Every course teaches daily routine in the first month, and most courses teach it once. By B1, a student can still recite I get up at seven, I have breakfast, I go to work, and still can't describe the habit they gave up in March.
These 30 daily routine conversation questions follow one habit through its life instead: the one you don't notice, the one you started, the one that didn't last, the one you keep meaning to begin, the one you recommend to other people and the one you would defend. The levels climb from A2 to C1 across the six sets, and each set takes 10 to 15 minutes.
Routine is also the topic where grammar does the heavy lifting, so each set names the structure it pulls on: frequency adverbs, the past simple against the present perfect, used to and would. None of it has to be taught first. The structures turn up because the questions need them. If your class still drops the -s in she works, warm up with our present simple games or the no-prep present simple speaking activities first.
The six sets at a glance | # | Set | Level | Activity | | 1 | The One You Don't Notice | A2-B1 | Rebuild My Day | | 2 | The One You Started in January | A2-B1 | Guess the Streak | | 3 | The One That Didn't Last | B1-B2 | Two Versions | | 4 | The One You Keep Meaning to Start | B1-B2 | Shrink It | | 5 | The One You Recommend to Other People | B2-C1 | Advice vs Practice | | 6 | The One You Would Defend | B2-C1 | Who Pays? |
|
| Free · printable PDF · 7 pagesDaily Routine Conversation CardsAll 30 questions below, one page per set and numbered like this post: five cut-out cards with answer starters, plus the worksheet for that set's activity. Print only the set you need.Page 2 · Rebuild My DayPage 3 · Guess the StreakPage 4 · Two VersionsPage 5 · Shrink ItPage 6 · Advice vs PracticePage 7 · Who Pays?Download the free PDFUS Letter |
Set 1: The One You Don't Notice
The routine students describe on autopilot. Easy to answer, which is exactly why the activity is about listening.
1of 6A2-B1Pairs10 minFree printable · page 2 The One You Don't Notice Questions 1 to 5 · activity: Rebuild My Day - What do you do every morning in the same order without thinking about it?
- What time did you wake up today, and what was the first thing you did?
- Which part of your day never changes, whatever else happens?
- What is the last thing you do before you go to sleep?
- What would throw your whole day off if it happened differently?
How it works- Pairs. One student answers all five questions, using the starters on the cards if they need them.
- The partner listens without writing. When the five answers are done, they retell the speaker's day in order, from memory, and fill in the timeline on the worksheet.
- The speaker corrects only what is wrong. Then they swap.
| Why it works Answering is a script most students have owned since A1. Listening closely enough to rebuild another person's day is not, and the corrections are where the language turns up: No, I check my email before breakfast, not after. |
| Watch for The partner listening for their own turn instead of the answers, and then having nothing to retell. Tell them at the start that they will have to rebuild it. Ask for clock times too. Around lunchtime costs a student nothing, and at twenty past one makes them slow down and picture it. |
| The grammar underneath Frequency adverbs, and where they sit in the sentence. Students produce always, usually and hardly ever without being asked and put a good share of them in the wrong place, which gives you a real error to teach from. The worksheet has a four-line check with the answers upside down. |
| Free printable · page 2Page 2: the five cards, the Rebuild My Day timeline and a short check on where frequency adverbs go.Download the free PDFUS Letter |
|
Set 2: The One You Started in January
The habit that started with a resolution. Most students have one, and most of them know how long it lasted to the day.
2of 6A2-B1Pairs10 minFree printable · page 3 The One You Started in January Questions 6 to 10 · activity: Guess the Streak - What is the most recent habit you tried to start?
- How long did you keep it going?
- What made you start it in the first place?
- Who knew you were doing it?
- What would have made it easier?
How it works- Pairs. The speaker answers question 6: the most recent habit they tried to start.
- Before they answer question 7, the partner guesses out loud how long it lasted and circles the guess on the line: a day, a week, two weeks, a month, three months, still going.
- The speaker gives the real answer and the rest of the set. Three rounds with three partners, two points for an exact guess, one for a near miss.
| Why it works Being guessed at badly is what makes a student explain themselves. Two weeks? No, I lasted a whole month, because... The explanation is the part worth having. Left alone, question 7 is a number and nothing else. |
| Watch for Question 9, Who knew you were doing it?, is the one that surprises classes. Whether anybody knew tends to predict whether the habit lasted, and a group usually notices that on its own by the third pair. The worksheet tracks it in its own column, so let them get there without you. |
| The grammar underneath The past simple against the present perfect, the shift this level gets wrong. I tried and I have tried sit side by side in these answers and mean different things, and students hear the difference here faster than they read it on a worksheet. |
| Free printable · page 3Page 3: the five cards, the guess line, a score table for three rounds and a past simple or present perfect check.Download the free PDFUS Letter |
|
For a stronger group Becoming a morning person is one of the most popular New Year's resolutions there is. Morning Person (B1-B2) takes that exact habit to a full hour, with tips for students who want to try it and the language to talk about sleep. Morning PersonB1B2ProSee the Pro lesson → |
Set 3: The One That Didn't Last
The habit that quietly went. This is where the questions get more personal, so model the first answer on a habit of your own.
3of 6B1-B2Pairs10 minFree printable · page 4 The One That Didn't Last Questions 11 to 15 · activity: Two Versions - What did you do every day a year ago that you have quietly dropped?
- What did you tell yourself when you stopped?
- What did you actually gain by stopping?
- Would you start again? What would have to be true?
- Which of your current habits won't survive the next year?
How it works- Pairs. The speaker answers the five questions about a habit they dropped.
- The partner gives the reason for stopping back twice, in their own words: once as an excuse, once as a fair reason.
- The speaker says which version is true. The worksheet has room for three habits and a bank of phrases for both versions.
| Why it works Saying the same thing two ways and choosing between them is precise work, and upper levels rarely get asked for it. The speaker also hears their own story from outside, which is what makes them correct it. |
| Watch for Pairs making the excuse version unkind. It is not a joke at the speaker's expense. It is the version the speaker would give on a bad day, if they were being hard on themselves. Model both versions before they start and the tone sets itself. |
| The grammar underneath Used to and would for past routine, and the difference between them: would takes repeated actions but not states. Question 11 produces both in the same breath. I used to run before work. I would get up at six. But never I would have a gym membership. |
|
Set 4: The One You Keep Meaning to Start
The habit that never starts. Everybody has one, and the activity turns it into a negotiation.
4of 6B1-B2Pairs10 minFree printable · page 5 The One You Keep Meaning to Start Questions 16 to 20 · activity: Shrink It - What have you been meaning to start for more than a year?
- What is the real reason it hasn't happened?
- What would the smallest possible version of it look like?
- What in your week would have to move to make room for it?
- Who would notice if you did it?
How it works- Pairs. The speaker names the habit they keep meaning to start. That is rung 1 of the ladder.
- The partner suggests a smaller version. If the speaker wouldn't really do it, the partner shrinks it again, and again.
- Stop at the first honest yes. Then answer the rest of the cards about that smallest version.
| Why it works Negotiating downward is real language work, and students don't notice they are doing it because they are arguing about their own week. Suggestions, conditions, What if you only...?, That I could actually do. |
| Watch for Habits so vague they can't be shrunk, which at this level means be healthier and be more organized. Rule both out in advance: it has to be something a person could watch you doing. And give the partner the phrases for shrinking before you begin, or they repeat the same suggestion in a quieter voice. |
| The grammar underneath I've been meaning to and I keep meaning to, which students almost never use and need constantly. Then the language of suggestion: What if you...?, How about just...?, Could you...? |
| Free printable · page 5Page 5: the five cards, an example ladder from four gym visits a week down to ten squats, and an empty ladder for your partner.Download the free PDFUS Letter |
|
If question 19 shows there is no room in anybody's week, the problem is the week itself. Time Management (A1-A2) reads one writer's block schedule, explained clearly enough to copy that evening, and Manage Your Life (A2-B1) has students hand the chores they hate to an imaginary assistant, teaching I want you to... along the way.
Set 5: The One You Recommend to Other People
The habit students preach. Advice is easy. The honest second answer is where the level shows.
5of 6B2-C1Pairs15 minFree printable · page 6 The One You Recommend to Other People Questions 21 to 25 · activity: Advice vs Practice - What would you tell a student who can't concentrate for ten minutes?
- What would you say to a friend who is exhausted and won't slow down?
- What is the best advice about habits you have ever been given?
- What do you tell other people to do that you don't do yourself?
- Why do you think that gap exists?
How it works- Pairs. Every question takes two answers.
- First the advice, given straight and in full sentences.
- Then the partner asks And do you?, and the speaker says whether they follow it. On the worksheet, they tick Always, Sometimes or Never and explain the gap in question 25.
| Why it works The second answer is the real one, and it is where the hedging language lives. Students have to admit something without quite admitting it: Let's say I'm working on it. |
| Watch for Pairs skipping to the second answer, and question 24 being dodged with something trivial. If that happens, ask what advice they gave in the last month. A real recent example is much harder to slide past than a general one. |
| The grammar underneath Advice forms (If I were you, I'd..., You might want to..., It's worth...-ing) followed by hedging (I try to, but..., Not as often as I should). The worksheet prints both banks. |
| Free printable · page 6Page 6: the five cards, the Advice vs Practice table and three phrase banks for giving advice, admitting it and explaining the gap.Download the free PDFUS Letter |
|
To follow this set Healthy Lifestyle (B2-C1) is the full hour at this level: an authentic article on bad habits and advice with the second conditional, the same If I were you students just used. For a lighter version, Miracle Morning (A2-B1) looks at the morning rituals famous people credit for their success, which is advice at its most confident and least tested. Healthy LifestyleB2C1ProSee the Pro lesson →Miracle MorningA2B1ProSee the Pro lesson → |
Set 6: The One You Would Defend
The habit students would argue for. The last set is for groups, and it is the one most likely to run over time.
6of 6B2-C1Groups of 3 or 415 minFree printable · page 7 The One You Would Defend Questions 26 to 30 · activity: Who Pays? - What does a tightly organized life cost the person living it?
- Is a morning routine a real advantage, or a story successful people tell afterward?
- Should an employer have any interest in how you spend your evenings?
- When does tracking a habit stop helping and become the point of it?
- Is being busy a choice, a status symbol, or neither?
How it works- Groups of three or four, one receipt per group.
- Every answer has to name a cost and the person who pays it: a real person with a job and a schedule.
- The group votes on whether that cost is worth paying, then moves on. At the end, they choose the one cost they would sign up to.
| Why it works Naming the payer is what keeps this from becoming four people agreeing that balance matters. A tightly organized life costs Carmen, a nurse on early shifts, every last-minute plan with her friends is a sentence a group can argue with. |
| Watch for Costs that nobody pays, such as society or modern life. Push for a person. The answers improve the moment the payer has a name. Put the costs on the board as they arrive, and finish with the one the group would sign up to. |
| The grammar underneath Conditions and concessions: It's worth it if..., only up to a point, not at that price. Question 27 also brings in other people's routines at second hand: They say they get up at five. |
| Free printable · page 7Page 7: the five cards, a receipt for the group's costs and a phrase bank for naming the cost, the payer and the verdict.Download the free PDFUS Letter |
|
Daily Routine Conversation CardsThe cards and worksheets for all six sets in one free PDF, page by page in the order of this post.Download the free PDF |
Mistakes your students will make
Teacher's reference Slips to listen for in routine conversations | Students say | Better | | I go always to work by bus. | I always go to work by bus. | | Frequency adverbs go before the main verb, not after it. This is the most common slip in set 1. | | I have started running in January. | I started running in January. | | In January is a finished time, so the past simple. Set 2. | | I would have a gym membership. | I used to have a gym membership. | | Would works for repeated actions, never for states like have, live or be. Set 3. | | I'm used to run before work. | I used to run before work. | | Used to + verb is a past habit. Be used to + -ing means it feels normal: I'm used to running before work. | | I have been meaning to start it since two years. | I have been meaning to start it for two years. | | For with a length of time, since with a starting point. Set 4. | | If I would be you, I would sleep more. | If I were you, I'd sleep more. | | No would in the if-clause, and were for every person in this phrase. Set 5. |
|
Daily routine lessons by level
| Level | Lesson | What students do |
| A1-A2 | Daily Routine Vocabulary Free | Worksheet: sixteen routine phrases, from wake up to fall asleep |
| B2-C1 | The Art of Giving Up Free | Read why society shames quitters, and argue when to stop |
| A1-A2 | A Day In The Life | Describe a day with do, get, have, make and take |
| A1-A2 | Time Management | Read one writer's block schedule system |
| A1-A2 | 75 Soft Challenge | Talk about a gentle lifestyle challenge and its daily rules |
| A2-B1 | Breaking the Habit | Used to, be used to and get used to, through stories of change |
| A2-B1 | Miracle Morning | Discuss the morning rituals famous people swear by |
| A2-B1 | Manage Your Life | Hand chores to an imaginary assistant with I want you to |
| A2-B1 | Life As A Googler | Schedules and changes of plan, with present simple and continuous |
| A2-B1 | Sleep Talk | Watch a street interview on sleep habits and no-gos |
| B1-B2 | Morning Person | Talk about becoming an early riser, with tips that work |
| B1-B2 | Bedtime Routine | Take a quiz on the evening, then build a better routine |
| B1-B2 | Going Planless | Read about people who stopped organizing their lives |
| B1-B2 | Burnout | Spot the signs of burnout and respond with empathy |
| B2-C1 | Healthy Lifestyle | Read about bad habits and give advice with the second conditional |
Looking for the same format for a holiday? Our 40 Easter discussion questions and 50 Valentine's Day conversation questions come with a free card deck too.
