SESSION 25: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK

SESSION 25: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK

2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION

2.1 SCANDAL: Talk about scandals in different aspects of society. Tell what happened and how you felt about it:

• religion
• sport
• politics
• a celebrity

2.2 RESPECT: Who do you respect most? Rank them, the person getting more respect goes at the top:

• parents
• best friends
• your country´s leader
• charity workers/volunteers
• religious leaders
• successful business people
• people in the military
• teachers

2.3 CHILD ABUSE: Here is a definition of child abuse taken from an encyclopedia:

Child abuse is the physical, psychological or sexual maltreatment of children. While most child abuse happens in the child's home, a significant portion also occurs in organizations involving children, such as churches, schools, child care businesses, and residential schools.
There are many forms of abuse and neglect and many governments have developed their own legal definition of what constitutes child maltreatment for the purposes of removing a child and/or prosecuting a criminal charge. In the United States, the Federal Government puts out a full definition of child abuse and neglect and creates a summary of each State definition. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines child maltreatment as any act or series of acts or commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child. Examples of acts of commission include physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Examples of acts of omission include failure to provide (physical, emotional, medical/dental, or educational neglect) or failure to supervise (inadequate supervision, or exposure to violent environments.)

• Is there anything you read which you didn´t know before?
• Did you know about the acts of commission and omission? Do you agree with the definition given here?

Neglect represents 54% of confirmed cases of child abuse, physical abuse 22%, sexual abuse 8%, emotional maltreatment 4%, and other forms of maltreatment 12%.
According to a recent UNICEF report on child well-being in the United States and the United Kingdom ranked lowest among first world nations with respect to the well being of their children. This study also found that child neglect and child abuse are far more common in single-parent families than in families where both parents are present. Recently a study conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that 1 in 50 infants in the United States are victims of nonfatal neglect or abuse. In the US, neglect is defined as the failure to meet the basic needs of children including housing, clothing, food and access to medical care. Researchers found over 91,000 cases of neglect over the course of one year (from October 2005- September 30, 2006) with their information coming from a database of cases verified by protective services agencies.

• When you read these statistics, what are your feelings?
• Do you think they are similar to the ones we have in Spain?
• To read more about Roman Catholic sex abuse cases, have a look at the following link:

http://encyclopedia.tfd.com/Roman+Catholic+sex+abuse+cases

2.4 DISCUSSION: Here are some questions you can try asking yourself before you come to our discussion on Wednesday:

a) What did you think when you read the headline?
b) What do you think should happen to the priests?
c) Do you think the Pope should 'resign'?
d) How badly do you think this crisis is affecting the Church?
e) Do you think abuse happens in all religions?
f) What do you think the Pope should do now?
g) What do you think of the Pope covering up the priest?
h) Do you think the Pope is a fraud and hypocrite?

i) Do you think the media is making a mountain out of a molehill?
j) Why is the Vatican fighting back if so much wrong has been done?
k) Do you think it’s better for the Vatican to talk about this crisis rather than stay quiet?
l) Do you think American citizens should be able to sue the Vatican?
m) What do you think of churches and religions?
n) Do you think it’s important for people to talk more about issues such as sexual abuse?
o) What would happen if Jeff Anderson won his lawsuit?
p) What questions would you like to ask Pope Benedict XVI?

PREPARING A DISCUSSION IS FUNDAMENTAL:

THIS MUST BE DONE IN TWO DIRECTIONS:

FIRST, YOU NEED TO LEARN NEW VOCABULARY AND EXPRESSIONS THAT YOU WILL HAVE TO USE FOR THE DISCUSSION.
SECONDLY, YOU HAVE TO PREPARE THE TOPIC BY LOOKING UP INFORMATION IN THE INTERNET, BOOKS, ENCYCLOPAEDIAS.
THIS WAY YOU WILL FEEL MUCH MORE CONFIDENT AND AT THE SAME TIME YOU WILL HAVE MUCH MORE TO TALK ABOUT.

FINAL TASK:

HERE IS ONE FINAL TASK THAT YOU MAY DO IN ORDER TO COVER THE FOUR SKILLS YOU SHOULD FOCUS ON WHEN LEARNING A LANGUAGE: LISTENING, READING, SPEAKING AND WRITING.

Write a composition and leave it in the blog as a comment to Session 25, I will edit it in the blog so that everybody can learn from other people´s opinions.

• 'I strongly believe religious leaders should not be above the law'. Express your opinion.