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conversation questions about skills

40 Conversation Questions about Skills

Conversation Questions
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Everyone has a certain set of skills and are better at some things than others. We learn them at home, in school, at work, and by going about our daily lives. Here are some discussion questions about skills that can be used for speaking activities both inside and outside the classroom.

For ESL learners, the most challenging terms in the free PDF above include: sought-after, successful, envious, ability, energy, develop, wild, domesticated, survival, physical, attributes, affect, and negatively.

 

The conversation questions about skills are –

 

1 – What are 5 things that you associate with the word skill?

2 – What are the best skills that you have? How do these skills help you in life?

3 – What is a new skill that you would like to learn? How long would it take to be good at it?

4 – Who is the most skillful person that you know? What are they good at doing?

5 – What are the most sought-after skills in your country or hometown?

6 – Do you think it is better to have many skills or to just be very good at a few?

7 – Have you tried to train someone or teach them a new skill? Were you successful at this?

8 – Is there a skill that people learn that you think is not useful at all? Why do you think so?

9 – What do you expect will be the most important skills for people to have in the future?

10- Have you ever been envious of another person’s skills? What could they do?

11- What skills do people need to do your favorite sports and hobbies?

12- Are there any skills that people are born with that can’t be taught or learned in life?

13- What jobs can unskilled workers get in your country? Have you ever done this work?

14- Do you have any skills or abilities that you don’t like to use? Why not?

15- What would you say is the most important skill that you learned at school?

16- Would you say there is a difference between skills and abilities? If so, what is it?

17- Do you know anyone who has spent too much time and energy developing a skill?

18- What kinds of skills do wild animals have? What skills do domesticated animals have?

19- How long do you think it would take to learn to play your favorite instrument well?

20- Do you have any survival skills? What things are you able to do in the wilderness?

21- What are your strongest physical skills and attributes? How did you get these skills?

22- Would you say that luck is a skill? How could this be possible?

23- Do you have cooking skills? What is the best dish you can make, and how do you do it?

24- What kinds of skills would a person need to be an astronaut? How about a lion tamer?

25- Is it possible for a person to ever be too skillful? How could this affect them negatively?

skills concept image

Questions about skills continued

26-  What kinds of skills did your mother and father teach you? How did they do it?

27- Do people in your country often do apprenticeships and internships to learn new skills? Would you like to do one?

28- How important are social skills in the modern world today?

29- Is there someone who has skills you admire? How did they get these skills?

30- Do any other countries have workers with better skills than yours? In what fields or ways?

31- What kinds of skills do teachers need to be successful?

32- What are some good ways for people to learn new skills?

33- What are three skills that you would like to teach your children?

34- When was the last time you tried to learn a new skill? What was it? 

35- Have you ever failed at trying to learn a new skill? What would you say went wrong?

36- What skills should the leader of a city or country have? What are they needed for?

37- If you could choose between having a great memory or being able to lift very heavy things, which would you choose?

38- Do children attend clubs like scouts where you live? What things do they learn there?

39- What are some outdoor skills that you are proud of having?

40- Do you think a person’s confidence affects their skills and abilities? In what ways?

Further activities

An interesting group activity you can do either before or after the questions about skills is to create a list of skills. Ask your group or class what skills are required to do certain jobs, sports, or tasks. For example, what skills are needed to be a – 

  • Race car driver
  • A rodeo clown
  • Competitive eater
  • A Buddhist monk
  • Video game designer
  • Zookeeper
  • Dog trainer
  • Ninja

What skills are required to – 

  • Climb Mt Everest
  • Build an igloo
  • Hunt a rabbit
  • Change oil in a car
  • Catch a fish
  • Organize a concert

You can make these quite ridiculous or more mundane depending on what is best for you.

Another thing you can do is turn this into a game by doing somewhat the opposite. List a set of skills and see who can guess what job or activity is being described. For example, if you wanted players to guess the word archaeologist, you might say – 

  • Good at digging
  • Is very adventurous
  • Knows a lot about history
  • Can read other languages
  • Strong research skills
  • Has a lot of patience

This can be a fun team game with points awarded for correct guesses. You can also get players or students to create their own skills list that they can read aloud for others to guess the intended answers. Also, check out the jobs flashcards that can be used well in tandem with this activity.

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