SESSION 13: EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION AND FINAL TASK
2. EXERCISES FOR DISCUSSION:
2.1 2011/2012: Write three lists or columns and think about the following points. Write on list 1 and 2 what was good and bad in 2011, and on list 3 what your hopes are for 2012:
- You
- English
- Your country
- The Earth
- War
- Sport
2.2 2012: Which of these do you hope for most in 2012? Rank them putting the best at the top:
- more money
- better English
- better figure
- World peace
- better friendships
- better health
- a new leader for your country
2.3 DISCUSSION: Here are some questions you can try asking yourself before you come to our discussion on Wednesday:
a) What is the first thing that springs to mind when you hear the year ‘2011’?
b) How was 2011 for you?
c) How was 2011 for your country?
d) What are your regrets about 2011?
e) What things would you like to have been different in 2011?
f) What hopes do you have for 2012?
g) Are you glad to see the back of 2011?
h) What do you remember most about events in your country in 2011?
i) What do you wish hadn’t happened in 2011?
j) What three adjectives would you use to describe 2011 and why?
k) What is the first thing that springs to mind when you hear the year ‘2012’?
l) What do you think 2012 has in store for you?
m) What do you remember about the first few months of the Arab Spring?
n) What was the biggest news story of the year 2011 for you?
o) If you were a journalist, what event would you like to have covered in 2011?
p) Whose death in 2011 had the biggest impact on the world? And the strongest consequences in 2012?
q) What was the best thing about 2011?
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 IN THE ORAL SESSION.
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 13, I will edit it in the blog so that everybody can learn from other people´s opinions:
- What important political and economical events and changes took place in 2011. Express your opinion.
- How do you see 2012, with hope or with fear. Express your opinion.
The current economic situation is pretty difficult due to the amount of problem that lots of countries have. These situations make us be rather pessimistic about the future. Hence, they have to be studied seriously.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we have had general election recently, the fact is that the new government has difficult tasks to solve, for instance, economic problems, the amount of unemployed people, the reduction of workers salaries and the increase in their work hours, the raise of taxes we have to pay and finally, the difficulty people have to spend money because there is not any trust in the future of the country. Firstly, our current economy has lots of problems because of several factors, such as, the lack of confidence investors have in our businesses. The main reason is the economic deficit Spain has, it means that the country spend more money that income it has, so that is the reason why we have to pay expensive interest on the money other countries lend us. Secondly, Unemployment is another serious problem. Spain is the Europe’s country with the most number of unemployed. The fact that Spain economy was based in building and not in other business for example industry, caused this situation which is being dramatic for lots of families in which, in many cases, all their members do not have a job Another negative situation is related to people who still work, because their salaries have been reduced and their work hours have been increased in order to help their companies and so they might not lose their jobs. Finally, the lack of confidence in our country’s economy makes people save money, so they do not spend any of it. Thus, this behaviour does not help to solve the problems we have, because the base of our economy is consume, since it is the only way that both, offer and demand can move money and so, production is reactivated in order to employers need workers, besides these workers spend money and also they pay taxes and so on.
In conclusion, the future will be really dark, at least while business markets do not come back to be balanced, and people’s confidence are recovered again. But meanwhile politicians are not honest and governments do not achieve to control deficit and country’s budget does not waste money, it will be a difficult target.
Miguel Ruano.
I think that everyone will agree that the year 2011 has not been a great year, to say more, it has been the worst of the economic crisis and of values which began already a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteSo, it would become a trap if we thought that 2012 year is going to be better than the previous year and the end of this crisis is here. However, despite of It could be true, It is necessary that happen a number of situations. For instance, politicians consider their decisions on the basis of the general interests of the State and not over those of his party. In addition to that, the laws have as goal the improvement of the country for the next 20 or 25 years, i.e., that politicians look like statesmen rather than good-for-nothing who only try to be elected again at any price.
On the other hand, we also need to recover a set of values and ethics in our way of acting. We must think about improving our environment to achieve our own individual betterment, by putting the global interest before the individual interest.
To sum up, it is so complicated and difficult to happen, that I think strongly that all this will take us quite some time in out of the crisis in which we are immersed. So 2012 is not going to be better than 2011.