Hi, Gang --
A former coworker in Shanghai emailed me today to ask for some materials she �d seen me use in Shanghai, and I had no idea they were worth anything at all! Turns out she loves them, so I thought I �d see if something like this (it �s a little unusual) would be of any use to any of you before I put it into a template and upload it.
I used to do a weekly debate with High Intermediate and Advanced students. Since government censorship is the way it is here in China, I decided to get all my topics from the newspapers, because they have already been blessed by the censors, so I �m covered.
I get a short article with some element of controversy to it, identify any words they may have problems with, give definitions for those words, put all of it on a A4 page, make copies, then have it available to the students a few hours before the class so they can take their time reading it.
At class time, I review the article to make sure everybody has a clear understanding of the element of controversy. Then divide the class in half, one side for, one side against. I also make sure they know to "plan for what the other guy is going to say" (anticipate objections). I give the groups about 10-15 minutes to plan their positions. Then bring the two groups together and let them hash it out.
With about 10 minutes left in the class, I end the debate and then get feedback on what people REALLY think about the topic. It was always really popular, and I hated having to stop it. But all my advanced students left at the end of the academic year last year.
Anyway -- I have tons of these that I �d be willing to upload if anybody wants them. They are all articles from China Daily and Shanghai Daily, with the corresponding vocab lists. Like I said, there �s a little work to getting them uniform, but I �m glad to do it if anybody thinks they may use them. Let me know, and I can have a batch uploaded by Monday or Tuesday latest.
OH! One more important thing. Some of the vocab lists are in English. Others are in Chinese -- For a short time I had a Chinese coworker who was really into this, and she would help me make sure I selected the correct Chinese character for the vocab list. So for quite a few of them, that hard part has already been done.
Cheers!
Dee
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Thank you very much in advance!
