50 ESL Discussion Questions About Entertainment, Music, and Movies

Entertainment is the topic where you'll have the opposite problem to most speaking activities: students won't stop talking. They have strong opinions about films, passionate feelings about music, and surprisingly nuanced views about gaming and streaming culture.

That enthusiasm is your greatest asset. Students who are genuinely interested in the topic produce more language, take more risks with vocabulary, and sustain conversation longer.

Here are 50 questions organised by CEFR level. YapYapGo is a zero-prep classroom speaking practice tool that includes entertainment as a discussion topic category, with questions matched to age group and CEFR level. But these work just as well read aloud or projected. For more on choosing the right topics for your audience, see conversation topics that actually interest adults.

A2 Elementary (questions 1–10)

1. What is your favourite film? Why do you like it?
2. What kind of music do you listen to?
3. Do you prefer watching films at home or at the cinema?
4. What was the last TV show you watched?
5. Do you play any video games? Which ones?
6. Who is your favourite singer or band?
7. Do you like reading books? What kind?
8. How often do you watch YouTube?
9. Have you ever been to a concert? What was it like?
10. What do you usually do in the evening to relax?

B1 Intermediate (questions 11–25)

1. Do you think films today are better or worse than films from 20 years ago?
2. Is it wrong to use someone else's streaming account?
3. Do you think video games are a waste of time or a legitimate hobby?
4. How has the way people listen to music changed?
5. Would you rather be a famous actor or a famous musician?
6. Do you think there's too much violence in films and TV?
7. What's the best book you've read in the last year?
8. How do you discover new music or films?
9. Should cinemas be worried about streaming services?
10. Do you think reality TV is entertaining or harmful?
11. What film or show do you think everyone should watch?
12. How important is music in your daily life?
13. Do you prefer watching something alone or with other people?
14. Has a film or book ever changed the way you think about something?
15. What entertainment would you recommend to someone visiting your country?

Tool tip: YapYapGo's Topic Discussion mode pairs students automatically with entertainment questions at the right level. Students get genuinely excited about these topics - your job is just to shuffle partners and let the conversations happen.

B2 Upper-Intermediate (questions 26–40)

1. How has streaming changed the way stories are told in TV and film?
2. Should art that contains offensive content still be available?
3. How does the entertainment industry shape cultural values?
4. Are celebrities paid too much compared to essential workers?
5. How has social media changed the music industry?
6. Do you think AI-generated music and art should be considered "real" art?
7. How does the entertainment you consumed as a child affect who you are today?
8. Is nostalgia a genuine appreciation for the past or just resistance to the present?
9. Should there be more diversity in film and TV casting?
10. How has gaming culture evolved from a niche hobby to a mainstream industry?
11. Do awards like the Oscars still matter?
12. How does the business model of streaming affect the quality of content?
13. Should governments fund the arts, or should entertainment sustain itself commercially?
14. How has the line between news and entertainment blurred?
15. Is binge-watching a harmless pleasure or a symptom of something deeper?

C1 Advanced (questions 41–50)

1. How does the algorithm-driven recommendation system on streaming platforms create cultural echo chambers?
2. "Entertainment has replaced religion as the primary source of shared cultural narrative." Discuss.
3. To what extent does the consolidation of media ownership - fewer companies owning more content - threaten creative diversity?
4. How should we evaluate art created by people whose personal behaviour is morally reprehensible?
5. Is the attention economy turning entertainment into an addictive product rather than a cultural experience?
6. How does the globalisation of entertainment create a monoculture that threatens local artistic traditions?
7. "The purpose of art is to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." How well does modern entertainment serve this purpose?
8. Is the democratisation of content creation through platforms like YouTube and TikTok producing better art or just more noise?
9. How should intellectual property law adapt to a world where AI can generate infinite variations of any creative work?
10. If you could change one thing about the entertainment industry, what would it be and why?

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Free tools for your next lesson

• Topic Generator - Random conversation questions by category
• Topic Picker - Spin for a random discussion topic
• This or That - Generate quick "this or that" prompts

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Sources:

• Long, M. (1996). The Role of the Linguistic Environment in Second Language Acquisition. Handbook of Second Language Acquisition.
• Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge University Press. - Intrinsic interest in topics drives longer, more complex production.