Conversation Questions and Activities to Aid in the Learning of English

Grammar Focus: Use of “a” “an” “the” 
―a‖ is non-specific. 
Please give me 
a
 pencil 
Any pencil 
―an‖ is also non-specific, but used before words that 
sound like
they begin with a, e, i, o 
,u (a vowel) ~ 
an
apple, 
an
elephant, 
an
ice-cream cone. Not 
an university
because the 
―u‖ in university sounds like a ―y,‖ as in yellow. 
―The‖ is specific.
Please give me 
the
 pencil 
Only one
 
particular pencil. 
―The‖ specifies the only one: 
Please open 
the
 door.
See appendix p.100 for further discussion
.
 
7
Put a time card into a machine that puts the time on it. Many workers must clock-in and later clock-out.

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Conversation Questions and Activities to Aid in the Learning of English 
Arranged according to tense, topic, and levels of difficulty 
By Prof. Mark McDowell, M.A. Mark’s ESL World ~ http://www.marksesl.com 
10 
“I usually have a ham and cheese sandwich / a submarine sandwich at 
Subway.” 
21.
How long do you go to school / work every day? 
“I’m at school for six hour every day.” 
 
22.
What time do you get off from work /school? 
“I get off at three-thirty
8
.” 
 
23.
What do you do in the evening? 
“I like to stay home and relax, but sometimes on weekends I go out 
and 
drink with my friends.” 
 
 
24.
What time do you usually go to bed? 
“At ten-o’clock.” 
Interests and Hobbies 
25.
What is a hobby?
9
Do you have any hobbies?
“Yes, I collect beer cans.” “Yeah, I collect coins.” “Sure, I like building 
model 
airplanes.” 
26.
What summer / winter activities do you like? 
“I like to play golf.” / “I like playing golf.” / “I like to go golfing.” / “I 
like in-
line skating.” / “I enjoy swimming.” / “I like to swim / 
swimming.” / “I like to go snow boarding / to snow board.”

27.
Do you like to shop
10
/ shopping
11
? What do you like to shop / shopping for? 
“I love shopping; it’s my favorite thing.” 
 
“Not really, it’s so boring and it takes so long.” 
 
28.
Where do you like to go shopping? 
“I like to go to the Galleria.” / “I usually go to E-Mart.”
 
29.
When was the last time you went shopping? 
“I went shopping last Sunday.” 
 
8
Don’t say o’clock unless it’s exactly on the hour, like one-o’clock, two-o’clock, etc. 
9
A hobby is