I think that it is the teacher's responsibility to maintain interesting conversations.  I have a long list of conversation topics with questions that I use.  For example, let's say our conversation is about childhood.  I will ask a question about your childhood and we will talk.  When I see that the conversation is slowing, then I ask another question to extend the thought or redirect it.  In our example I might ask you, "How old were you when you learned to ride a bicycle?", or "Who was your best friend when you were a child?".  Questions like these help to lead the conversation so that there is no dead time, and they mimic the types of real-life conversations we all have in our native language.  I usually do a different topic for each lesson, but some topics take 2 or 3 lessons, especially for beginners.

Many times, my lessons start with one topic and end up on another because that is how conversation happens in real life  Sometimes after I get to know the student well, they want to talk about work or something else.  My goal is for my students to have the most natural speaking experience possible.

https://genius.com/Childish-gambino-this-is-america-lyrics

THIS VIDEO HAS GRAPHIC GUN VIOLENCE AND EXECUTION STYLE KILLINGS.  WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/childish-gambino-this-is-america_us_5af05c12e4b041fd2d28d8e9   

11)    American names are varied due to our immigrant background.  There are certain trends that come and go.  Right now parents seem to want to name their children unique names that will make them stand out.  We named one of our children after a Disney princess, (my husband's choice), and the other after my husband's aunt who had just passed away, (my choice).

http://www.businessinsider.com/baby-name-trends-next-year-2017-12

9)     I don't, because California is a very diverse state, and Fresno a diverse city.  There are some areas of the US however that do not have much diversity at all, and in these areas it might be more of an issue.  I'm sorry that I don't know.

10)   This is a VERY controversial video that you may have seen as it has gone viral around the world.  It is a very chilling look at the new American reality.  I used this link to it because the article it is embedded in helps to explain it more.  The first link just has the lyrics so that you can see them without watching the video if you chose not to.  

6)    We have free public education for primary and secondary school, but no free post-secondary school education.  There are ways to pay for college/university/trade school though, such as scholarships, grants, and loans.

7)    I would say that it is safe overall, but for some areas of society, it is becoming increasingly unsafe due to more gun violence.  A lot of it depends on where you live as well.  See #10. 

8)    Women are considered to be equal to men in society, but it is still difficult to achieve equality in some areas such as math and science, although this is slowly changing.  While men do help around the house, it is still considered more of a woman's area.             

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/so-happy-together/201709/who-s-cleaning-the-house

3)    The main style here is pretty casual.  I would say that most Americans are typically more casual dressers than Europeans and Californians are more casual dressers than most Americans.  It would not be bad to wear shorts and a t-shirt if you were going out to dinner with friends here, unless it was a specific formal occasion like a wedding or meeting your boss.  On those occasions, you could get away without a tie as long as you wore a nice button-down shirt and some slacks.

4)     Everybody wants to be thin and fit although few of us really are!   

5)     The average height is 175.7 cm for males and 161.8 cm for females although it varies a lot due to the many nationalities our ancestors came from.  I personally am of European descent and I am 167.9 cm.  I consider myself average for my peer group.

I have been trying to post this since yesterday - I finally got it!  

The US is a large country so I am going to generalize on some questions, but on some I can only be specific to my area of the country.

1) Americans are pretty straight forward.  We tend to be outgoing as a society, although many individuals are more introverted.

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2)    It depends on where you live.  Here in Fresno, CA, we go to movies, go out to eat or go to the lake/river.  We are centrally located in California so it is easy to take a day trip to San Fransisco, the coast, or the mountains.  We have Yosemite National Park and Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park nearby as well.