Numbers

Numbers come up constantly in everyday conversation, from lucky numbers to reading statistics in the news. These questions give students practice talking about both simple counting and more complex ideas about how we use data to understand the world.

Questions are organized by level from beginner to advanced. A printable PDF of all the questions is available at the bottom of the page.

Beginner (A1-A2)

1. Who invented the number system we use today? What do you know about how it started?
2. What are the two most important numbers in the world? Why did you pick those?
3. What numbers are unlucky? Why are people afraid of those numbers?
4. Ask your partner two how many/much questions.
5. What is the first thing you think of when you think of three? Why does that come to mind?
6. How many phone numbers do you remember? Whose are they?
7. What is the biggest number you can think of? What would you use it for?
8. How many languages can you count to ten in? Which ones?
9. What numbers do you see or use every day? (Phone numbers, prices, addresses, etc.)
10. Do you prefer round numbers or exact numbers when you tell time? What do you usually say?
11. What numbers do you see most often in your home? Where are they?
12. How old were you when you learned to count? Who taught you?
13. Are you good at math or bad at math? What is easy for you and what is hard?
14. What is the highest floor you have ever been on in a building? Was it fun or scary?
15. Have you ever used Roman numerals? Where did you see them?
16. How good are you at guessing numbers, like the time, the temperature, or how far away something is? What are you best at guessing?
17. Do you like math puzzles or brain teasers? What is a good one you have tried?

Elementary (A2)

1. What do you know about the history of numbers? What is one interesting fact you have learned?
2. What is your favorite number? Why is it your favorite number?
3. What numbers are lucky in your culture? What makes them lucky?
4. Do you count calories or track numbers about your health? Why?
5. Have you ever won money from a lottery or gambling with numbers? What happened?
6. Have you ever gotten confused by different number formats in other countries? What confused you?
7. What’s the worst grade you ever got on a math test? How did you feel about it?
8. What is the hardest math you had to do in school? Why was it so hard?
9. When you were young, did you count anything unusual, like stairs, cars, or ceiling tiles? Why did you do that?
10. Do you remember your first phone number or address as a child? What was it?
11. Do you prefer to tip with a round number or an exact percentage? Why?

Intermediate (B1)

1. Why are numbers so important?
2. Should students be allowed to use calculators to do math in school or should they learn to do it without calculators first? Why or why not?
3. Do you think people rely too much on GPS and phone numbers instead of remembering them? How so?
4. Do you think lucky and unlucky numbers affect people’s decisions? Is it common in your culture or country?
5. If you could change one thing about how math is taught in schools, what would it be? Why?
6. Do you think people understand percentages and statistics when they see them in the news? What are the downsides of that?
7. Do you think math anxiety is a real problem or just an excuse? Why do you think so?
8. Should math classes spend more time teaching students how to understand statistics and data? Why or why not?
9. Why do you think so many people say they hate math? Is there something wrong with how it is taught?
10. If you could only use one number for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
11. Some buildings skip the 13th floor, and some airlines skip row 13. Do you think businesses should change things because of number superstitions? Why or why not?
12. Do you trust online reviews and ratings when they show numbers like ‘4.8 out of 5 stars’? What makes you trust them or ignore them?

Upper-Intermediate (B2)

1. Some people say that math is the language of the universe. Do you agree? Why or why not?
2. How has the use of credit scores changed the way people manage their money? What do you think about those changes?
3. When someone uses statistics in an argument, what do you check for? How do you know if the numbers are trustworthy?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using step-counters and fitness trackers to monitor your health?
5. How do social media metrics like follower counts and likes affect people’s behavior? How often have you changed what you post because of the numbers?
6. Compare how businesses use ‘charm pricing’ like $9.99 instead of $10. What do you think about those pricing strategies?
7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of measuring success with numbers, like test scores, salaries, or social media followers?
8. Compare how different cultures treat numbers. For example, why is 4 unlucky in some East Asian countries but 13 is unlucky in Western countries? What does this tell us about how culture shapes beliefs?
9. Governments often use statistics to support their policies. How can the same numbers be used to argue for completely opposite positions?
10. How is understanding data and statistics becoming as important as reading and writing? What happens when people cannot understand the numbers they see in the news?
11. If schools stopped giving grades and test scores and only gave written feedback, what would be gained and what would be lost?
12. Numbers play a huge role in how governments and companies make decisions. How much do you trust the statistics and data they use? What makes you trust them or doubt them?

Advanced (C1)

1. People increasingly let numbers make decisions for them, for example, algorithms choose what they watch, credit scores decide who gets a loan, and health apps tell them when to sleep. At what point does relying on numbers stop being helpful and start taking away personal judgment?
2. When someone uses makeup, filters, or cosmetic surgery, we debate whether it is ‘real.’ But when a country uses GDP, unemployment rates, or happiness indexes to measure its success, we rarely question whether those numbers show reality. Why do we trust numbers more than appearances?
3. In many cultures, certain numbers carry deep meaning, the number 8 symbolizes prosperity in China, 7 is sacred in many religions, and 666 is feared in Western traditions. How do these number beliefs continue to shape real economic and social behavior even in modern, scientific societies?
4. Companies and politicians often say ‘the data shows…’ to end debates. How does framing something as a number or statistic make it harder to argue against, even when the data might be incomplete or misleading?
5. Schools rank students by test scores, hospitals rank doctors by patient outcomes, and websites rank everything with star ratings. How does reducing complex performance to a single number both motivate people and distort what they focus on?
6. When a news headline says ‘Crime is up 20%,’ people react very differently than when it says ‘Crime went from 5 cases to 6 cases per 10,000 people.’ Why is the way numbers are presented often more powerful than the numbers themselves?
7. Many people know their weight, their credit score, their IQ, and their annual salary. How does knowing these numbers change the way people see themselves and their place in society?
8. How might the gamification of everyday activities through points, streaks, and leaderboards both motivate behavior and manipulate psychological vulnerabilities?
9. How do age restrictions on activities and products reveal tensions between personal freedom, public safety, and the arbitrary nature of choosing specific numbers?
10. Inflation means the same amount of money buys less over time for example, your grandparents could buy a house for what a car costs today. How does the changing value of money affect the way different generations understand numbers like prices and salaries?

PDF: Download a PDF of all the questions