Favorite Foods

Whats your favorite food in your country? Describe how to make it.
What is your favorite American or British dish?
Holidays
Which holiday is your favorite? Why?
Do you celebrate any American holidays? Which one do you like best?
Why?

Famous Landmarks in Your Country
Describe a famous landmark or attraction in your country.

Childrens Lives
In your country, what role do children play in the family? Do they do
household chores or help families earn money?
Should teenagers work at paying jobs, or focus entirely on school?
Do children in your country help make any family decisions?

Dream Vacation
Whats the best vacation you ever took? Where did you go? What did you
do?
If you had unlimited time and money for a dream vacation, where would
you go?

Development and Conservation
Which is more important, economic development or environmental
conservation? Why?
Can you have both? How?

National Stereotypes
What stereotypes do other people have about your country? Are they
mostly true, only partly true, or completely false?
What stereotypes do you have about other countries, including the
United States? Do you think they are mostly true, only partly true, or
completely false?
Business
What do you think are/would be the advantages and disadvantages of
being your own boss?

Customer Service
Customer service is important for successful companies. Can you think of
any companies with good or bad customer service? What is good or bad
about their service?
What reputation for customer service do internet service providers and
telephone companies have in your country?
If you have a complaint about a company how is it usually received in
your country?
Writing letters of complaint is a favourite exam task. Have you ever
actually written a letter of complaint? What was the result?

Corruption
If corruption is a problem in a country, how could it be reduced?
Favouritism and nepotism, whereby jobs are given to friends or relatives,
are also forms of corruption. Are you aware of any such practices?
How frequent do you think such practices are? What do you think are the
consequences?
The 71-year-old fraudster Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in
prison in 2009. What do you think of this sentence?

Globalization
What are the pros and cons of globalisation?
Why do you think so many people oppose it?
Do you think if would be a good idea if all barriers to trade were removed
from the world and people could freely export and import without
customs duties or any other problems? What impact would such a change
have?
Do you think it would be a good idea if people could live and work in any
country they liked without restriction? What impact would such a change
have?
How would you react if a multinational employing several hundred
people in your area announced they were moving to another country
where production costs were lower?
Would your reaction be any different if that private company had
previously received large amounts of public money to set up their plant in
your area? Why/why not?
How would you react if a multinational employing several hundred
people announced they were moving to your country because production
costs were lower?
How much cheaper do you think goods are to produce in a developing
country than in a developed country? Why do you think this is?
How should developed countries respond to the challenges presented by
developing countries which have lower wage costs?
"Protectionism" refers to the practice of putting up trade barriers such as
import duties so as to reduce or prevent the importation of goods from
poorer countries and protect higher cost industries in more developed
nations. What do you think of the morality of excluding goods from poor
or developing countries?
Do you think goods that you normally buy are cheaper/more expensive if
produced where you live rather than imported?
Do you think imported goods are better quality than locally-produced
ones? Why/why not?
If your region/country were an apple-growing region, for instance, would
you be willing to pay more for locally-grown apples than for imported
ones?
One frequently-quoted example of globalisation is McDonalds. Some
people say that McDonalds restaurants are a bad thing because they
mean that everybody will eat the the same food; others say that they are a
good thing because you are always able to eat something you recognise
know and like. What is your opinion?

Insurance
Which of the following types of insurance do you have? Why/why not?
Credit card loss or theft insurance
Health insurance
House insurance
Life insurance
Professional liability insurance
Travel insurance
Any other kind of insurance
Have you ever made a claim on your insurance? Why? Was it easy or
complicated?
Have you ever changed your insurance company because they didn't
supply the customer service which you expected?
When your insurance becomes due each year do you check out different
companies or do you simply pay the renewal premium?
What are you like at risk analysis? Have you ever calculated the odds
involved in having an accident?
Have you ever had your house affected by a leak from an upstairs
neighbours' flat? What happened? Were either of you covered by
insurance? How quickly was it solved?
Which of the following types of car insurance do you have? Why/why
not?
Third party
Third party, fire and theft
Fully comprehensive