Working in another country brings up a mix of practical challenges and personal growth, which makes it a rich topic for discussion at higher levels. These questions cover everything from visa stress and culture shock to the rewards of building a career far from home.
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)
- Would you like to work in another country one day? Which country would you choose?
- Do you know anyone who works in another country? Tell me about them.
- What kind of job would you like to do in another country? (Teaching, cooking, office work, etc.)
- What kinds of jobs do people often go to another country to do? Can you think of some examples?
- What three things would you pack if you moved to another country for a job? (Clothes, photos, food from home, etc.)
- Is it common for people in your country to go and work abroad? Where do they usually go?
- What time do people usually start work in your country? Do you think it is different in other countries?
- If you worked in another country, would you want to work alone or with a team? Why?
- What is one food from your country that you would want to cook for your coworkers in another country?
- Would you rather work in an office or outside if you worked in another country? What’s good about your choice?
- Do you think you would feel nervous on your first day of work in another country? What would you be worried about?
- What is the best country for someone from your country to go and work in? Why do people choose it?
Elementary (A2)
- What things would you miss most about your home country if you worked abroad? (Food, family, friends, etc.)
- What are the three best things about living in another country for work? (Meeting new people, new food, new experiences, etc.)
- What would be the most difficult part of starting work in a new country? (Language, making friends, finding a home, etc.)
- Would you rather work in a hot country or a cold country? What’s good about your choice?
- Have you ever eaten at a restaurant or shop run by someone from another country? What did you think of it?
- Have you ever tried to use another language at work or in a professional setting? How did it go?
- What would you need to do to prepare before moving to another country for work? (Visas, learn the language, find a place to live, etc.)
- If you moved to another country for a job, what would be harder: making friends at work or making friends outside of work? Why?
- Have you ever worked with someone from another country? What was that experience like?
- What do you think would be the best part about coming home after working in another country for a long time? Why?
- Would you rather work for a boss from your country or a boss from the country you moved to? Why?
- What is something about your country’s work culture that you think people from other countries would enjoy? Why?
Intermediate (B1)
- Would you prefer to work for a local company or an international company in another country? Why?
- What do you think is the most important thing to do before moving to another country for work? Why?
- Do you think the salary is more important or less important than the experience when working abroad? Why?
- How long would you want to work in another country: a few months, a few years, or forever? Why?
- What things about your home country’s work culture do you think people from other countries find strange or interesting? Why?
- What is the hardest part of working in a country where you don’t speak the language well? Why is it so difficult?
- If a friend told you they were moving to another country for work, what advice would you give them?
- What is the biggest difference between how people work in your country and how they work in other countries you know about?
- Should companies pay workers more if they move to another country for the job? Why or why not?
- Do you think working abroad for a year or two makes someone a better employee when they return home? How so?
- What kind of personality does a person need to be happy working in another country? Why are those traits important?
- Do you think companies in your country treat foreign workers as well as local workers? Is it common in your culture to welcome people who come from abroad to work?
- Should foreign workers try to completely follow the local work culture, or is it okay to keep some of their home country’s habits? Why or why not?
- Do you think working abroad makes people more independent and confident, or does it just make life more stressful? What makes you think so?
- Do you think people who work abroad earn their success, or are they just lucky to have the opportunity? What makes you think so?
- What do you think is the biggest mistake people make when they move to another country for work? Why is it such a common mistake?
- What is one thing about working in another country that movies and TV shows usually get wrong? Why do you think people have that wrong idea?
Upper-Intermediate (B2)
- What is more important when working abroad: learning the local language or being good at your job? What are the downsides of focusing on only one?
- How do work friendships form differently when you are a foreign employee compared to when you are a local worker? What barriers make it harder, and what helps?
- How has the rise of remote work changed the idea of ‘working abroad’? What new opportunities and problems has it created?
- What impact does it have on a country when large numbers of skilled workers leave to work abroad? What can governments do to encourage them to return?
- How does working in a country with a very different attitude toward work-life balance change a person? Do those changes stick when they return home?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of sending workers to other countries for short-term assignments versus long-term relocation?
- How do multinational companies shape the work culture of the countries they operate in? Give me some examples.
- What happens to a family when one parent moves to another country for work and the rest of the family stays behind? How does this affect the children?
- How are the reasons people work abroad today different from the reasons people did it 50 years ago?
- Some people move abroad for work and never come back. What makes certain countries so attractive that people decide to stay permanently?
- How do companies balance the need to send their best people to manage international offices with the risk that those people will either burn out or be poached by competitors abroad?
Advanced (C1)
- When a foreign worker adopts the local company’s culture and communication style completely, do they gain acceptance or lose something essential about how they work best? How do you know when adaptation has gone too far?
- How do the unwritten rules of a workplace, who gets promoted, how disagreement is handled, how credit is shared, operate differently across cultures, and what happens when a foreign worker doesn’t know those rules?
- When a person spends years building a career abroad, they often develop a professional identity that doesn’t quite fit either their home culture or their adopted one. How does this ‘professional limbo’ affect how they work, lead, and relate to colleagues in both countries?
- How does working abroad for a significant period of time change a person’s loyalty, to their employer, to their home country, and to themselves, in ways that are difficult to undo when they return?
- In many industries, having ‘international experience’ on your resume is treated as automatically valuable, but the skills that actually make someone effective abroad are rarely the same ones that get rewarded back home. Why is there such a disconnect between what working abroad actually teaches people and what employers think it teaches them?
- Many countries actively recruit foreign workers for industries with labor shortages, but then make it difficult for those same workers to settle permanently. What does this contradiction reveal about how governments view foreign labor?
- People who work abroad often say they have a different personality in each language they use at work. Why do you think switching languages changes how people behave professionally, and is the ‘real’ version of that person in either language?
- Throughout history, immigrant workers have built some of the world’s greatest infrastructure, from railroads to skyscrapers to tech companies. Why do you think the contributions of foreign workers are often acknowledged long after the fact rather than at the time?
- Working abroad used to be something only executives and diplomats did, but now it is common for people at every level. How has this democratization of working abroad changed both the experience itself and how societies think about national borders?
- When workers send money home from abroad, it can lift entire families out of poverty, but it can also create a dependency that discourages local development. How does this flow of money reshape the relationship between the worker abroad and the people who rely on them back home?
- Companies often hire foreign workers specifically because they bring a ‘fresh perspective,’ but then expect them to fit into the existing culture. Why does this contradiction keep happening, and what does it reveal about what organizations actually value: diversity or conformity?