Korean Job Discussion Forums

[KAMAKAZI]

Hey guys,
looking for debate topics for my adult classes. Mostly women.
I like to get some opinions from other people on here about good topics to
discuss about.
Any hot issues that sound good to you guys worth talking about??

thx

[highdials5]

[scorpiocandy]

I have a large number of discussion topics and lessons but time and again there are a few subjects that get them talking all the time

a Battle of the sexes. Women have a great time man bashing, especially if they're married
Of course the mother-in-law will also get under their skin.

Adultery and Divorce

Sex education (or lack of) in Korean schools. Also include the availabilty and use of contraceptives and abortion.

Stereotypes - I start with brainstorming our different stereotypes of various groups pf people. Eg: All men are ... All women are ... All Korean people are ... etc


We also had an interesting discussion on the "pregnant man" and that of course included homosexuaity ( no gay people in Korea! ) transgender, discrmination in general

Cosmetic Surgery is a kinda big topic

They also enjoyed the Konglish lesson I prepared.

Discuss different cultures and religions. They can work in pairs and research a culture or nationalty that they're interested in and share with the other students how THAT culture differs from that of Korea.

Be very well prepared yourself, especially with what the situation is in Korea. Many of my students don't believe that there are gay people, prostitutes, transvestites, abortions, baby trafficking or any of the other "bad things" in their country.

[lifeinkorea]

Sounds like an Oprah/Springer bonanza English class, lol

Do it online and have students call in

[KoreanAmbition]

1) Gangnam Swingers Club.

Since a lot of them won't know it exists, print an article for them about it.
Seriously, just an awesome topic.



2) Gyopos - "Are they really Koreans?"



3) Foreigners, immigrating to Korea, having children... are those children Korean???

[MrMr]

Every once in a while I use dear Abby or Ann Landers letters You can cut them out of the local English papers or find them on line. Tons of controversial topics or tame ones depending on your assessment of the class dynamic. I photocopy the Questions on one piece of paper and the answers on a second paper. The letters contain lots of new vocab and everyday idioms.

Students read the "Dear Abby" question and then in groups come up with some advice for the writer. Afterwords I give them dear Abby's answer and they discuss their reaction to it.

We also discuss cultural differences in reaction to problems;eg mother-in-law interference, adultery.

Adult students always get into these discussions but I only use this material once or twice a semester.

If your students are very high level, you can find a funny print-out called, "Questions Dear Abby couldn't answer".

[Ya-ta Boy]

Try Breaking News English. Lots of topics, and many of the discussion questions are terrific. It also has warm-up activities that are good.

Another source of good topics: any of the advice columns (Dear Abby). The letters are written in idiomatic English, so offer a natural time to teach idioms.

[VanIslander]

food, dieting, health

[ddeubel]

I always plan however brief - some open discussion in my classes (it is so important for fluency development). Mostly women and usually the topics that come up are -- news items of a lifestyle nature (like "short men are out" / plastic surgery / women and 2 jobs / having more kids / school related stuff / euthanasia (really hot but sensitive) / celebrities/soaps .

Sean does a super job at Breakingnewsenglish but for lower level discussion he also has Discussion questions - http://www.esldiscussions.com/

I have made many karaoke/videos of breakingnewsenglish lessons (with his permission) and find them on EFL Classroom under Resources-World Issues. Play the video in cloze and then full. Links to all the lessons right there too. Here are some examples of what you'll find there - many on Korean topics.

Another neat way to get discussions going is to use writing prompts. Writing is an active mode of language and just flip writing activities to produce a speaking one... You can get thousands of writing prompts Here's an X-mas gift!

Cheers,
DD
http://eflclassroom.com