Remedies

Everyone’s got a home remedy they swear by, whether it’s grandma’s chicken soup or some herbal tea. These questions explore natural treatments, traditional medicine, and what people trust when they’re not feeling well.

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. What do you keep at home for when you get sick? Give me some examples.
2. What do you usually drink when you feel sick? Who taught you that?
3. What food does someone in your family make for you when you are not feeling well? What is in it?
4. What do you do when you cannot sleep at night?
5. Do you take vitamins or supplements every day? What kind?
6. Do you like to take medicine or do you try to get better without it? What do you usually do?
7. What does your grandmother or grandfather use for headaches or pain?
8. What do you do when you have a sore throat? How much does it help?
9. When you are sick, do you stay home or do you still go to work or school? Why?
10. What foods or drinks do you try to avoid when you are not feeling well? Why?
11. When you were a child and got sick, what did your parents do to make you feel better?

Elementary (A2)

1. What do you do when you have a cold? What helps you feel better?
2. What do you do when you have a hangover? Does anything actually work?
3. What are some old or traditional remedies that people use in your country? Do any of them actually work?
4. What are some strange or unusual remedies you have heard of? Do you think any of them work?
5. Have you ever tried a strange or unusual remedy? What was it, and did it work?
6. Do hospitals make you nervous? Why or why not?
7. Who do you ask for advice when you don’t feel well? Why them?
8. Do you like going to the doctor, or do you try to avoid it? Why?
9. Have you ever had a really bad stomachache? What did you do?
10. What’s the worst tasting medicine you’ve ever had? What made it so bad?
11. Have you ever tried a remedy that someone recommended to you? How did it go?
12. What kinds of tea or herbal drinks do people in your country use when they’re sick? Why those?
13. Have you ever felt worse after taking medicine? What happened?
14. Have you ever tried acupuncture or cupping? How did it go?
15. Have you ever looked up your symptoms online and then worried you had something serious? What happened?
16. Do you prefer taking pills or liquid medicine? Why?
17. What do you do differently when a child is sick compared to when an adult is sick?
18. Do you check the expiration date on medicine before you take it? Why or why not?

Intermediate (B1)

1. What should you do to stop the bleeding if someone is hurt badly?
2. What do you think the idiom “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” means?
3. What is the best cure for a bad day? Why does it work so well?
4. Do you trust the advice of pharmacists, or do you prefer to see a doctor? Why?
5. Should people rely more on natural remedies or modern medicine? Why or why not?
6. Do you think it’s better to treat symptoms or address the root cause of an illness? How so?
7. If you could only have three medicines with you on a long trip, what would you bring and why?
8. Do you think people should always finish a full course of antibiotics, even if they feel better? Why or why not?
9. Do you think stress can make people physically sick? How so?
10. Do you think people take too much medicine these days? Why or why not?
11. Should parents give their children medicine every time they have a fever, or should they let the body fight it? Why or why not?
12. If a friend told you they only use alternative medicine and never go to the doctor, what would you say to them?
13. What do you think makes some people recover from illness faster than others? Give me some examples.

Upper-Intermediate (B2)

1. What ailments is western medicine better at treating? Why do you think so?
2. What ailments is eastern medicine better at treating? Why do you think so?
3. What’s the difference between a remedy that works because of science and one that works because you believe it will work?
4. How has access to medical information online changed the way people treat themselves at home? What do you think about those changes?
5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of treating minor illnesses at home instead of seeing a doctor?
6. How often do people in your country visit traditional healers instead of doctors? What influences that choice?
7. Compare how your parents’ generation treated common illnesses with how your generation does. What has changed and why?
8. What role should pharmaceutical companies play in making sure people in poorer countries have access to medicine?
9. How do you think the cost of medicine affects the choices people make about their health? What can be done to improve that?
10. How do advertisements for medicine and health products influence the way people take care of themselves? Is that influence mostly positive or negative?
11. Some remedies that were once considered folk medicine (like using honey for wounds) are now supported by science. Why do you think it took so long for modern medicine to recognize them?
12. Mental health is sometimes treated differently from physical health. Why do you think that is, and what can be done to change it?
13. How do cultural beliefs about illness and healing affect which remedies people trust? Give me some examples from different cultures.
14. Why do some remedies that have no scientific basis continue to be popular across generations, even when modern medicine is available?

Advanced (C1)

1. How does the pharmaceutical industry’s need for profit both drive medical innovation and create barriers to treatment access?
2. When a government promotes traditional medicine alongside modern medicine, it can preserve cultural heritage but may also put patients at risk. How should a country balance respecting cultural traditions with protecting public health?
3. How might the same medical advice be empowering for one patient but controlling or dismissive for another, depending on their relationship with their doctor?
4. How do government regulations on medicine aim to protect public safety while potentially slowing down access to new treatments? Where should the balance be?
5. Many people know that certain habits are bad for their health but continue doing them anyway. Why is the gap between knowing what is healthy and actually doing it so difficult to close?
6. What role does the placebo effect play in undermining or supporting the distinction between ‘real’ medicine and ‘fake’ remedies?
7. In the age of social media, health trends and miracle cures can spread faster than scientific research. How does this change the relationship between doctors and patients, and should there be limits on health advice shared online?
8. Some cultures see illness as something the whole community helps with, while others treat it as a personal matter. How do these different approaches affect both the sick person and the people around them?
9. There is a growing trend of people rejecting modern medicine in favor of ‘natural’ alternatives. What is driving this movement, and at what point does personal choice in healthcare become a public health risk?
10. People with more money often have access to better doctors, experimental treatments, and wellness retreats, while people with less money rely on whatever is available or affordable. How does this gap shape the way different social classes think about health and remedies?
11. The wellness industry sells everything from herbal supplements to detox programs, often using the language of science without the evidence to back it up. Why are people drawn to these products, and what does their popularity tell us about how much people trust, or distrust, mainstream medicine?

PDF: Download a PDF of all the questions