This giving opinions activity is designed to get your students talking, thinking, and learning more about each other. It’s especially effective as a first-lesson icebreaker with Intermediate to Advanced learners and works equally well in regular conversation classes.
The goal is to encourage students to express their personal views on a variety of thought-provoking or controversial topics. It promotes fluency, active listening, negotiation, and spontaneous conversation—key skills for real-world communication.
See the Speaking Activities hub page for more discussion ideas including Controversial Opinions conversation questions. There is also an online set of controversial opinion cards at our online focused sister site learnhip.com.
Preparation
- Print out the opinion cards (or write your own using topics relevant to your students’ interests or current affairs).
- Cut them out and shuffle the cards.
- Hand out five random cards to each student.
Give students a few minutes to read their cards silently and check any unfamiliar vocabulary or phrases with you before the mingling begins.
How to Play: The Mingle & Swap Game
- Explain the objective: Students should try to keep the cards they strongly agree with and pass on any cards they disagree with.
- Students mingle and ask classmates what they think about the opinions written on their cards.
- If someone agrees with an opinion, they take the card and add it to their collection. If not, the student continues searching for someone who does.
- Students may explain why they agree or disagree, but the aim is to keep the exchanges natural, quick, and conversational.
Let the mingling continue until energy levels start to dip or most students have a manageable number of cards.
Debrief and Group Discussion
- Ask students to return any cards they couldn’t give away.
- Review these leftover cards one by one, asking if anyone has changed their mind or wants to take them.
- Invite each student to choose one or two opinion cards they are holding and explain why they agree with them.
- Encourage follow-up questions and short debates, helping to clarify vocabulary or correct errors when appropriate.
This part of the lesson creates space for deeper discussion, critical thinking, and personalized language input.
Teaching Tips
- You can easily adapt this activity to different levels by simplifying or expanding the language on the cards.
- To make it more structured, group the cards into categories (e.g., technology, culture, education).
- Encourage polite disagreement using phrases like:
- “I see your point, but…”
- “That’s interesting, although I think…”
- “I’m not sure I agree with that.”
Why It Works
This activity is one of the most effective ways to get students giving opinions in English without pressure. Because they’re speaking from personal belief or experience, they engage more naturally—and you’ll get valuable insight into their personalities and interests.