Write a Conversation Exercises for Speaking and Listening Classes

Updated 13th February 2022

Create-a-conversation worksheets help students  practice new vocabulary, build speaking skills and develop confidence using a second language. These PDF worksheets are great for classroom and online teaching. They are easy to submit, edit and correct online, especially in Google Classroom.  In addition, example conversations with video and audio are provided with the worksheets. So these exercises are perfect for speaking and listening classes.

The audio file or the video on YouTube can be used as listening activities. In particular the YouTube video is great for online listening activities. The PDF create-a-conversation worksheet is an excellent way to assess students’ language abilities.

I teach really large classes. One of the biggest problems in large classes is assessing students’ speaking and language abilities. So, at the end of  a  class I hand out the worksheets. Of course, this can be done online more easily (no paper!). The students create their own conversation or dialogue and come and perform the dialogue for me. Or they can make a video and submit online. Or they can just submit the written conversation. I give each student a score. This exercise (write a conversation format ) can be done every 2 or 3 classes (or even every class!-it’s worked really well for me) and gradually you build up a really accurate picture of a students’ abilities.

1 Comparative adjectives conversation

This is a listening/speaking exercise to help students practice and understand the use of comparative adjectives.

(download PDF)

(see the YouTube video)

2 Vacation and travel

In this conversation, one woman asks her friend about the resort she stayed at on her vacation.

(download PDF)

(see the YouTube video)

3 Talking about childhood

This is a gap fill conversation and listening/speaking exercise about childhood featuring “use to/used to” to help English language students talk about the past.

(download)

(see the video on YouTube)

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 4 Write a conversation: what are you doing at the end of the year?

Students can watch the video or listen to the audio and complete the gap fill conversation. Then they have to use at least 6 of the most common words or phrases to make their own conversation.

What are you doing at the end of the year? (PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)

 5 Write a conversation exercise: greetings and introductions (with conversation gap fill, video and audio)

Greetings and introductions (PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)

6 Write a conversation exercise: going out

“Going Out” is another good conversation topic. When students write these dialogues in pairs or small groups they automatically fall into a role play mode without any direction from the teacher.

Going out (PDF)

(YouTube gap fill version)

7 Write a conversation exercise: routines and daily activities with dialogue and audio for a listening exercise

Write-a- conversation exercises work really well for many topics including routines and daily activities.  I always get the students to perform just for me …not in front of the class..as they are more relaxed and I get a close up and personal look at their performance. Also, I can ask them to repeat the conversation easily if it is not fluent enough.

Routines and daily activities (PDF)

(YouTube video gap fill version)

8 What does she look like?

This is a listening/speaking exercise for describing people. This exercise focuses on a missing woman. Students can completer the listening exercise and then write their own conversation.

(download PDF)

(see YoutTube video)

9 Write a conversation exercise: simple past tense

Writing conversations with language cues is one good way of getting into the past tense.  Students have to think about  a past tense context and and create a  role play for this context. The language cues give them some assistance in guiding and developing their ideas. Also, there are 2 example conversations that can be used as listening exercises.

Create a past tense conversation (PDF)

(see the YouTube video)

10 Making an appointment telephone conversation (with answers)

    This is a dialogue or role play exercise  for students s to practice creating complete telephone conversations . Students use the  cues in the boxes to  write appropriate conversations.

Making an appointment telephone conversation  (PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)

 11 Write a conversation exercise:  health

Here, students have to write a health and illness conversation or dialogue. Writing a dialogue about health is one of the best ways to get students using health vocabulary, which can cause quite a few pronunciation problems.

Create a conversation- health (PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)

 12 Write a conversation exercise: talking about families

Talking about the families is another easy topic for dialogue/conversation writing for elementary English learners. This exercise includes 3 example conversations and one conversation (audio file) that can be used as a listening activity.

Write a conversation: family (PDF)

(see the YouTube video)

13 Write a conversation exercise: plans for the weekend (with examples and audio)

“Plans for the weekend” is similar to the above but a little more advanced. It requires students to understand  language for talking about the future. But the good thing about these exercises is that students can choose words and phrases they can manage.

Plans for the weekend (PDF)

14 Write a conversation exercise:  start a business (with audio and example conversations)

Staring a business is a popular topic with teenagers and university students. They have lots of ideas and opinions. This includes example conversations (restaurant and laundry service) with audio.

Create a conversation- start a business (PDF)

Related Resources

Listening exercises for English language classes

9 Super Elementary Speaking Exercises

5 Elementary Create a Conversation Exercises for Speaking Classes

5 Elementary Conversational Expressions Exercises

5 First Day Activities for an ESL Class

10 Really! Elementary ESL classroom icebreakers

7 Essential Speaking Activities for ESL Classes

12 Great Icebreakers to Start a Class

8 Invitation and Request Dialogues for Everyday Scenarios

 15  Create a conversation: personality

Writing a conversation exercises work really well for some topics and personality is one of the best. This works best with lower level students of course, but with advanced students you have to encourage them to build on their ideas.

Write a conversation: personality(PDF)

(see the video on YouTube)

 16 Write a conversation exercise: friendship

Of course, friendship is a great topic for getting students to use adjectives for personality and describing people.

Friendship (PDF)

 17 Write a conversation exercise: houses and neighborhoods

Of courses, it’s also fairly easy for students  to talk about their  houses and neighborhoods if they have suitable vocabulary. One of the things that surprised me when listening to students perform these conversation exercises was how quickly I could get through a class of fifty students. The students were using similar vocabulary in various ways which revealed their language and conversational abilities. And so it was easy to compare and assess the students.

Houses and neighborhoods (PDF)

 18 Write a conversation exercise: food and eating

One of the best conversation writing topics is food. Students instantly start creating fun role plays. Also, vocabulary around food and eating  brings in a lot of interesting pronunciation challenges.

Food and eating (PDF)

Related Speaking Skills Resources

Socializing Speaking Lessons Home

10 Role Play Speaking Activities

11 Classroom Debate and Discussion Language Activities

5 Cracking Complaints and Annoyances Language and Speaking Exercises

12 Brilliant Business English Speaking Skills  Activities

 19 Write a conversation exercise:  problem/solution

Here, students have to compare the past and present using “used to”. It’s a fun and interesting conversation writing exercise for students with some fluency.

Create a conversation- problem solution (PDF)