Easter is one of the easiest topics to get adults talking. Every student has a table to describe, a dish they love or hate, and a memory from childhood. The trick is to move them past one-word answers like We eat eggs to the story behind them.
Below are 40 Easter discussion questions for adult ESL students, from A2 to C1, grouped by level and topic. After the questions you will find five ways to use them in class, the mistakes to listen for and a free printable card deck with the same numbers.
Five ways to use the questions | # | Activity | Level | Time | | 1 | Easter table talk | A2-C1 | 20 min | | 2 | Then and now | B1 | 20 min | | 3 | Have you ever...? | A2-B1 | 15 min | | 4 | Opinion line | B2-C1 | 20 min | | 5 | How was your Easter? | A2-B2 | 10 min |
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| Free · printable PDFEaster Conversation CardsAll 40 questions below as cut-out cards, one page per level and numbered like this post, plus three worksheets for the activities: then and now with used to, an Easter Have you ever...? survey and an opinion line. For online lessons, a clickable board opens each card on its own page.40 question cards3 worksheetsClickable boardA2 to C1Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
Before you start: two Easters and one family table
- Check both dates. In 2027, Easter Sunday falls on March 28 and Orthodox Easter on May 2. In a class with Polish or Spanish students and Ukrainian students, the questions work twice: once before each Easter, or once before and once after.
- Ask for the story, not the fact. Every question below has an easy one-line answer. Agree on one rule with the class: answer in three sentences, then ask the next student a follow-up question.
- Mind the family questions. Questions 1, 3, 12, 15 and 36 ask about the student's own family. Nothing on the cards marks them, so let any student answer about a friend or take another card without saying why.
A2: 10 questions about Easter at home
Short questions in the present and past simple, about the food, the house and the long weekend your students know best.
- When does your family start getting ready for Easter?
- What do you eat for breakfast on Easter Sunday?
- Who usually comes to your home at Easter?
- Do you paint eggs at Easter? What colors do you use?
- Do you clean the house before Easter? Who does the most work?
- What do you buy in the shops the week before Easter?
- Do you work on Easter Monday?
- What do you wear on Easter Sunday?
- What did you do last Easter?
- What is your favorite part of the Easter weekend?
Question 5 works especially well with Ukrainian students. In many Ukrainian families, the Thursday before Easter is Clean Thursday, the day for cleaning the whole house.
B1: 10 questions about Easter as a child, and now
Two sets built on the two forms B1 students need most for stories: used to for childhood habits, and Have you ever...? for experiences.
When you were a child
- What was Easter morning like when you were a child?
- Who used to cook the Easter meal in your family? Who cooks it now?
- Did you use to play any games with eggs? How did they work?
- Which Easter dish did you hate as a child? Do you like it now?
- Is there an Easter recipe in your family that nobody has written down?
Have you ever...
- Have you ever spent Easter in another city or country? What was different?
- Have you ever made an Easter dish on your own? How did it turn out?
- Have you ever been to an Easter service at night?
- Have you ever hidden eggs for a child, or looked for them yourself?
- Which Easter tradition from your childhood would you like to bring back?
For question 16 Easter Shock (B1-B2) is a blog post by a British exchange student who is surprised by Easter in Norway. It gives students the words for an Easter that feels different. Easter ShockB1B2ProSee the Pro lesson → |
B2: 10 questions about chocolate, money and the long weekend
Opinion questions that need a reason, an example and, ideally, a bit of disagreement.
Food and money
- Chocolate has become more expensive in many countries. Is a chocolate egg still worth the money?
- Is a homemade Easter dish always better than a bought one?
- Do children get too many sweets at Easter these days?
- Has Easter become more about food than about anything else?
- How do you describe an Easter dish from your country to a person who has never tried it?
For question 25 It Melts In My Mouth (B2-C1) teaches the language for describing food through a food blogger's video about Malaysian and Singaporean dishes. Students need exactly these words to explain a dish with no English name. It Melts In My MouthB2C1ProSee the Pro lesson → |
The long weekend
- Is it better to host the Easter meal or to be a guest? Why?
- Is a long Easter weekend better spent traveling or at home?
- What should a guest bring to an Easter lunch? Is it rude to bring nothing?
- Why do people post photos of their Easter tables and baskets online?
- Why do so many brands use spring colors and Easter images in their ads? Do they work on you?
For question 29 Easter Vlog (B2-C1) has students watch real Easter vlogs, the kind of video question 29 asks about, and practice as if and as though to describe what they see. Easter VlogB2C1ProSee the Pro lesson → |
C1: 10 questions about tradition, faith and change
Abstract questions for students who can argue, qualify and change their mind out loud. They work well as the last ten minutes of a lesson, or as a written task.
- Why do traditions like painting eggs survive in families that rarely go to church?
- Does a tradition lose its meaning if we keep the custom but forget the reason for it?
- Should families adapt old Easter traditions to modern life, or keep them exactly as they are?
- Some families celebrate Easter on two different dates. Is that a problem or a bonus?
- For most people you know, is Easter a religious holiday, a family holiday or a spring festival?
- What do the older people in your family worry the younger ones will forget about Easter?
- How much do brands shape our idea of what a real Easter looks like?
- Why do people who say they are not superstitious still follow Easter customs for luck?
- What would we lose if Easter became just another long weekend?
- Which Easter tradition from your country do you think will still exist in 50 years?
5 ways to use these questions in class
All five activities are built on talk. If your class needs a game or a crossword first, take one from our 10 Easter ESL activities. For a text to read, see our Easter reading activities, and if you have no time to prepare at all, try our last-minute Easter activities.
1of 5A2-C120 minSpeakingFree printable · pages 2-5 Easter table talk How it works- Groups of three or four sit around a table with the cards for their level face down in the middle. That pile is the dish.
- A student takes a card and answers it in at least three sentences.
- Then they pass the dish: they ask the student on their left one follow-up question about the answer, and that student takes the next card.
| Follow-up questionsWhat was that like?Who taught you that?Do you still do it?Why do you think that is? |
| Why it works The follow-up question is the real exercise. Students stop waiting for their turn and start listening, because they have to ask about what they just heard. One-to-one, you and your student both answer every card. |
| Online or one-to-one Share page 9 on screen. Your student picks a number, you click it, and the card opens on its own page with the follow-up questions underneath. Back to the board brings you back for the next one. |
When the family table gets awkward Surviving Family Dinner (A2-B1) teaches students to handle nosy questions at a holiday dinner politely, change the subject and stay calm. It is the natural next step after table talk. Surviving Family DinnerA2B1ProSee the Pro lesson → |
| Free printable · pages 2-5The 40 questions as cut-out cards, one page per level, with two blank cards per page for students' own questions.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
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2of 5B120 minGrammarFree printable · page 6 Then and now How it works- Each student fills in two columns about their own Easter: when they were a child, and now.
- In pairs, they ask What did you use to do? and write their partner's childhood answer in the last column.
- Each student writes three sentences with used to or didn't use to: two about themselves, one about their partner.
| ExampleThenWe used to bake paska with my grandmother.NowNow I buy it from a bakery near my office. |
| Why it works Easter is a holiday everybody remembers from childhood, so used to comes up naturally and students never run out of examples. The worksheet works for a single student too: the first two columns and the sentences need no partner. |
| Free printable · page 6Seven Easter topics with columns for then, now and your partner, a short used to box and lines for sentences.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
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3of 5A2-B115 minSpeakingFree printable · page 7 Have you ever...? How it works- Students read ten Easter experiences, from dyeing eggs with onion skins to being splashed with water on Easter Monday, and tick Yes or No for themselves.
- They walk around the class and ask the questions. For every yes, they write the student's name and ask the follow-up question on the sheet.
- Each student writes two pairs of sentences: one in the present perfect, one with the detail in the past simple.
| ExampleExperienceMarta has made pysanky.DetailShe made them with her grandmother in 2019. |
| Why it works Every experience on the sheet is a real Easter custom in Europe or Latin America, so in a mixed class some students say yes and get to explain. The two-sentence pattern is the grammar point: has made for the experience, made for the finished time. |
| Free printable · page 7Ten Easter experiences with Yes and No boxes, a column for names, a follow-up question for each and lines for sentences.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
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4of 5B2-C120 minSpeakingFree printable · page 8 Opinion line How it works- Each student marks where they stand on eight statements, from Absolutely to No way, and finishes the reason.
- In pairs, they compare. Where they are far apart, each tries to move the other one step along the line.
- Finish with the statement that split the class most, and let two students argue it in front of the group.
| Phrases on the sheetI'd go along with that, up to a point.I'm not convinced that...That's true in my family, but not in general. |
| Why it works A five-point line forces students out of yes or no. Most answers land in the middle, and that is where they need hedging language like up to a point and that's true in my family, but not in general. |
| Free printable · page 8Eight statements on a five-point line, a line for the reason under each and a box of phrases for agreeing and disagreeing.Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF |
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5of 5A2-B210 minSpeakingNo printing How was your Easter? How it works- On the first lesson after the holiday, ask every student How was your Easter? and accept the first answer.
- Then ask again, and this time the answer has to include one thing they ate, one person they saw and one thing that went wrong.
- Pairs practice both versions: the quick answer for a colleague in the corridor and the longer one for a friend.
| Two answersShortLovely, thanks. Too much food, as usual.LongerReally nice. We went to my parents', and my dad burned the lamb, so we ate paska all day. |
| Why it works This is the one Easter question your students will actually hear at work. Most of them answer Fine, thanks and stop. Practicing a short and a long answer gives them both registers. |
For the first lesson back Holiday Hangover (B1-B2) is built for that lesson: students talk about getting back to work after the holidays and read tips on beating the post-holiday slump. Holiday HangoverB1B2ProSee the Pro lesson → |
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Easter Conversation CardsThe cards and worksheets for activities 1 to 4 in one free PDF, page by page in the order of this post, with a clickable board for online lessons.Download the free PDF |
Mistakes your students will make
Teacher's reference Slips to listen for in Easter conversations | Students say | Better | | I use to paint eggs with my grandmother. | I used to paint eggs with my grandmother. | | In positive sentences it is used to, with -d. Students hear use to because the d is silent. | | I didn't used to like lamb. | I didn't use to like lamb. | | After did or didn't, the -d goes. | | When I was child, we went to the village. | When I was a child, we went to the village. | | Ukrainian and Polish have no articles, so a goes missing. | | Have you been to a procession last year? | Did you go to a procession last year? | | Last year is a finished time, so the past simple. | | Easter is more about family than about the religion. | Easter is more about family than about religion. | | Abstract nouns used in general take no article. | | It depends of the family. | It depends on the family. | | Depends on. Spanish depende de pulls toward of. |
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Easter lessons by level
Looking for the same format for another holiday? Our 50 Valentine's Day conversation questions come with a free card deck too.
