Homes

Everyone has opinions about where and how they live, which makes this topic naturally engaging. These questions explore everything from childhood homes to dream houses and what makes a space feel comfortable.

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. Is your home clean? Are you a very organized person?
2. Do you have a lot of decorations in your home or is it bare?
3. Are you happy with the size of your home? What would you change about it?
4. What is your favorite appliance, electronic device, or piece of furniture in your home? Why do you like it so much?
5. What would you say the decoration style of your home is? How did you decide on that style?
6. Where do you live? Do you live in a house or an apartment?
7. What room in your home do you spend the most time in? What do you usually do there?
8. What can you see from your windows at home? Do you like the view?
9. Do you have a garden or balcony? What do you do there?
10. Who do you live with? Tell me about them.
11. Do you have any pets in your home? What are they like?
12. Is your neighborhood quiet or noisy? What sounds do you hear?
13. What smells do you notice when you come home? How do they make you feel?
14. What is the oldest thing in your home? How long have you had it?

Elementary (A2)

1. How is your home different from your childhood home?
2. What do you do to maintain your home?
3. What household chores do you hate doing? Why are they so bad?
4. What is the best thing about your home? What makes it special?
5. Do you cook at home or eat out more? What’s good about each?
6. What is the noisiest thing in your home? Does it bother you?
7. Have you ever moved to a new home? How did it go?
8. What don’t you like about your current home? Why?
9. What’s the coldest or hottest your home gets? How do you deal with it?
10. Do you lock your doors and windows when you leave home? Why or why not?
11. What is the strangest home you have ever seen or heard about? What made it so unusual?
12. Have you ever helped someone move into a new home? What was that like?
13. What do you do when you have guests at your home? How do you get ready?

Intermediate (B1)

1. If you had $3,000 to improve your home, what would you spend it on?
2. Do you agree with the saying ‘Wherever I lay my head is home.’? Why or why not?
3. What would your ideal house or apartment look like?
4. Do you prefer living close to the city center or far away from it? Why?
5. Do you think it’s better to rent or buy a home? Why or why not?
6. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose and why?
7. What do you think makes a house feel like a home? Give me some examples.
8. What do you think is the biggest challenge of living with roommates or family members?
9. Do you think smart home technology makes life better or just more complicated? How so?
10. Should people be allowed to rent out their homes to strangers on apps like Airbnb? Why or why not?
11. If you had to move tomorrow and could only take five things from your home, what would you choose?
12. Do you think tiny homes or very small apartments are a good idea? Why or why not?
13. What is the most important thing to check before buying or renting a new home? What problems should you look out for?

Upper-Intermediate (B2)

1. Do you prefer an open floor plan or separate rooms in a home? What are the downsides of each?
2. How has the way people design and build homes changed over the last 50 years? What do you think about those changes?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in a multi-generational household?
4. How do housing costs and availability affect young people’s life choices? How often have you seen this affect people you know?
5. How do different cultures approach the concept of personal space in the home?
6. What are the environmental impacts of how modern homes are built and maintained? What can be done to improve that?
7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living alone compared to living with other people?
8. How is the idea of a ‘perfect home’ different across cultures and generations? How is it different from what your parents or grandparents wanted?
9. How do home design trends on social media influence what people want their homes to look like? Is that influence mostly positive or negative?
10. What responsibilities do landlords and tenants each have when it comes to keeping a home in good condition? Where do most disagreements come from?
11. Compare living in the city center with living in the suburbs. What type of person does each lifestyle suit best?
12. How might the rise of remote work and digital nomadism challenge traditional assumptions about what ‘home’ means?
13. How does where you live affect how you feel emotionally? When does a living space stop being just functional and start shaping your mental health?

Advanced (C1)

1. When someone uses smart home devices to track energy use, lock doors, and monitor their property, at what point does ‘convenience’ become ‘surveillance’?
2. Many governments encourage home ownership as a path to stability, but high prices lock younger generations out of the market. How does this gap between policy and reality shape people’s attitudes toward the economy and government?
3. Gentrification brings investment and improvement to run-down neighborhoods, but it also pushes out the people who lived there first. How do communities balance growth with protecting the people who made the neighborhood what it was?
4. In many cultures, adult children are expected to live with their parents until marriage, while in others, moving out early is seen as a sign of independence. How do these different expectations reflect deeper values about family, success, and personal freedom?
5. Homelessness exists even in the wealthiest countries. What does this say about how society defines ‘home’ as a right versus a privilege?
6. Minimalism has become a popular lifestyle trend, but the homes people show off online are often filled with expensive ‘simple’ furniture and carefully chosen objects. How does the gap between the idea of minimalism and the reality of it reflect broader contradictions in consumer culture?
7. As climate change makes some regions too hot, too dry, or too flood-prone to live in, millions of people will need to relocate. How should societies prepare for this, and who should bear the cost?
8. Architectural styles in homes often reflect the political and economic conditions of the time they were built. What can a country’s housing reveal about its history and values?
9. In many countries, governments build large public housing projects to help people who can’t afford homes, but these neighborhoods often become isolated and stigmatized over time. Why does housing meant to help people so often end up making their lives harder, and what does this pattern reveal about how cities, class, and politics interact?
10. Older people often want to stay in their homes as they age, but their neighborhoods, families, and physical abilities all change around them. How do aging populations put pressure on housing, healthcare, and family relationships all at the same time?
11. When natural disasters destroy homes, the rebuilding process often changes who lives in the area, what gets built, and who profits from the reconstruction. How do disasters reshape communities in ways that go far beyond the physical damage?

PDF: Download a PDF of all the questions