Job Discussion Forums

[living&learning]

I do Oral English at a uni - bright kids, quite enthusiatic.

Got through introductions over the last fortnight. This week I'm doing the 'sinking ship/desert island' discussion.

What other discussion/debate topics have you found effective with Chinese uni students?

I guess I can scour the papers/news daily to pick up ideas, but maybe you have some gems you'd care to share.

Cheers in advance..

[englishgibson]

smoking in public
divorcing if disagreements in a family arise
global warming causes

these are just some topics and you can raise a question there. also, you may ask your students for some research (homework) on the topic prior to your discussions there. that way you may get more of opinions vs facts as well. you may sure encourage their experiences, but there's a danger they've got little to go on with...sorry, for assuming..my students usually have lil in their heads and prompts of all sorts are required. again, i don't know your class well, and the real scope behind it all.

cheers and beers

[Cairnsman]

Too Many People

The leaders of China introduced the 'One Child' policy back in 1979 but it hasn�t been effective enough.

China is a big country - approximately 9.6 million square kilometers - but the country is not big enough to support a population of 1.3 billion people. By comparison, Canada is 9.9 million square kilometers which supports a population of 33 million, the US is 9.8 million square kilometers which supports a population of 300 million and Australia is 7.6 million square kilometers which supports a population of 20 million.

The leaders of China are under great pressure to make sure that the country's economy continues to develop. For the past few years, China's leaders have had to travel around the world, going from country-to-country, trying to find places where China can buy resources such as oil, gas, iron ore, rubber and more.

If China's population was only 50% of what it is today, China's development would be faster and stronger. If China's population grows bigger than 1.3 billion, China's development may come to a halt. It is clear that China needs to take further action to reduce its population.

Toy Timetable

These days college students have too many toys! I don't mean actual toys like young children have. I mean all things that college students play with, such as mobile phones, MP3 players, computers, computer game machines (Nintendo, X-Box, etc) and more. These 'play things' distract students from the ONLY reason they go to college - to study!

I think that colleges should have toy timetables. Colleges should have a big room in which all students' 'play things' can be kept from Monday morning until Friday afternoon. Students would only be able to play with their things on weekends. Also, if any student has not been doing his or her homework, that student's teacher can tell the storage room manager that they cannot have their play things for the weekend, as punishment.

I am sure that this idea would improve the study habits of most students. Also, it would help students prepare for the real world which they will face when they finish their college studies and that is - work hard Monday to Friday, rest and play on weekends.

Too Late for Taiwan

Mainland Chinese people have strong feelings about Taiwan but, actually, I think it is too late for Taiwan to return to China. Taiwan separated from mainland China in 1949. People in Taiwan have been doing their own thing for 58 years ago. You can't ask people to go back to the past.

Imagine that you are 25 years old. You have a big argument with your family and so you move to Beijing on your own. In Beijing you find a good job. You also find a girlfriend or boyfriend. Later you get married and have children. You and your husband / wife have good jobs and a nice home. Then, when you are 50 years old (which is only 25 years compared to Taiwan's 58 years), your father and mother contact you. They tell you that they forgive you for the problem in the past and ask you to return to the family home.

Would you give up your good life in Beijing to go home? After having your own successful, independent life for 25 years could you really go back home and accept being told what you should do and should not do by your mother and father? How do the people of Taiwan feel about being told to return to the 'motherland'?

The world, and people's lives, are always changing. Some changes are not for the better but changes that have endured for a long time, whether they are good or bad, are sometimes unable to be reversed.

[alter ego]

The more student-centered, the better. Google ESL moral dilemmas plenty of free and pay sites that make it pretty much a no-brainer.

[Sinobear]

Here's one of my favorites: When I ask students if they were a doctor and their patient had a terminal illness, would they tell their patient he/she was going to die?
Most of my student say 'no' with various reasons.
I then turn the question around and ask if they were the patient and they were going to die, would they want their doctor to tell them.
Most of my students say 'yes.'

I also like to talk about modern marriage. Who really should and does pay for what. One fun point is when you discuss the bride fee. Give the analogy of buying a new car vs. a used one.

Cheers!

[Mister Al]

Here's one for you all:

You are standing on a bridge over a railway track. A train is coming down the track. After the bridge the track splits in two. On one track is an old man struggling to cross the line. On the other track is a group of children. The train driver has a heart attack and dies. Next to you is a lever that allows you to switch the train from track to track. The train is heading for the children. What do you do? Pull the lever and send the old man to his death or do nothing?

Answers on a postcard to.............

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

That was a good one, Mister Al.

Here is mine (I have used this with interesting results):


You and your parents are in a hot air balloon over a shark-infested sea.

The balloon is slowly going down, but if one of you jumps into the sea, the balloon can make it to an island not far away.

Otherwise, you will all die.


Who should jump into the sea?

(There are variations like Mao, Deng, Jiang, and Hu) etc...

[brsmith15]

This is a classic used in all kinds of classes and training sessions:

A man comes to your door holding a box with a large red button on the top. He says to you,

"I will give you $1 million US in cash. No one will know you've received this money. All you have to do is push the button. When you do, someone you do not know and who is at least 5,000 km away will die instantly and painlessly of a heart attack. The death cannot be traced to you in any way"

Do you press the button or not? Why?


The partner to the above goes like this:

You are married, aged 26, and have one son, aged 5, whom you love dearly. A man comes to your door with a gun and says,

"I will shoot either you or your son. You must make the choice."

Who do you choose and why?

[Jayray]

You are digging in your parents' garden, and you find a box filled with 50,000 yuan. Your parents say that it isn't theirs and it is up to you to decide what to do with the money.

What do you do?
a. Keep it
b. ask the neighbors it it is theirs
c. turn it over to the authorities.

In my class, oral arguments said that they would turn the money over to the authorities.

Written, anonymous replies indicated that the vast majority would keep the money and help their parents with it.

Some wrote that it would just cause trouble in the neighborhood if neighbors were asked about it. Taking it to the authorities would raise suspicions. If they just kept the money, said nothing to anyone except their parents, life would be much better for everyone.

[roadwalker]

You (the student) are now 25 years old. Last year at work, you met the member of the opposite sex of your dreams. S/He is everything you had been hoping to find in a serious relationship. After it seemed to both of you that you were well-matched, you decided to introduce each other to your parents. You and s/he want to get married. BUT for some reason that you can't understand, Your parents don't like him/her and tell you so, in so many words. It is obvious that they are trying to discourage the relationship. Do you plan your wedding anyway and hope your parents someday see things the way you do, or break up to prevent this situation from ruining the relationship you have with your parents?

[brsmith15]

Here's one for business students. It was once a part of Xerox's sales training course, considered the best in the world at one time:

You are a salesperson for a very large company. You are paid a commission of 5% on all sales you make. Your boss is a stickler for honesty in all customer dealings, but also pushes all salespeople to make their sales quotas -- set very high.

You are visiting the buyer for a new potential customer. Your company and its 4 main competitors have each submitted bids for an extremely large order, nearly 10 million yuan. The buyer notes that all 4 offers are now in his possession and in a folder on his desk. Each company will have the chance to negotiate (Read that as lower their price.) their respective bids.

He then excuses himself to visit the rest room.

Should you look in the folder?

By the bye, when I began doing some selling years ago my boss asked me if I could read upside down. Why? Often, competing bids were on the buyer's desk in front of him......facing him, of course.

[Ariadne]

I used several of the ideas in English Corner last night. There were some good discussions. Most of the kids were totally opposed to divorce until I asked if they would feel the same if their spouse was beating them. They didn't want to be punched around. The students said they would choose their own marriage partners.. but they might have to keep looking if their parents didn't approve of their choice. The one child policy had people on both sides but not one student mentioned population control as a reason for the one child policy. Almost all of the students said they would kill to protect their parents or other family members but they wouldn't kill to save a neighbor or a stranger. What if the stranger is a baby? They would probably kill to save the baby. Most agreed that patients should be told if they were going to die, unless the patient is a child younger than 15. Trying to preserve or create harmony was a constant theme in the discussions.


.

[Beyond1984]

Another classic discussion/debate prompt:

If you had to betray your mother, or Mother China, which would you choose?

-Wen Lin

Here's a fun writing prompt:

A teacher's time, like that of any worker, is limited. Should teachers spend that time helping their best students improve, or should they spend their time helping the worst students become, at least, average?

[nickpellatt]

I would ignore the one child policy and Taiwan prompts above. Too controversial and you might open a can of worms doing those.

Not to say you cant do similar ... I would do the birth rate thing on another country. When I was in Kenya I met a man who had 5 wives and over 20 children. Considering famine is such a huge issue in this part of Africa, should culture and tradition be ignored and sensible measures taken to control family sizes and multiple wives etc. Tackling this issue, and not involving China, is an interesting way to stimulate the students, and in a round-a-bout way they may then consider Chinas policy themselves. DittoTaiwan ... this could be done with another country where there is a similar issue. Britain and The Falklands for example.

Also, the sinking balloon scenario can be used in another way ... all the students can be on the balloon, and each has to make a short speech about themselves, their skills, and why they should be the one to stay on the balloon. Ss vote for who is the least valuable member, and keep voting people off. There can be multiple rounds of debate on this.

Another similar thing I have is a bunch of question cards. Fairly simple things like 'You can have one superpower, what would you have'. 'Would you prefer to be blind or deaf' etcetcetc (you can easily make these)

Split class into small groups. Give one card to each group to discuss for a set time span ... monitor and push them along as needed. After the set time, keep the groups the same, but swap the cards between groups.

Another nice discussion type lesson is this - again split class into small groups, give each group a selection of random objects. Ask them to invent or innovate a brand new (doesnt have to be real or serious) product, think about features and benefits, uses, why people want it, and then each group has to present their idea to the rest of the class.

I find these to be better than class debates or whole class discussions. Whole class debates/discussions can sometimes rely too heavily on the students input. I have had some good ones, but they often fall flat.

[chinatwin88]

BR Smiths question: The partner to the above goes like this:

You are married, aged 26, and have one son, aged 5, whom you love dearly. A man comes to your door with a gun and says,

"I will shoot either you or your son. You must make the choice."

Who do you choose and why?

I once had this question ask me in a class room setting with the exception of the choice being wife and son, so I thought it would be a good exercise for everyone to do, and it was a slow day anyway.

There answers were varied but it my answer they were most interested in and it is in the student�s curiosity as it is the nature of whence all interest in the universe come from.

When ask this question I responded that I would shoot my own child and wife and then shoot the man at the door; after that I would hunt down his entire family and shoot them. Then I would build a new family, safe in the knowledge that no one would ever approach my family again without the knowledge that they were also signing the death warrant of any of their family members. My students ushered out a knowing sigh and nodded their heads.