Studying in another country is a rich topic that sparks real conversation: students often have strong opinions or big dreams about it. Works well for discussing education, culture shock, and personal goals.
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)
- Have you ever been to school in another country? If so, tell me about it. If not, would you like to?
- Do you know anyone who has studied in another country? What did they study?
- Have you ever studied something in a language that wasn’t your first? Tell me about it.
- Do you want to study in another country someday? Why?
- What language would you like to study in? Is it easy or hard for you?
- If you studied abroad, who would you miss the most? (Family, friends, pets, etc.)
- What food from your country would be the hardest to find in another country?
- Would you like to live with a host family or in a student dormitory? Why?
- What is the first thing you would do when you arrive in a new country for school?
- Do you think it would be fun to go to school with students from many different countries? Why?
- How long would you like to study in another country? (A few weeks, a few months, a year, etc.)
- What is one thing about your school that you think students from other countries would find interesting?
Elementary (A2)
- What kind of school would you like to study at in another country? What’s good about it?
- What country would you most like to study in? Why?
- What would you pack if you were going to study abroad for one year? What are three things you would not forget?
- What kind of food do you think you would eat every day if you studied abroad? Why?
- Would you rather study abroad alone or with a friend from your country? Why?
- What subject would you most like to study in another country? Why that subject?
- Do you think it would be easy or hard to make friends in a foreign school? Why?
- Have you ever met a foreign student at your school? What country were they from?
- What do you think would be the most fun part of studying in another country? Why does that sound fun?
- If you studied abroad, how would you keep in touch with your family and friends at home? (Video calls, messages, social media, etc.)
- What sport or hobby would you want to try if you studied in another country? Why that one?
- Do you think studying abroad is mostly for young people, or can anyone do it? Why?
- What is one thing you would want to learn about a country before going there to study? Why is that important to know?
Intermediate (B1)
- What subjects would be hardest to study in a foreign language? What makes them so hard?
- What do you think student life looks like in another country? (Food, housing, classes, friends, etc.) How is it different from life here?
- What do you think would be the hardest part of daily life if you moved to another country for school? What would you struggle with the most?
- Would you rather study in a big city or a small town in another country? What’s good about each?
- Do you think studying abroad sounds exciting or scary? Why?
- Do you prefer studying with people from your own country or with students from many different countries? Why?
- What should a school do to help new foreign students feel welcome? What works best?
- Do you think studying abroad is very expensive? What kinds of costs are involved?
- What do most foreign students seem to find surprising about your country when they first arrive? Why do you think that surprises them?
- Do you prefer learning a language in a classroom or by living in the country where it’s spoken? Why?
- What’s the best age to study abroad? Why do you think that age is best?
- Do you think it’s better to study abroad for a short time (a few months) or a long time (a year or more)? Why?
- Do you think studying abroad makes students more independent or just more stressed? Why do you think so?
- Do you think students who study abroad come back as different people? How so?
- What are some things students should do before leaving to study in another country? What do most people forget to do?
- If you could study anywhere in the world for one year, where would you go and what would you study? What made you choose that?
- What kind of personality do you think is best suited for studying abroad? Why are those traits important?
- How do you think studying in another country helps students understand their own culture better?
Upper-Intermediate (B2)
- What are the biggest differences between school systems in different countries? Give me some examples.
- How do you think culture shock affects students’ ability to study and do well in class? Is it common in your country for students to struggle with this?
- Should language test scores like IELTS or TOEFL be required for all international students, or are there better ways to check if someone is ready? Why or why not?
- How do you think a student’s experience studying abroad is different depending on whether they go as a teenager, as a university student, or as an adult? What is good about each age?
- Is it better to study abroad in a country that speaks your language or a country with a completely different language? What are the good and bad sides of each?
- How does studying in a second language change the way students understand and remember new information? Do you think the effects are mostly positive or mostly negative?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of a country actively recruiting foreign students to its universities? Who benefits most and who might be left out?
- How has the number of students studying abroad changed over the past 20 years? What do you think has driven those changes?
- Some students go abroad to escape a highly competitive academic system in their home country. How does that kind of pressure affect students’ decisions about where and what to study?
- How fair is it that students from wealthier families have far more options when it comes to studying abroad? What can be done to make international education more accessible?
- How does studying abroad affect the relationship between international students and their home culture? Do most students feel more connected or less connected to their roots after returning?
- What are the challenges universities face when they try to integrate international students into campus life alongside local students? What tends to work well and what usually doesn’t?
- Some international students say they learned more outside the classroom than inside it. What does that tell us about whether the academic side of studying abroad is really the most important part?
- Some people study abroad mainly for the academic experience, while others go mostly for the cultural experience. Which matters more in the long run, and why?
- How do cultural differences in teaching styles (lectures vs. group discussions, memorization vs. critical thinking) affect students who study abroad? How did you or someone you know adjust?
- University rankings are hugely influential in where students choose to study, but critics say those rankings reward research output over teaching quality. How much should students trust global university rankings when deciding where to go?
Advanced (C1)
- When a student spends years being educated in a foreign language and culture, does that gradually reshape how they think, or does their first language and home culture stay the dominant frame for everything they understand?
- Some countries use international student enrollment as a form of soft power, building cultural ties and long-term relationships through education. How does that political dimension change what studying abroad actually means for students?
- Students who go abroad often return home changed in ways that put them at odds with their family and community. How does that tension between the person who left and the person who returned play out, and who usually wins?
- When a student chooses to study at a foreign university partly because their own country’s academic freedom is restricted, what does that choice reveal about the relationship between education, politics, and personal freedom?
- Some researchers argue that the most valuable thing about studying abroad is not the academic content but the discomfort: being forced to navigate unfamiliar systems, social rules, and ways of thinking. Do you think that discomfort is the point, or is it just an obstacle?
- Many countries actively recruit international students because they pay higher tuition fees. How does treating education as a business change the experience for the students themselves, and where is the line between welcoming international students and exploiting them financially?
- Studying abroad is often described as a life-changing experience, but many students end up spending most of their time with other international students rather than locals. Why does this happen, and how does it affect whether students actually gain the cross-cultural understanding they went abroad for?
- International students often feel pressure to represent their entire country or culture in classroom discussions. How does this unofficial role as a ‘cultural ambassador’ affect both the student carrying that weight and the local students who start to see one person as speaking for a whole nation?
- When a country’s most talented students are educated at foreign universities, do those students carry their home culture’s academic traditions forward, or do they gradually replace them with Western academic frameworks? What are the long-term consequences for how knowledge is produced around the world?
- Studying abroad is often marketed as a way to become more open-minded, but some students come back with stronger stereotypes about both the country they visited and their own. Why does the same experience broaden some people’s perspectives while narrowing others’?
- In many countries, a degree from a foreign university carries more prestige than a local one, even if the education quality is similar. What does this say about how societies value knowledge versus the status of where it came from?