What can go wrong? -project idea

Recently I read an interesting discussion on facebook triggered by the news that FC Barcelona ‘painted their stadium rainbow’ to honour LGBTQ community. One person undermined the happening as virtue signalling only, not real change towards a better treatment and understanding of said community.

The whole thing got me thinking about some other phenomena that seem to very positive at the first glance, yet there might be a questionable layer beneath that can backfire or undermine the whole noble nature of the idea.

I immediately thought investigating such ‘sugarcoated controversies’might be a very good project idea:

- students pick/ are assigned the idea and are given time to investigate them, concentrating on the nature of the phenomenon, its roots and of course the obvious benefits and possible traps connected to the idea

- students present their findings orally with slides, record a video or moderate a pros and cons discussion on KIALO

(make sure you check this platform out, you’ll be amazed how useful it is for debate topics)

It is up to you what the project will look like, whether it will be done individually or in groups, and what the end product will be, as long as it gets students think and question ideas, and then practice speaking presenting their findings to class- it is well worth it!

These are some of my ideas for project topics:

1. virtue signalling
2. signing petitions
3. whistle blowing
4. apologising
5. motivational speeches
6. critical thinking
7. race/ gender quota
8. body positivity
9. political correctness
10. supporting charities
11. self-care
12. stand up comedy

Encourage your students to ask themselves -What can go wrong with those? and investigate the issue at hand.

Do you think you could add to the list of possible topics?

Just a side note, hope you don’t mind......

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Also, you might want to check other materials I create for the English Bilingual Secondary Classes (C1) - I am sure some of them will be useful for the English B HL classes, for example BritSpeak or OpenBookCouples.

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