3RD YEAR 'AIM' DISCUSSION CLASS

'AIM' MEANING ASSERTIVENESS, INITIATIVE AND MASTERY

Aims:

This class is concerned with increasing spoken confidence, especially in the area of discussion (giving opinions, agreeing, disagreeing....) It is important for participants to say what they want to say and not to be too worried about making mistakes or thinking that they are better or less good than other people in the class. The class is a chance for practice. Learning involves making mistakes!

Topics:

From a new book, 'Debating the Issue' by Hideaki Motogi, Stephen Hesse and Denji Suzuki (Macmillan Language House Publishers). A presentation is made by four or five class members for each topic.

1: English as an International Language - a big question now is about teaching English to elementary school students. What do you think? Look at the questionnaire

2: Fashion and Trendy Lifestyles - We discussed six questions. Find out what class members thought.

3: Marriage and Divorce - We looked at various related issues, including changes in marriage customs among Japanese and among British Asians. We also looked at the story of Tom Green who was recently tried on charges including polygamy. The culmination was a splendid skit on a TV show.

4: Methods of Punishment - particularly corporal punishment in schools. Heiko and Dennis talked about school punishments in Germany. Students devised a roleplay to decide what the best punishment would be for an errant student.

Students recapped these issues with David Hawes, who visited the class on 10th July and talked about this topic with Chad and Paul.

5: Abortion - looking at the differing attitudes and legislation on abortion in Britain, Japan and the United States. Students role-played a discussion.

Students talked about this topic with Chad and Paul.

How about topics in the second semester?