Conversation Topics / Children
Children Conversation Questions for Adult ESL Classes
Use these 20 discussion questions about Children to run a full speaking lesson with adult learners (C1–C2). Each part opens with a vocabulary warm-up, every question is labelled with the thinking skill it practises, and each part fills roughly thirty minutes of class time on its own.
Reviewed by Brando Oxley · 12 Aug 2026
Part 1
Childhood, Independence, and Growing Up
Focus: examining childhood experiences, independence, expectations, responsibility, and differences between generations
In one minute, think of two childhood activities, two responsibilities children may have, two people or places that influence children, and one challenge children may face.
REFLECT
Which experiences from childhood tend to have the strongest influence on the adults people become?
COMPARE
How does childhood today differ from the childhood experienced by previous generations?
ANALYZE
Why do societies disagree about how much freedom children should have at different ages?
EVALUATE
How much responsibility should children have for household tasks, schoolwork, and managing their own time?
BALANCE
How can parents protect children from genuine risks without preventing them from developing independence?
DISCUSS
To what extent should adults allow children to experience failure rather than immediately solving problems for them?
ANALYZE
What are the possible effects of placing strong academic or athletic expectations on children?
JUSTIFY
At what point should a child's personal preferences outweigh a parent's plans for them?
REFLECT
Why can adults remember their own childhood inaccurately when judging how children behave today?
RECOMMEND
What qualities should adults try hardest to help children develop before they become independent?
Part 2
Children, Technology, Education, and Society
Focus: evaluating modern pressures, technology, education, inequality, adult responsibility, and competing ideas about children's wellbeing
Choose one word from each category: Person: parent, teacher, child, coach; Action: guide, protect, encourage, limit; Place: home, school, playground, online space; Feeling: confident, frustrated, curious, pressured. Use your four words to describe a short scene in two or three sentences.
ANALYZE
How has constant access to smartphones, games, and social media changed the experience of childhood?
BALANCE
How should parents balance children's digital freedom with concerns about privacy, safety, and excessive screen time?
EVALUATE
Should schools focus more on academic achievement or on practical, social, and emotional skills?
DISCUSS
How much responsibility should schools have for teaching values and behavior that were traditionally taught at home?
COMPARE
How might growing up in a highly competitive environment differ from growing up in a more relaxed one?
ANALYZE
How can differences in family income affect children's opportunities even when schools try to treat everyone equally?
JUSTIFY
Under what circumstances, if any, should adults make important decisions for teenagers against their wishes?
EVALUATE
Do modern parents receive too much advice about how to raise children, or is greater access to information mainly helpful?
PREDICT
Which aspects of childhood are most likely to change over the next twenty years?
RECOMMEND
What could communities do to create healthier and more supportive environments for children without placing all responsibility on parents?