Questions for discussion
Music
What kind of music do you like?
Are you a good singer?
Can you concentrate on other things when you are listening to music?
Can you play a musical instrument?
If so, what do you play?
How long have you been playing?
Are you good at it?
Can you play the drums?
Can you play the guitar?
Can you read music?
Do you enjoy music videos?
Do you ever listen to MP3 files on your computer?
Do you have an expensive stereo system?
Do you know the band named Metallica? If so, do you like them?
Do you like all kinds of music?
Do you like American rock bands?
Do you like country music?
Do you like heavy metal bands like Megadeath, Marilyn Manson, and so on?
Do you like jazz?
Do you like to listen classical music?
Do you like to listen country music?
Who is your favorite country singer?
Do you like to listen to Broadway musicals?
What is your favorite Broadway musical show?
Do you like punk music?
Do you like singing karaoke?
How often do you sing karaoke?
Do you like to dance?
Do you listen to music while doing your homework?
Do you sing while taking a bath?
Do you think there is a relationship between drugs and music?
How about violence and music?
Do you think your favorite music twenty years from now will be the same as it is today?
Do you watch music shows on TV? If so, what do you watch?
Does you mother play the piano?
Have you ever been to a concert?
Have you ever been to a rock concert?
Have you ever been to an orchestra concert?
Have you ever taken part in a singing competition?
How does music make you feel?
How many CD's do you have?
How much time do you spend listening to music?
How often do you listen to music? (...to classical music, ... to jazz, ...)
How often do you listen to the radio?
If you could play any musical instrument, what would it be?
If you could start a band, what type of music would you play? Why?
If you were a song, what song would you be and why?
Is live music popular in your country?
Is there any kind of music that you hate?
Should music lyrics be rated similar to the way movies are rated?
What are some concerts you have been to?
What are some special or traditional musical instruments in your country?
What do you think the world would be like without music?
What do you think of manufactured bands? Can you name any?
What is one of your favorite songs?
Why do you like it?
When did you first hear it?
Who sings it?
What is your favorite karaoke song to sing?
What is your favorite kind of music?
What kind of music do you like?
What kind of music do you listen to to cheer you up?
What kind of music do you usually listen to?
What kind of music do your parents listen to?
What kind of music you like the most?
What kind of songs do you like to sing?
What kinds of music do people listen to in your country?
What kinds of music do you dislike?
What musicians did you like when you were in junior high school? How about high school?
What radio station do you usually listen to?
What was the last CD you bought?
What was the last concert you went to?
What was your favorite music five years ago? 10 years ago? How have your musical tastes changed?
When was the last time you went dancing?
When was the last time you went to a concert?
Where do you usually listen to music?
Which do you prefer, songs in English or songs in your own language?
Who is your favorite singer or group?
Who is your favorite singer?
Why do you think music is important and how does it affect different people?
Why is music so important to people and culture?
Is the image of the group or singer more important than the music?
Can you think of examples of music calming people or increasing their efficiency?
Do you mind singing to other people? (Another wording: ...singing in front of people?)
If you don't mind then how large an audience would be too many?
While listening to the radio, do you ever want to sing the song that is being played?
Why do you think some people believe opera singers should be fat?
Do you ever download MP3 files from the Internet?
Do you prefer rock music or romantic music?
Do you think music can heal sick people?
Do you think that animals can enjoy music? How do you know?
Do you think that music can help make world peace? How?
How important do you think a good music teacher is to mastering an instrument?
What do you think the next piece of music technology will be, after digital technology?
If you could invent a new instrument, what would it sound like?
Do you think the use of drugs by some musicians increases their artistic creativity?
Who is your favorite composer?
Did you go to the symphony when you were a child?
Do your brothers and sisters also love classical music?
What makes a song popular for you, the lyrics of the song or the melody?
Why is the recorder called the recorder?
Who is the most famous musician from your country?
Do you think it is wrong to download music for free?
Do you ever create (mix) CD's for your friends?
Does your country have laws against copying CD's?
Do you prefer listening to songs in your own language or in another language? Why?
Does music affect unborn children?
Do you think that people form different cultures react to music in different ways?
What do you think of when you listen to music?
What kind or style of music would it be weird for your parents to listen to? Why?
If you could be any musician in the world, who would you be and why?
If you could be a musician who would you be?
Films in your language
Do you have a film industry in your country?
What is your general impression of it?
If you do not have a film industry in your country, where are most of the movies that you watch made?
Do any other countries make films in your language? If so, name them.
Which country is the main producer of movies in your language?
Are you aware of the location of any major film festivals for films in your language?
Is there an independent film industry producing movies in your language? If you know about it, please describe it.
What are the names of some of the most famous directors of movies in your language?
What films have they made?
Who are some of the most famous male actors in movies in your language?
Can you name at least three?
Do you like them?
What are they famous for?
What kinds of people like them?
Does anyone not care for them?
Who are some of the most famous female actors, or actresses, in films in your language?
Can you name at least three?
Do you like them?
What are they famous for?
What kinds of people like them? Does anyone dislike them?
Please name some of the best films made in your language. Describe their plots and tell why you liked them.
Has the film industry that makes films in your language produced films that became popular around the world? If so, name some.
Are animated films being originally produced in your language?
Do you like them?
Describe some of them.
Have they become popular outside your country or culture?
Are romantic films produced in your language?
How do they differ from romantic movies made in Hollywood?
Describe some comedy films made in your language.
How are they different from Hollywood comedies?
Are horror films produced in your language?
How do they differ from scary movies made in Hollywood?
What about action films?
Are they different in some ways from Hollywood films?
Do films made in your language have the same kinds of special effects as Hollywood films?
Are there good documentaries made in your language? If so, describe some topics they deal with.
What positive effects do foreign films have on the people and culture of your country?
What possible negative effects do foreign films have on the people and culture of your country?
For example, do you feel that what is shown in foreign films conflicts with or distorts the values of your own culture?
For example, do people in your country get the wrong kind of information from foreign films?
In an ideal world, what would you like to see the future be of the film industry in your language?
What kinds of films would you like your children to watch when they are young?
When they are teenagers?
When they become adults?
Are movies originally produced in your language the most popular films in your country, or are films with subtitles or dubbing from studios in other countries, for example, from Hollywood in the United States, more popular in your country than those made in your language?
Hobbies
What is your hobby?
How long have you had a hobby?
Why do people have hobbies?
Why did you start your hobby?
Can you make money from doing your hobby?
How many hours a week do you spend on your hobby?
Is your hobby safe or dangerous?
What is a hobby?
Why do people need hobbies?
What can one do as a hobby?
How much time can one spend on his/her hobby?
What is your hobby?
Does your hobby interfere with your work/study/personal life?
Do you spend money on your hobby?
Does your hobby influence your choice of friends?
Can a hobby save a child from bad peer influence?
Can a hobby be dangerous?
Have you got a hobby?
How long have you had your hobby?
Which hobbies are the most expensive?
Which hobbies are the cheapest?
Which hobbies cost nothing at all?
Which hobbies are the most popular in your country?
Is hunting a hobby or a sport in your country?
Which hobbies are the most popular with women in your country? With men?
Did you have any hobbies when you were a child?
Can you think of any hobbies which are popular with children and adults?
Do you think a hobby is different from a sport?
Are there any hobbies you would like to try?
Are there any dangerous hobbies?
Are there any hobbies you can do in other countries, but not your own?
Which hobbies do you think are the most difficult?
Free time
Do you have enough free time?
Do you have free time on Sundays?
Do you have much free time during the day?
Do you have much free time in the evenings?
Do you have much free time in the mornings?
Do you like to watch movies? (...like to play tennis, ...)
What are you doing this weekend?
What did you do last summer vacation?
What did you do last weekend?
What do you do in your free time?
What hobbies do you have?
When do you have free time? (How do you spend your free time?)
Where do you spend your free time?
Who do you spend your free time with?
How do you like to spend your free time?
going shopping? going to the cinema? chatting? playing computer games going to the disco? playing sports?reading? relaxing?
If you had more free time, what would you do with it?
Tell me about some good places to hang out.
Why are they good?
Where do young people in this country usually spend their free time?
Would you like to have more free time?
What would you like to give up so that you could have more free time?
How do the women in your family usually spend their free time?
How do the men in your family usually spend their free time?
Do men and women spend their free time differently? How?
If it were suddenly announced that tomorrow was a national holiday, what would you do?
What do you do on Saturdays?
Do people's leisure time activities change as they get older? How?
Who do you like to spend your leisure time with?
What do you usually do?
Do you like gossiping in your free time?
Who do you gossip with?
Who do you gossip about?
What do you really hate having to do in your free time?
What new activity would you like to try doing in your free time?
Do you ever feel that you waste your free time? How?
What can you do about this?
Do you find that your works or studies takes up your free time?
Are there any activities that you used to do but don't do anymore?
Why did you stop?
