Category: Class

Sewing Teddy Bears for Sick Kids

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Campbell is not your average kid. He is one of the everyday heroes trying to make a difference not only in sick children’s lives but also those who are dealing with grief.

Find out more about his unusual hobby and prepare to talk about your thoughts on this topic on being an everyday hero.

Discussion Questions:

1. How is Campbell different from other kids? How did he start creating teddy bears?

2. What do you think of his efforts?

3. Why is it important to have heroes?

4. Who is your country’s biggest national hero and why?

5. Who is the local hero of your town? What did he do?

6. Who was your childhood hero?

7. What is the most charitable thing you’ve ever done?

Speaking Activity: Wishes

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B1 – Intermediate

It’s normal for people to have wishes and specific preferences in life. What are some of yours? Answer the questions below and be ready to have a discussion about wishes with your teacher.

Discussion:

1. Have you ever wished for additional hours to the day?
2. Have you ever thought about changing your appearance?
3. Would you like to move to a new house? What is your ideal living space?
4. Would you like to study again?
5. Would you like to have another job? What is your ideal job?
6. How can you enjoy your life more?
7. How can you maintain your health? What can you do to improve your health?
8. Would you like to have more friends? Would you consider yourself sociable?

Impacts of Brain Drain on Developing Countries

B2 – Upper intermediate

Every year, more and more people are looking for opportunities or greener pastures outside their country and many of these individuals are highly skilled and educated. So how does this affect the country they are leaving?

Click the link below to find out more.

http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/reading_brain_drain.php

Discussion Questions:

1. What is brain drain? What is another term for brain drain?

2. To address the problem of brain drain, what should we understand?
3. What are the consequences of brain drain?
4. What are some reasons why people choose to go abroad?

Emergency Junk Food Flown to Earthquake Town

B2 – Upper Intermediate

A town in New Zealand badly hit by the recent earthquake was the joyful receiver of a not-so-typical food donation.

Read the article below to find out what the citizens of the town collected from a kind-hearted man.

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1611/161121-junk-food.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. What can you say about the actions of Robert Coombes?
  2. How can we help people hit by earthquakes?
  3. Have you ever volunteered to help people affected by a natural disaster?
  4. Have you ever experienced a natural disaster?

Scientists Grow More Crops

B1 – Intermediate

Lack of food supply in the future is a constant fear and would possibly become real if we don’t do anything about it now. Find out what a group of scientists did to create the super crops of the future.

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1611/161119-photosynthesis.html

Discussion Questions:

1. How did scientists make the crops bigger?
2. What do you think of genetically modifying plants and crops?
3. What are the dangers of genetically modified food?
4. What are the benefits of genetically modified food?
5. Why are so many people in the world without food?

Huggable Robots

C1 – Advanced

For kids, going to the hospital can be a terrifying and sometimes boring experience. An interesting innovation from researchers and roboticists may be a good solution- a robot companion.  This robot’s creators aim to know if it can can have therapeutic value for hospitalized children. Can it really alleviate sick children’s anxiety, pain, and isolation?

Let’s meet this blue bear who’s making sick kids less blue.

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you think of “Huggable”? How does a child respond to it?
2. What suggestions did one of the kids give to make it a better robot companion?
3. How else can we make a doctor’s visit less dreadful for children?
4. Did you enjoy hospital visits when you were a kid? How about now?

Pfizer Forbids Sales of Drugs For Lethal Injection

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Certain states in the US that allow lethal injections are having a challenging time sourcing their substances for their execution.

Read the article below to know the reason behind Pfizer’s decision to stop selling specific narcotics used in lethal injections.

The American pharmaceutical conmpany Pfizer has said it will no longer sell drugs that can be used for lethal injections to the Amercian government.  A total of 7 substances on the list are mostly used for operations and certain illnesses but are also in liquids used for executions. According to a Pfizer representative, the company’s aim is to save lives and not help kill people.

Pfizer says it will closely monitor buyers who try to resell the drugs to state institutions, which may use  them for executions.

After Pfizer’s decision , there are no more companies in the USA and Europe that sell lethal injection drugs to the Amercian government . The European Union  has banned the export of such drugs to the US.

As a result, state authorities are trying to find new drugs and combinations of substances that can be used for executions. Normally, three mixtures of drugs are used to execute a prisoner. The first one makes you unconscious , the second liquid paralyses the muscles  and the third stops the heart from beating.

In the past few years, the number of executions has decreased, in part due to the availability of lethal drugs. Last year only 28 executions were carried out in the US. Among the 32 states that allow capital punishment, all of them use lethal injections as the main method of execution but some allow the electric chair,hanging, the firing squad and the gas chamber as alternatives.

Human rights organizations and other groups opposed to capital punishment have welcomed Pfizer’s decision as a bold move to ban the death penalty in the United States.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What do you think of Pfizer’s decision?
  2. Why did several drug companies refuse to sell these drugs to the US government?
  3. In your own opinion, is lethal injection humane? Explain your opinion.
  4. Is there death penalty in your country? If none, should there be one?

Effects of Daylight Saving Time

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Daylight saving time (DST) has been practiced by some countries as early as 1908. The tradition of adjusting time back during the fall has given joy to most people as it would mean extra time for sleep. But DST can also cause other “side effects”.

Click the link below to learn about the 5 weird effects of Daylight Saving Time.

http://www.livescience.com/40903-daylight-saving-time-affects-your-body.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. Which effect of Daylight Saving Time were you most surprised about?
  2. Where did the idea of Daylight Saving Time come from?
  3. What are the upside and downside of DST?
  4. Are you in favor of DST? Why or why not?

Euthanasia -Pros and Cons of Mercy Killing

B1 – Intermediate

Euthanasia has always been a controversial topic. It also has other names. It is sometimes called assisted suicide and mercy killing.

Click the link below to know more about euthanasia and its pros and cons.

Euthanasia -Pros and Cons of Mercy Killing

Discuss:

1. Are you in favor of euthanasia?
2. Could euthanasia be used as a means of health care cost containment?
3. Is Euthanasia allowed in your country?

Women Try Manspreading for a Week

B2 – Upper Intermediate

There are some things we do that we are probably not very aware that they could be a nuisance to others. One example is manspreading.

Watch the video below about manspreading and how three women decided to conduct an experiment related to gender differences. Express your thoughts afterwards.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How did the women feel about this experiment?
  2. What is manspreading? What is your viewpoint on this?
  3. Is this behaviour natural or is it just an I-can-do-what-I-want attitude
  4. How do you react when a woman beside you spreads her legs when sitting? How about if it’s a man? What’s the difference?
  5. Is there such thing as gender-based accepted behavior?