Celeste Headlee TED Talk Activities for ESL Conversation Skills

This article was written by Pixel, an AI author — it belongs to the AI-generated side of the ESL Brains blog. Prefer human-made materials? Browse the lesson library — every lesson plan is created by the ESL Brains team.

Your B2 student is attempting to keep a conversation flowing with a classmate. They ask ‘Do you like your job?’ followed immediately by ‘Do you have children?’ then ‘Are you married?’ — three closed questions that lead nowhere. This pattern of rapid-fire yes/no questions is exactly what Celeste Headlee addresses in her TED Talk on conversation skills.

TL;DR

• Celeste Headlee’s TED Talk teaches 10 practical conversation rules that work perfectly for B2 speaking practice.
• The 12-minute talk covers real conversation skills like asking open questions and avoiding interruptions.

What makes Celeste Headlee’s TED Talk perfect for B2 conversation practice?

Headlee’s 10 ways to have a better conversation works exceptionally well for B2 learners because it combines authentic professional content with immediately applicable conversation strategies. The talk presents concrete rules that students can practise and apply in controlled speaking activities.

The speaker and talk overview

Celeste Headlee brings 20 years of radio interviewing experience to this 12-minute presentation. As a professional interviewer, she understands exactly what makes conversations work — and what kills them dead. Her talk breaks down conversation skills into ten numbered tips that students can memorise and apply.

The length is perfect for classroom use. At 12 minutes, you can show the complete talk in one go, then return to specific segments for focused practice. Students won’t lose attention, and you’ll have plenty of time left for speaking activities.

Language level and accessibility

Headlee speaks at a natural professional pace that challenges B2 students without overwhelming them. Her register is formal enough to expose students to workplace-appropriate English, but she includes plenty of colloquial examples when explaining each rule.

The visual support helps comprehension enormously. Headlee uses clear gestures and facial expressions to emphasise key points, giving visual learners extra clues about meaning and tone.

This B2 conversation skills lesson provides the complete framework for teaching with Headlee’s talk, including pre-watch activities and structured speaking practice.

Feature	B2 Benefit	Classroom Application
12-minute duration	Maintains attention span	Show complete talk, then replay key segments
Professional register	Workplace English exposure	Practise formal conversation skills
Numbered rules	Easy to memorise	Create rule-focused speaking rounds
Clear structure	Supports note-taking	Students can follow and organise ideas
Real examples	Concrete rather than abstract	Role-play scenarios based on Headlee’s demonstrations

How can you prepare students before watching the talk?

Successful pre-watch preparation gets students personally invested in the content before they encounter Headlee’s voice and ideas. The key is activating their own conversation experiences and creating curiosity about what might go wrong in discussions.

Conversation audit warm-up

Start with a personal conversation audit. Give students a list of conversation habits — interrupting, asking follow-up questions, sharing similar experiences, listening without planning responses. They rate themselves honestly on each habit, then discuss their ratings in pairs.

This self-assessment creates immediate investment. When Headlee later explains why certain habits damage conversations, students connect her advice to their own behaviour. They’re not learning abstract rules — they’re addressing personal communication challenges.

Pairs then identify one conversation strength and one area for improvement. This goal-setting primes them to listen for specific advice in the talk.

Prediction and vocabulary preparation

Before revealing Headlee’s ten rules, students brainstorm what makes conversations fail. Working in small groups, they list conversation killers — things people do that shut down or damage discussions.

Pre-teach key verb + preposition collocations that appear in the talk: get out of, show off, zone out, come across as. These combinations appear frequently in Headlee’s examples, and students need them for the post-watch activities.

Set specific listening focuses. Tell students they’ll hear ten numbered rules, and their job is to identify which ones address the conversation problems they brainstormed.

This B2 conversation skills lesson includes prediction worksheets and vocabulary preparation activities that build student curiosity about Headlee’s approach.

Activity	Time	Student Task
Conversation audit	8 minutes	Self-rate conversation habits, share with partner
Problem brainstorm	7 minutes	List what makes conversations go wrong in small groups
Vocabulary pre-teach	5 minutes	Drill collocations, check understanding with examples
Prediction setup	5 minutes	Predict which rules will address their brainstormed problems

What speaking activities work best with Headlee’s 10 conversation rules?

The most effective speaking activities let students experience the difference between following and breaking Headlee’s rules. Students need to feel how awkward bad conversations become, then immediately practise applying the corrections.

Bad conversation demonstrations

Pairs receive cards describing conversation scenarios — meeting a new colleague, discussing weekend plans, talking about career goals. Each pair also gets a specific rule to break deliberately. One pair might interrupt constantly, another asks only yes/no questions, another hijacks every topic with personal stories.

Pairs perform their deliberately awful conversations for the class. The audience identifies which rules were broken and explains how the conversation felt uncomfortable or unnatural. This recognition phase is crucial — students must notice problematic patterns before they can avoid them.

After identification, the same pairs replay their conversations following Headlee’s rules. The contrast is immediately obvious, and students experience the practical value of her advice.

Conversation lab practice rounds

Set up conversation stations around the room, each focused on one specific rule. Students rotate through stations in pairs, spending five minutes at each one practising targeted conversation skills.

Station activities include: asking only open questions about travel experiences, listening to work stories without interrupting, exploring a partner’s hobby without redirecting to your own interests. Give each pair observation checklists to track their partner’s rule application.

The peer feedback element works brilliantly. Students notice when their partners successfully ask follow-up questions or when they slip into old habits. This mutual monitoring reinforces the rules without teacher micromanagement.

Real-world application tasks

Move beyond controlled practice to realistic scenarios. Students apply Headlee’s rules to workplace conversations — networking events, team meetings, client discussions. Give them role cards with specific professional contexts and relationship dynamics.

End with personal goal-setting. Each student chooses two of Headlee’s rules to focus on improving over the following week. They commit to trying these strategies in real conversations outside class.

Follow up in subsequent lessons by asking students to report their experiences. Did they successfully apply the rules? What happened when they asked more open questions or stopped interrupting? This real-world connection makes the lesson memorable and practical.

This B2 conversation skills lesson includes all these speaking activities with ready-made role cards and observation checklists.

Stage	Activity Type	Rules Practised	Duration
Demonstration	Bad vs good conversations	Student choice (1-2 rules)	15 minutes
Rotation practice	Conversation lab stations	All 10 rules systematically	20 minutes
Application	Professional scenarios	Integrated rule use	15 minutes
Reflection	Goal setting	Personal focus areas	5 minutes

Which conversation errors should you address when teaching this topic?

B2 learners make predictable conversation mistakes that directly map to Headlee’s rules. Identifying these patterns helps you target the most relevant parts of her advice and create focused correction activities.

Question formation problems

Students rely heavily on yes/no questions because they’re grammatically simpler to construct. They ask ‘Do you enjoy your work?’ instead of ‘What do you enjoy most about your work?’ This habit kills conversation depth and leaves speakers struggling to continue.

The problem stems from limited question word use. Many B2 students stick to what and where, rarely using how, why, or which. They avoid questions that require more complex grammar structures or longer responses.

Practise transforming closed questions into open alternatives. Give students lists of yes/no questions and challenge them to rewrite each one to encourage elaboration. ‘Are you married?’ becomes ‘What’s your family situation like?’ or ‘How did you meet your partner?‘

Turn-taking and interruption issues

Learners interrupt abruptly without softening language or appropriate discourse markers. They jump in with ‘No!’ or ‘But…’ instead of using phrases like ‘Sorry, can I just add something?’ or ‘That’s interesting, and I think…’

They also struggle with active listening signals. While native speakers naturally use backchanneling (uh-huh, really, I see), many students remain silent while listening, creating awkward gaps and making speakers feel unheard.

Teach specific interruption and backchanneling phrases. Create speaking activities where students must use these expressions naturally. One student tells a story while their partner practises appropriate interjections and follow-up questions.

Topic hijacking and me-too stories

This error directly corresponds to Headlee’s rule about not making conversations about yourself. Students hear about someone’s holiday and immediately launch into their own travel experiences, completely abandoning the original speaker’s story.

The problem often comes from enthusiasm rather than selfishness. Students want to show they understand and relate, but they lack the language skills to explore someone else’s experience before sharing their own.

Practise sustained focus on the other person’s story. Students must ask three follow-up questions about their partner’s experience before introducing their own related story. This builds the habit of genuine curiosity rather than conversational competition.

Error Type	Example	Headlee Rule	Correction Strategy
Closed questions	’Do you like your job?‘	Ask open-ended questions	Transform yes/no to open alternatives
Abrupt interruption	’No! That’s wrong.‘	Don’t interrupt	Teach softening phrases and discourse markers
Topic hijacking	’That happened to me too…’	Don’t make it about you	Practice sustained focus on partner’s story
Silent listening	No backchanneling signals	Show you’re listening	Drill active listening expressions

How do you adapt this lesson for online vs in-person classes?

The conversation-focused nature of Headlee’s content works well in both teaching contexts, but each format requires specific adjustments to maximise student interaction and maintain engagement throughout the activities.

Online teaching adaptations

Breakout rooms become your primary tool for conversation practice. Set them up with specific instructions and time limits — pairs get eight minutes to practise rule number three, then return to report their experiences. The key is rotating partnerships frequently so students practise with different conversation styles.

Use screen sharing for the video segments, but pause regularly for whole-group discussion. After each of Headlee’s rules, bring students back to the main room to share examples or ask clarification questions before moving to the next point.

Digital polling works brilliantly for prediction activities. Students vote on which conversation problems they think Headlee will address, then you reveal the actual ten rules. This creates suspense and keeps everyone engaged during the setup phase.

The private chat becomes useful for peer observation. When pairs practise in breakout rooms, they can type quick feedback to each other about rule application without interrupting the speaking flow.

In-person classroom setup

Physical space management matters enormously for conversation activities. Arrange chairs in circles or pairs that can easily reconfigure for different activities. Students need to move and rotate partners without losing momentum or creating chaos.

Use paper-based observation checklists that pairs can exchange and mark during speaking activities. These physical handouts keep students focused on specific rules and provide concrete feedback they can refer to later.

Board work helps track rule application across the class. Create a grid showing Headlee’s ten rules, then add tally marks when students successfully demonstrate each one during practice rounds. This visual progress tracking motivates continued effort.

The advantage of in-person teaching is immediate teacher circulation. You can listen to multiple conversations simultaneously, offer real-time correction, and identify common errors for whole-class attention.

This B2 conversation skills lesson includes format-specific instructions and downloadable materials that work equally well online or in-person.

Teaching Context	Tools Needed	Activity Modifications
Online	Breakout rooms, screen sharing, digital polling	Shorter practice rounds, frequent regrouping, chat feedback
In-person	Moveable seating, paper checklists, board space	Physical rotation, immediate teacher feedback, visual progress tracking

Ready to teach conversation skills with authentic content? ESL Brains’ library contains over 1,000 video-based lesson plans covering levels A1 to C2, including speaking-focused activities that use real TED Talks, interviews, and documentaries to develop practical communication skills.

Frequently Asked Questions

What level of English is best for Celeste Headlee’s TED Talk?

B2 Upper Intermediate is ideal as students can follow Headlee’s natural speaking pace and engage with the professional register while still being challenged by authentic content.

How long does this TED Talk lesson take to teach?

The complete lesson takes 45 minutes including pre-watch activities, viewing segments, and speaking practice with conversation rule application.

Can this lesson be taught online effectively?

Yes, breakout rooms work perfectly for pair conversations and rule practice, whilst screen sharing handles the video segments smoothly.

What activities can you do after watching this TED Talk?

Students can practise conversation lab rounds focusing on specific rules, create bad vs good conversation demonstrations, and set personal goals for conversation improvement.

How do you teach conversation skills with TED Talks?

Use authentic content like Headlee’s talk to present real conversation strategies, then create speaking practice that applies those specific techniques with peer feedback.

Ready to teach conversation skills with Celeste Headlee’s TED Talk? This complete B2 lesson plan includes the video, pre-watch activities, speaking tasks, and conversation rule practice sheets. The lesson comes with both printable PDFs and interactive e-lesson slides.