Questions about favorites
We can tell a lot about people by knowing what they like most and get a quick insight into their personalities. These conversation questions about favorites are just what you need to get to know somebody in a short period of time.
To make this discussion activity interesting the questions have been phrased in several different ways. It is not a boring collection of “What is your favorite…?” questions. Instead, you will find other ways to ask about the things that people are most fond of. This is of course very helpful for English language learners who are looking to expand their vocabularies.
For ESL students, the most challenging terms in this speaking exercise include – genre, fond of, treasured, worldly possession, appreciate, equipment, topic, go for, get a kick out of, creature, fictional, and admire.
The questions about favorites are –
1 – What is your favorite thing right now?
2 – What is your favorite time of day? What do you usually do at this time?
3 – Have your favorites changed as you have become older? Can you give an example?
4 – Which music genre gives you the most pleasure to listen to? Who is a good artist?
5 – What are you most fond of doing when you have free time? When did you last do it?
6 – If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you want it to be?
7 – What is your most treasured worldly possession? Where did it come from?
8 – Besides your own country, which other country do you like the most and why?
9 – Where is your favorite place to go when you want to relax? Why do you like it?
10- What would you say is the best movie ever made? What is the film about?
11- What do you appreciate the most about living where you live now?
12- Which sport do you enjoy doing the most? What equipment do you need for it?
13- What is your preferred thing to drink on a hot summer’s day? How about a cold day?
14- What is your favorite thing about the ocean? What seafood do you like the most?
15- Which topic do you really love talking about? What makes this topic interesting?
16- What is your dearest childhood memory? How old were you at this time?
17- What do you think is the loveliest smell in the world? Where can you smell it?
18- When you have to choose a color to wear, which color do usually go for? Why?
19- What kinds of games do you most get a kick out of playing? Who do you play with?
20- What is your favorite creature in the animal kingdom? Where does it live?
21- Which shop or market do you like going to the most? When did you last go there?
22- What do you think is the best way to spend a long weekend of 3 or 4 days?
23- Who is your favorite fictional character? What does this character look like?
24- Which famous person do you admire the most? What does/did this person do?
25- What do you delight in doing most when you wake up in the morning?
Follow up activity
A fun thing to do if you are in a classroom environment is to create a favorites survey. Make a list of 10 or more things such as colors, animals, etc, and find out which are the most popular in your group.
You can let your students survey each other and have them submit their results once they have finished. This activity works particularly well with new classes and learners who don’t know each other very well yet.