A1 Level – Elementary
1. When is your birthday?
2. Do you like cakes?
3. Do you get gifts?
4. What is a happy day?
5. Do you like parties?
6. What is a colorful balloon?
7. Do you invite friends?
8. What is a favorite food?
9. Do you like to be older?
10. What is a holiday?
11. Do you send cards?
12. What is a secret surprise?
13. Do you take photos?
14. What are three things you do on your birthday?
15. Do you think birthdays are important?
A2 Level – Pre-Intermediate
1. What is the difference between a birthday and an anniversary?
2. Why do people celebrate birthdays?
3. What are the good things and bad things about turning a new age?
4. How can you plan a surprise party well?
5. Should work companies give employees their birthday off?
6. Why is it important to remember a person’s birthday?
7. Do you think children’s birthdays are better than adult birthdays?
8. What is the purpose of blowing out candles?
9. How does technology (social media) change how we wish people a happy birthday?
10. What is the difference between giving a gift and giving money?
11. Do you think it is easy to choose a perfect gift?
12. What are the problems when you forget a close person’s birthday?
13. When is the best time to send a gift for a birthday?
14. What are two differences between a traditional and a modern birthday celebration?
15. How does the celebration change when you turn 18 or 21?
B1 Level – Intermediate
1. What are the rules for politely telling people you do not want any gifts?
2. How does the celebration of birthdays change as you get older?
3. Should the government set a legal age for certain large celebrations?
4. What is the difference between celebrating your birthday and celebrating a national holiday?
5. Do you believe that people should celebrate the anniversary of their death, not their birth?
6. What are the challenges of planning a party that everyone will enjoy?
7. How does the focus on gifts affect the simple joy of the celebration?
8. What is the idea of a “milestone birthday”?
9. Is it fair or unfair when some people get very expensive gifts and others get small ones?
10. How does the culture of your country influence what food is served at a birthday?
11. What are the steps for properly writing a thank you note for a gift you did not like?
12. What is the value of celebrating a birthday with a large community instead of a small family?
13. Should public figures use their birthdays to raise money for charity?
14. What are the reasons why some people hide their real age?
15. How does the use of online public lists (like Amazon Wishlist) change the meaning of a gift?
B2 Level – Upper-Intermediate
1. What are the social pressures to throw a party that looks good on social media?
2. What are the moral problems when a person is expected to spend a lot of money on a group gift?
3. How does the tradition of the birthday celebration reflect the cultural emphasis on the individual?
4. Should parents be legally required to ensure their children have a birthday celebration?
5. Analyze the psychological effect of confronting the passage of time every year on your birthday.
6. Who is responsible for organizing a birthday party for someone who is too lonely to do it themselves?
7. What is your view on the practice of sending automated birthday wishes from companies?
8. Evaluate the role of the birthday in the annual consumer economy.
9. How does the lack of a birthday tradition in some cultures affect the importance of the individual?
10. Discuss the concept of “ageism” and how birthdays can increase discrimination.
11. What are the problems with having very different rules for celebrating 18, 21, and 40 years old?
12. What are the legal differences between a gift and money earned on a birthday?
13. Do you agree that the purpose of a birthday is mainly to acknowledge that a person has survived another year?
14. What steps should be taken to ensure children from poor families do not feel left out of birthday celebrations?
15. How does the amount of money spent on a celebration affect the memory of that day?
C1 Level – Advanced
1. Is it fair that the cost of maintaining a birthday tradition often falls heavily on the parents?
2. What is the right way to think about a person’s moral duty to attend a large, distant family celebration?
3. How do the platform’s algorithms influence the type of gifts that are suggested and bought?
4. When should the government consider mandatory retirement ages to be a form of age discrimination?
5. What are the moral questions when we talk about using a birthday party to show off wealth?
6. How does the focus on lavish (expensive) parties affect the simple emotional value of the day?
7. Discuss the impact of social media on the pressure to publicly celebrate and document personal milestones.
8. How should leaders use the cultural importance of birthdays to promote national unity or charity?
9. What is the idea of “The Unbirthday” (Lewis Carroll) and its critique of unnecessary celebrations?
10. What are the long-term effects on society when the meaning of a birthday becomes purely commercial?
11. What are the difficulties when courts try to decide if a birthday gift was given under undue influence?
12. How does the search for the perfect celebration conflict with the need for authentic, spontaneous fun?
13. Do you agree that the most important thing is the forward-looking aspect of a birthday, not the past?
14. What are the simple moral rules a person should follow when they cannot afford to buy a gift?
15. Should the government set a legal minimum for the amount of parental leave provided for a child’s first birthday?
C2 Level – Proficiency
1. What is the real difference between a person’s chronological age and their biological or psychological age?
2. Debate the idea: Should we completely eliminate the concept of the yearly birthday and celebrate only milestones (like 10, 25, 50)?
3. How does the concept of “time” change for a person who believes they will live much longer than their parents?
4. What laws or rules are needed to control how companies use a person’s birthdate for targeted advertising?
5. How do historical views of aging (as wisdom or decline) affect modern societal roles?
6. How can communities maintain their traditional cultural birthday rituals when global influences are very strong?
7. Argue the point that humans should stop all attempts to celebrate birthdays after the age of 50.
8. What protection should laws give to elderly people who are pressured by family to give away assets on their birthday?
9. How can we stop the problem of using birthdays to measure and increase social hierarchy?
10. What did old thinkers say about destiny, fate, and the measurement of life that is still important today?
11. What will happen to the need for human planning if AI can perfectly organize the perfect celebration?
12. How do people use the idea of “once a year” to justify excessive spending or consumption?
13. How does the experience of a birthday allow a person to reflect on their past choices and identity?
14. What is the power of a government to control or change the legal age of adulthood?
15. If scientists could create a perfect cure for all aging, how would that fundamentally change the meaning of a birthday?
