Hello colleagues, Do you ever engage higher level English learners in controversial topics to encourage critical thinking and discussion? Do you have students debate? How do you choose a topic?
For those who might be interested, check out this Busy Teacher blog by Tara Arntsen, "Controversial Topics and How to Teach Them." The blog post includes a list of controversial topics for readers to consider. Do any of these topics appeal to you?
Let us know what you think the pros and cons are of bringing controversial topics into the ESL class.
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition CoP
Comments
Susan, a big topic in my classes is ...How to learn English. First, because my students are beginners for the most part, the conversation is mostly in Spanish. People have a wide variety of ideas and misconceptions about how to learn English. Usually some students will mention that the real problem is that they lack confidence. One reason students lack confidence is that they encounter people...and sometimes teachers......who make fun of them when they make mistakes. Then we talk about the fact that mistakes are normal and if they did not make mistakes I would not have a job. At some point I mention that the number one rule in the classroom is that it is forbidden to make fun of anyone...although they are encouraged to laugh at my jokes.
Anotdher topic that bothers many of my students is the occasional encounter they have with someone who gets annoyed that they do not know English well enough.
I avoid talking about religion and politics in the class, mainly because there may be arguments. Actually once I asked everyone to tell me a recipe for a salsa in English, and there was almost a big argument about that!!
Now, of course, politics is on everyone's mind. As an individual I try to counter certain attitudes by arguing in favor of making changes in the law so that it makes sense and does not penalize hard-working, honest people.
Hello Paul and all, Talking about the learning process is so valuable. We can help learners realize that mistakes are actually an important and necessary part of learning. If we never made any mistakes, we wouldn't learn much, especially when learning another language.
I can easily imagine students having very different ideas about how to make the best salsa!
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, English Language Acquisition CoP