhagavad Gita
Richard III: The King Under the Parking Lot
Five More Things About the US the Rest of the World Finds Strange
Your Tutor’s American Passport, Part II: The Journey Continues
“Flowers for Algernon”
Canadian Creativity!
Whole Foods: Yet Another Austin Success Story
Fusion [Note to self: Mr. Fusion]
America: The Story of Us
The Oxford Comma: The Last Vestige of British Imperialism?
The Scripps National Spelling Bee!
Tongue Twisters! [Note to self: BYU video]
Berlitz Method [Note to self: “Ritz” clip from Regarding Henry]
Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda (English Modal Verbs) [Note to self: On The Waterfront scene]
Virginia Dare and the Lost Colony [Note to self: also cover Virginia Dare Aderholdt]
Elvis (Musical English #3)
Continents and Countries (Africa, Australia, Eurasia, North America, South America)
Anki
Also feel free to review this main list for a completed Conversation Kickstarter you’d like to cover next in your lessons:
1. “Super Bowl”
2. “Towering”
3. “Philo Farnsworth and the History of TV”
4. “Prepositions: The Words of Word Relationships”
5. “2024 Total Eclipse of the Sun!”
6. “Route 66: The Mother Road”
7. “A Piece of the PIE”
8. “Adverb Marathon!”
9. “The Polar Lights”
10. “Nailing the Zeitgeist”
11. “Homophone Pie!”
12. “Turning Technology to Your Advantage!”
13. “Idioms in the English Language”
14. “Why Did Walmart Fail in Germany?”
15. “The Airbnb Story”
16. “Let’s Talk About Family!”
17. “The History of Google”
18. “The Success of Starbucks”
19. “Welcome to America!”
20. “The Nature of the Universe”
21. “The SAT College Admissions Test”
22. “The History of Amazon”
23. “The History of Netflix”
24. “The History of Halloween in America”
25. “The History of American Thanksgiving”
26. “Scottish Independence”
27. “Sid Meier's Civilization VI!”
28. “Roman Numerals”
29. “The 2021 Texas Power Crisis”
30. “FIFA World Cup 2022!”
31. “The History of New Year’s Resolutions!”
32. “The Call to Prayer”
33. “ChatGPT & Artificial Intelligence!”
34. “Internet Abbreviations”
35. “Your Tutor’s American Passport”
36. “American Weather”
37. “Alien Contact Movies!”
38. “The History of the Oscars!”
39. “Daylight Savings Time”
40. “Escape from Rome”
41. “Indiana Jones!”
42. “Five Things About the US the Rest of the World Finds Strange”
43. “The Drudge Report & American News”
44. “Five American Foods the Rest of the World Finds Unappealing”
45. “The US Dollar!”
46. “Second Language, Second Soul?”
47. “The Big Mac Index”
48. “American Summer Holidays!”
49. “Digital Nomadism!”
50. “The Coca-Cola Index”
51. “The Beatles: Using Music to Learn English #1!”
52. “Artificial Intelligence”
53. “Slow Rolling the Stones: Musical English #2”
54. ”Chilling with English Vocabulary”
55. ”CEFR Language Proficiency Levels”
56. ”Preply the Company”
57. ”The Fermi Paradox”
58. “Civil War 2024: More Than a Movie?”
59. “Texas 2.0: The Republic Rises Again?”
60. “The Herculaneum Scrolls, AI & The Vesuvius Challenge”
61. “Most Fabulous Five Super Bowl LVIII Ads!”
62. “Reviewing Your World in English!”