1000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers – Sean Banville
• August 6 should become the very first worldwide holiday, called “Hiroshima Day”. • Nuclear weapons will never be used again to kill people. • The dropping of the bombs in Japan saved lives by ending WWII early. • Hiroshima is living proof that human spirit can never be defeated. • The world should be very ruthless with North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. • In the near future, terrorists will get hold of nuclear weapons. • Every capital city in the world should have a Hiroshima memorial museum to show the horrors of atomic bombs. • All schoolchildren around the world should have a “Hiroshima lesson” on August 6. © www.BreakingNewsEnglish.com
2013.
417. CORRECTED OPINIONS Students must change the opinions on their worksheets so that they match their own opinions. They then talk about these with their partners or in groups. This is an example from the lesson “British royal finances online” (http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0506/050623- royalfinances.html). ROYAL OPINIONS To what degree do you agree or disagree with these opinions? Change the statements so they match your own opinion and provide support for any changes you make. a. Monarchies should be abolished. b. Kings and queens should work. c. Queens should go shopping in supermarkets. d. Royals are better than common people. e. Privilege is unfair and un-21st century. f. Taxpayers shouldn’t fund royal families. g. Queen Elizabeth should sell some diamonds and give the money to charity. h. Royals should have a weekly TV show about their week’s news. i. It is good to die in war for one’s king or queen and country. j. Royals have special blood. © www.BreakingNewsEnglish.com
2013.
418. ADDED OPINIONS Put opinions on sheets of A3 paper around the room. Students have to visit a number of the opinion sheets and write their own responses. The next student writes a response to the previous response(s), and so on. Once there are about five responses to responses to responses, students discuss the trail of opinions. 419. GUESS THE OPINION MAKER Write a number of opinions and a number of likely makers of those opinions. Students must match the opinions with the opinion makers. The opinion makers may take generic forms (12-year-old child, farmer, a Chinese person…) or well-known personalities. http://www.BreakingNewsEnglish.com 86