Conversation Starters

The Situation

Your students need to build rapport with one another.

The Solution

At the beginning of the year, some students know each other from previous classes while others may not.

As the teacher, you will want to get students to interact as quickly as possible. When students have built rapport they are more likely to get along and it reduces conflicts. You will want them to find a common ground and at least be friendly with one another. You can’t expect 30 random people to be friends, but you can hopefully develop some stable relationships.

Using the following conversation starters, you can get students talking quickly.

1. Print them off and laminate the cards.
2. Place on the students’ desk.
3. Students need to pick another person at their table, if this is how your class is set up, and pose a question.
4. Encourage students to talk about their topic for one minute.
5. The other student then need to rally back, offering something they found interesting or something that they would like to add to the conversation.

Through this activity, students are not just talk but learning how to interact with others. Feel free to discuss the importance of this to students. When will they need to talk to people? Relationships. The workplace. The answers are endless.