Impact Issues - Teacher's Notes

Impact Issues Teacher's Notes
Lesson 8 – Family Harmony

Comprehension questions:

1. What is the relationship between Mae and Chew? (brother and sister)
2. What does Chew want to do? (send his daughter to a private school)
3. Who is Wai? (Mae’s daughter)
4. Can Mae’s daughter go to a private school? (no)
5. Why can’t she go to a private school? (not enough money)
6. Do Mae and her husband have good jobs? (yes)
7. Why don’t they have enough money? (they just bought a house)
8. Who is Shu-Ling? (Chew’s daughter/Wai’s cousin)
9. Why will Wai want to go to the same school as Shu-Ling? (they are close)
10. Why is it good for Wai and Shu-Ling to go to the same school? (go on trips together, in the same classes, go to school together, do homework together)
11. Is Chew worried about Wai’s feelings if Shu-Ling is sent to a private school? (no, he thinks she’ll get over it)
    

Opinion questions (all followed by why/why not?):

How important is keeping your family members’ happy?
Would you change jobs without asking about your family’s feelings?
Would you move without asking about their feelings?
What decisions do you make which consider your family’s feelings?

Homework:

Write an essay about which decisions should/should not be affected by family concerns.

This material is (c) The Home Sensei

Impact Issues - Teacher's Notes

Impact Issues Teacher's Notes
Lesson 7 – The Unborn Child

Comprehension questions:

1. Who is Sia married to? (Ashat)
2. How old is Sia? (38) How old is Ashat? (42)
3. How long have they been married? (10 years)
4. What have they been trying to do for a long time? (have a baby)
5. How many months pregnant is Sia? (3)
6. What is wrong with the fetus? (its brain is not developing properly)
7. What problems will the baby have if Sia gives birth? (mentally and physically handicapped)
8. Has Sia been pregnant before? (yes) When? (3 years ago)
9. What happened to that baby 3 years ago? (She lost it in the 4th month)
10. Does Sia think she can get pregnant again? (no)
11. How does Sia feel about having a handicapped baby? (she thinks she can love and care for it)
12. How does Ashat fell about having a handicapped baby? (he’s having second thoughts)
13. What is Ashat worried about? (money for the child’s special needs, the baby’s future life)
    

Opinion questions (all followed by why/why not?):

Do you think Sia and Ashat should have a baby?
Do you think all handicapped babies should be aborted?

Homework:
Write an essay about why you believe handicapped babies should/should not be born.

Impact Issues - Teacher's Notes

Impact Issues Teacher's Notes
Lesson 6 – Traffic Jam

Comprehension questions:

1. What problem do many countries have? (traffic jams)
2. What environmental problem does driving a car cause? (air pollution)
3. Does Singapore have a traffic problem? (No.)
4. What is the air like in Singapore? (It’s clean.)
5. How long does it take to drive to the airport in Singapore? (15 minutes)
6. How has Singapore managed to control the air pollution and traffic? (they made it expensive to own and drive a car/require a permit)
7. How much does it cost to buy a 10-year permit to drive a car? ($75,000)
8. How much are import taxes on cars? (195%)
9. How much might a car cost in Singapore? (over $250,000)
10. If drivers want to go downtown, what must they do? (pay)
11. Is gasoline cheap or expensive? (expensive) Why? (it’s taxed greatly)
12. Do you think Singapore’s solution would work in Tokyo? Why? Why not?
13. What is necessary in cities where owning a car is very expensive? (very good public transportation)
    

Opinion questions (all followed by why/why not?):

• Do you think other cities should do as Singapore has done? Why? Why not?
• Do you think it is necessary to own a car in Tokyo? If not, why not? Is so, why?
• What kind of people really need cars?
• What kind of people don’t need cars?
  

Homework:

Write an essay about your ideas for reducing air pollution caused by cars.

This material is (c) The Home Sensei

Impact Issues - Teacher's Notes

Impact Issues Teacher's Notes
Lesson 5 – Take the Money and Run

Comprehension questions:

1. Who is Paulo Umberto? (one of the world’s best soccer players)
2. Tell me about Paulo’s family. (he is married and has 3 children)
3. What is the name of Paulo’s soccer team? (the Eagles)
4. What do the Eagles do well? (everything/defense, passing, scoring)
5. What will Paulo be doing soon? (leaving his team)
6. How many owners do the Eagles have? (4)
7. What country’s team would like Paulo to join it? (England)
8. How much money could he make in 5 years if he joins the British team? (enough to last a lifetime)
9. Does Paulo want to move to England? (no)
10. Why not? (he doesn’t speak English; wants to live in his home country with his family; he likes his teammates and the owners)
11. Why don’t the owners of his country’s team pay him more? (they aren’t wealthy)
    

Opinion questions (all followed by why/why not?):

• Do you think Paulo should take the money and move to England?
• What would you choose to do if you were in Paulo’s situation?
• Do you think money is more important than being comfortable in your homeland?
  

Homework:

Write an essay about what it would take to get you to move to a country you weren’t comfortable living in.

This material is (c) The Home Sensei

Impact Issues Lesson 4 - Teacher's Notes

Impact Issues Teacher's Notes
Lesson 4 – Last Chance

Comprehension questions:

1. What kind of story is this? (a science fiction story)
2. In what year does the story take place? (2006)
3. What year is the woman from? (2500)
4. Who is the woman in the story speaking to? (leaders of the United Nations)
5. How did the woman get to 2006? (a time machine)
6. Why did she travel back in time? (to tell the people of earth it is their last chance to change their lifestyle and save the earth)
7. What did people do in the middle of the 20th century that polluted the earth? (dumped dangerous chemicals into the lakes and oceans, drove lots of cars and cut down trees)
8. What state was the earth’s water in by the year 2200? (completely polluted)
9. Could people drink water? (no)
10. What did they drink? (other liquids)
11. What does “overpopulation” mean? (too many people for the planet to support)
12. What was scarce by the year 2300? (food)
13. What happened to all the fish? (they died because of pollution)
14. Who did wars break out between? (the wealthy and the poor)
15. What did people think might be a solution to the problems of the earth? (a new place to live/another planet)
16. hat happened by the year 2400? (the air became so polluted that people had to leave the earth)

Opinion questions (all followed by why/why not?):

• Do you think the events in this story could really happen?
• Do you worry about the future?
• Do you do the best you can to avoid polluting the planet?
• What do you think everyone should be doing to protect the environment?
• Do you recycle? Do you avoid buying new items? Do you avoid over-packaged items?
• Do you shop carefully for items that will be biodegradable?

Homework:

Write about the things you do to control pollution.

This material is (c) The Home Sensei

Impact Issues Lesson 3 - Teacher's Notes

Impact Issues Teacher's Notes
Lesson 3 – What's For Dinner?

Comprehension questions:

1. Who is Dr. Heidi Cornfield? (a professor of food science)
2. What is she being interviewed about? (her new book)
3. What’s her book called? (“What’s for Dinner”)
4. What does Dr. Cornfield think American’s eat too much of? (meat)
5. What kind of food besides meat will give us protein? (tofu)
6. Do we need to eat meat to live? (no)
7. Why do people eat hamburgers if they don’t need them to live? (they like them)
8. Why should people stop eating meat? (it causes health problems)
9. What kind of health problems can meat cause? (heart disease)
10. What is another reason why people should stop eating meat? (It hurts the environment)
11. How does eating meat hurt the environment? (rain forests are destroyed to make cheap beef)
12. How much rain forest is destroyed for each hamburger a person eats? (20 sq. meters)
13. Do you have to eat tofu or meat to get protein? (No, there are other foods.)
14. In the last 300 years, how much American forest land has been cut down to grow food for cattle? (more than half/50%)

Opinion questions (all followed by why/why not?):

• What do you think of Dr. Cornfield’s views on eating meat?
• Do you think everyone should stop eating meat?
• How much meat do you eat?
• Do you ever eat hamburgers at fast food restaurants?
• Would you feel bad if you had to stop eating meat?
• Do you think eating meat is unhealthy?
• Do you worry that eating meat will make you sick?
• Would you stop eating some foods if you learned their production hurt the environment? Why? Why not?
• Do you think about the environment when you choose the food you buy and eat?
• What does the word “diet” mean to you? (use this to explain the true meaning of the word and not the limited weight loss version)
• Have you ever read about any reasons why meat is important in our diets?
• Do you ever read or study about nutrition and food?
• What foods do you feel are good for you and why?

Homework:

Write an essay about what you feel is the best eating style/diet for people.

This material is (c) The Home Sensei

Impact Issues Lesson 2 - Teacher's Notes

Impact Issues Teacher's Notes
Lesson 2 – Forever Single

Story Comprehension questions:

1. Who is Hope Hamiltom? (a computer salesperson)
2. How old is she? (32)
3. here does she live? (Los Angeles)
4. What is her boyfriend’s name? (Bob)
5. Describe Bob. (well-educated, intelligent, kind, has a well-paid job, shares housework)
6. What kind of husband will Bob make? (a perfect one)
7. What does Hope think she will lose if she marries? (her freedom)
8. Who does she think marriage is for? (fools)
9. What does Hope think marriage does to people? (changes them-makes them take each other for granted)
10. What does she think Bob will stop doing if they marry? (helping with shopping/housework)
11. Does Hope think she has changed a lot in the last 10 years? (Yes.)
12. How many marriages end in divorce in America? (half of them)
13. What does hope say about many of her friends’ marriages? (they’re not very good)
14. What does hope think will happen to the custom of getting married in the next 50 years? (it will “die out”)
15. Does hope want to be single in the future? (No)
    

Opinion questions (all followed by why/why not?):

• What do you think of Hope’s view of marriage?
• What kind of “freedom” do you think people lose when they get married?
• Do you lose other things when you marry?
• What are the benefits of marriage?
• Do you think most married people are happy or unhappy?
• Do you think most people would be happier if they were single/married?
• Do you think it would be boring to be with the same person all the time?
• Is Hope’s view of marriage the same as the Japanese view of marriage?
• What is the traditional Japanese view of marriage?
• Do you think married people in Japan take each other for granted? Why? Why not?
• Is marriage important to Japanese society? Why? Why not?

Homework:
Write an essay about the biggest good point and the biggest bad point of marriage.

This material is (c) The Home Sensei

Impact Issues Lesson 1 - Teacher's Notes

Impact Issues Teacher's Notes
Lesson 1 – Why I Learn English

Story Comprehension questions:

1. Who is Jin Lee? (a university student)
2. When will he graduate? (in 4 months)
3. Where will he work? (a small town near Seoul)
4. How long has he studied English? (10 years)
5. How does he feel about English study? (It’s been a waste of time)
6. What kind of company will he work for? (a taxi company)
7. Will he use English at his job? (No)
8. Why won’t he use English at his job? (It’s an all Korean company/no foreign visitors)
9. Will he use English in his free time? (No)
10. How does he learn about news from foreign countries? (Korean papers/T.V. news)
11. What could he have studied instead of English? (history and literature)
12. Why does he wish he had studied history more? (so he’d understand his own country more/better)
13. Why does he wish he had studied literature more? (so he’d understand his own country’s great writers)
14. Why did he have to spend so much time studying English? (for exams)
15. Does he think anyone should have to study English? (no)

Opinion questions to be asked after the story (all followed by why/why not?):

• What do you think are good reasons for studying English?
• Do you think the Japanese education system makes everyone study English too much?
• Are there any topics you studied a lot in school that you think were a waste of time?
• Do you think students should only study topics which they believe will be useful in their future?
• How has studying English been helpful in your life in the past?
• How will it be helpful in the future?
  

Homework:
Write an essay about 2 topics of study, the most important and the least important in your opinion. Be sure to explain why each is important/unimportant to you.

This material is (c) The Home Sensei