Aging touches everyone’s life in some way, making it relatable across cultures and age groups. These questions work well for exploring attitudes about growing older, family dynamics, and how different societies view their elders.
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)
- How long do you want to live assuming you will be healthy and active? Why?
- Do you have grandparents? Tell me about them.
- Do you want to live to be 100 years old? What would you do?
- When do people in your country become adults? What can they do then?
- Do you spend time with older people? What do you do together?
- Do older people in your country live with their family or alone? What is more common?
- Do you look more like your mother or your father as you get older? How so?
- What is your favorite thing about your age right now? Why?
- What is something only older people know how to do?
- What do you call your grandparents? Is that common in your country?
Elementary (A2)
- Which celebrities have aged well? What do you think their secret is?
- Do older people or young people have more fun? What’s good about each?
- What is the funniest thing about getting older?
- What does a typical day look like for a retired person you know?
- Are you afraid of getting old? What part worries you the most?
- What’s something you want to learn before you get old? Why?
- Have you ever felt too young for something? What happened?
- What’s different about how you look now compared to 10 years ago?
- Have you ever been mistaken for a different age? What did you think of that?
- What did your grandparents teach you? Give me some examples.
- Have you ever lied about your age? What happened?
- What do older people complain about the most? Why?
- What is something that was easier when you were younger? Why was it easier?
- What is the best advice an older person ever gave you? Why was it good advice?
- What is the hardest thing about being a teenager? Why?
Intermediate (B1)
- What are some of the benefits of getting older?
- Do you think humans will ever be able to stop or reverse aging? Why or why not?
- Is aging more difficult for men or women? Why?
- Are older people actually wiser?
- What kind of support should children give their aging parents?
- How well do you relate to people who are 5 years younger than you? How about 10 years younger?
- Do you think age is just a number? Why or why not?
- Should people try to look younger than they are? Why or why not?
- Should older people live with their children or independently? What’s good about each?
- What do you think is the hardest part about getting older? Give me some examples.
- What makes someone age gracefully? What do you think are the most important factors?
- Should companies be required to hire older workers? Why or why not?
- If you could stay one age for the rest of your life, what age would you pick and why?
- Should adult children be expected to take care of their aging parents? Is it common in your culture or country?
- Do you think people become more or less open-minded as they get older? What makes you think that?
- Is getting older mostly about losing things or gaining things? What have you noticed?
- How has the role of grandparents changed in your country? What do you think about those changes?
Upper-Intermediate (B2)
- Who is the oldest person you know? How is their view of the world different than yours?
- How are older people viewed in your country? Is that changing?
- How do attitudes toward aging differ across cultures? What accounts for these differences?
- How has medical technology changed what it means to age? What do you think about those changes?
- Compare how young people and older people use technology. What explains the differences you observe?
- How are retirement expectations different for your generation compared to your parents’ generation? What has caused these changes?
- What factors influence how someone experiences aging? How much control do individuals have over the process?
- How does income inequality affect how people experience aging? In what specific ways?
- How is age discrimination different from other kinds of discrimination? Why does it get less attention?
- Compare how aging is portrayed in advertising versus in real life. What are the biggest differences?
- What happens to a society that values youth over experience? What gets lost?
- How do economic pressures and cultural expectations create conflicting obligations for people caring for aging parents?
Advanced (C1)
- How does society simultaneously celebrate youth while claiming to value the wisdom of age? What does this contradiction reveal about underlying cultural priorities?
- To what extent does the concept of ‘successful aging’ reflect cultural biases about productivity, independence, and self-reliance? How might alternative frameworks challenge these assumptions?
- What tensions exist between respecting cultural traditions around aging and addressing the practical needs of modern aging populations? How do societies navigate these competing demands?
- How does the medicalization of aging both expand and constrain how we understand the aging process? What alternative perspectives does this biomedical dominance marginalize?
- What tensions emerge when economic systems depend on consumption and productivity but individuals eventually age beyond capacity to contribute? How sustainable is this model?
- To what extent does the anti-aging industry exploit people’s fear of death while simultaneously driving medical innovation?
- How do political and economic systems benefit from keeping older and younger generations in competition with each other?
- What tensions exist between personal autonomy and family responsibility when deciding how to care for someone with dementia?
- If science made it possible to live to 200, how would that change the way societies think about marriage, careers, and generational wealth?
- How does the growing isolation of older people in wealthy countries challenge the assumption that economic development leads to better lives for everyone? What does this pattern reveal about what modern societies actually prioritize?