As online ESL teachers, we all fall into the habit of starting our classes with “How are you?,” which gets tedious and boring. While this timeless question is polite and familiar, it often leads to short, unengaging answers like “I’m fine” or “good.”

If you’re looking to spark more genuine conversation right off the bat to warm up your students’ speaking skills and build stronger classroom rapport, it’s time to mix up your opening questions.

Here are 15 fun and engaging questions for various English levels to start your ESL class in a more interesting way. These work well for 1-1 classes as well as for groups. They can also be adapted for different ages.

Easy Class Starter Questions

1. What did you eat for breakfast this morning? (Or lunch/dinner?)

(Food is always a fun and relatable topic!)

2. What’s the weather like where you currently are?

(Great for introducing more weather vocabulary and comparing climates in different regions.)

3. What’s one thing you see around you right now? Describe it.

(This gets students looking around their surroundings and using descriptive language.)

4. What color are you feeling today and why?

(A fun and visual way to talk about emotions.)

5. If you were an animal, which animal would you be?

(This encourages creativity and thinking outside the box.)

Intermediate Class Starter Questions

6. What’s something fun or interesting that happened this week?

(A simple way to practice the past tense and storytelling.)

7. If you could visit any country in the world, where would you go and why?

(Ideal question to lead to a discussion about culture and travel.)

8. What’s one thing you’re looking forward to this weekend?

(Encourages students to practice the future tense.)

9. What superpower would you like to have and why?

(A light topic that opens up the imagination.)

10. What song/podcast have you been listening to lately?

(Opens up the conversation about student interests.)

Advanced Class Starter Questions

11. What’s one piece of advice you would give your younger self?

(Thoughtful and emotional, great for critical thinking.)

12. If you could instantly learn one new skill, what would it be?

(Encourages students to express goals and interests.)

13. What’s something small that made you happy recently?

(Helps students focus on gratitude and personal reflection.)

14. If you had 20 minutes to teach this class anything, what would you teach?

(Gets students thinking about their unique skills and what they could contribute.)

15. What’s something people often misunderstand about your culture?

(Builds cross-cultural awareness and a deep discussion about stereotypes.)

You can tweak these questions to match the theme of your lesson or create entirely different questions. The idea is to be creative with how you begin your classes so students become engaged right from the start.

Feel free to turn this into a routine, where at the start of each class, you have a question of the day and all students have to answer it.

What other questions do you like asking your ESL students to get them talking? Share them in the comments below!