Help me plan my English classes

[Dead Winter]

One can only speak about the Past Perfect Progressive tense so many times.

Give me some subjects to spark conversation, maybe even some article links. No porn or extremely offensive stuff, though. I try to find polarizing topics to try and spark a debate between students and try to get them to argue in English. There are only so many articles about the war in Iraq and the economy that I can take, however.

 

[Lunar Still]

Teach them how to curse, then make them practice by insulting each other.

 

[Dead Winter]

Done it...it gets old after a while.

 

[Nightshade]

Purely for the word variety it would invoke, I'd suggest a bizarre assortment of unrelated topics. Such as 1. the merits of one wine over another, the meals they go best with, etc. 2. stem cell research and cloning 3. the possibility of finding life on other planets including recent Mars exploration 4. proper household organization including best ways to store stuff out of sight, organize closets, refrigerator, freezer and pantry, and how much crap does anyone really need in a house. 5. Book club type discussions on everything from respectable literature, to trash to the local newspaper's daily headline, 6. the enviornment, global warming, polar bears and such. Some of them may not be sufficiently evocative to start an actual heated debate, but even if they spoof something, it should achieve your purpose. Frankly, I listed the topics I did based on the words my foreign cousins had trouble with when they used to come visit my Grandma when I was a kid.

 

[Dead Winter]

I did the food thing tonight...

Italians are so fucking snobbish with their food and so closed-minded, and I happened to throw in there something to the effect that their food is overrated and they always eat the same thing, and that they're quite inexperienced in other cuisines and foods from around the world.

You would've thought I was on Wall Street and people were trying to shout over each other to debate the question. I'd stoke the flames a little bit and throw curveballs in there, things like how all they ever eat is pasta. They then came back with another dish (which of course was made of pasta in some way) and I had to prove the point to them that every single thing they do here revolves around pasta. I don't think they ever realized that until today. They then threw different types of American food at me, like of course hamburgers and stuff, but I had to smack 'em down with aaaaaaall the different types of dishes we serve in the US they were unaware of. I learned also that Italians are culturally retarded in other places. They know their own culture and that's it...of course, their culture is the cultural center of the world.

It was a lot of fun and they really enjoyed it. We're gonna continue on Tuesday of next week...today I showed them a Chili's menu and explained how to order and stuff. It was really nice and they were really excited. I don't think they wanted to stop. Plus, during our break (it's a three hour class) we always bring food. Today they brought pizza and I brought Jell-o . Food is a great conversation piece here.

 

[Nightshade]

LOL! Jell-O is awesome! The menu was a great idea and should help them in a very practical way.

 

[Morganna]

I did the food thing tonight...

Italians are so fucking snobbish with their food and so closed-minded, and I happened to throw in there something to the effect that their food is overrated and they always eat the same thing, and that they're quite inexperienced in other cuisines and foods from around the world.

You would've thought I was on Wall Street and people were trying to shout over each other to debate the question. I'd stoke the flames a little bit and throw curveballs in there, things like how all they ever eat is pasta. They then came back with another dish (which of course was made of pasta in some way) and I had to prove the point to them that every single thing they do here revolves around pasta. I don't think they ever realized that until today. They then threw different types of American food at me, like of course hamburgers and stuff, but I had to smack 'em down with aaaaaaall the different types of dishes we serve in the US they were unaware of. I learned also that Italians are culturally retarded in other places. They know their own culture and that's it...of course, their culture is the cultural center of the world.

It was a lot of fun and they really enjoyed it. We're gonna continue on Tuesday of next week...today I showed them a Chili's menu and explained how to order and stuff. It was really nice and they were really excited. I don't think they wanted to stop. Plus, during our break (it's a three hour class) we always bring food. Today they brought pizza and I brought Jell-o . Food is a great conversation piece here.

That is really great! I'd love to be a fly on the wall right before the riot broke out.

mmmm! I love jello!

 

[Dead Winter]

Of course it was all in good fun and the debate was enjoyed by all, and it most definitely wasn't a critical pissing contest or anything. They're just extremely sensitive about their food and culture; imagine the fierceness of the flag-wavers in the US, only it's in Italy and replace the flags with pasta dishes. So mentioning something along the lines of, "your food really isn't that special" is like saying to a Pentecostal that Jesus was gay.

I got everything from "you Americans are so lucky that we moved there to show you how to cook" to "you don't eat very well in the US". Granted, the younger generation was much more open and not so set in their ways.

Tuesday, I'm gonna hit em with the idea that Kevin gave me: the greatest hamburger in the world is better than the greatest pizza, but a mediocre pizza is better than a mediocre hamburger. Then we have comparatives, superlatives, and vocabulary together in that one phrase!!!

Oh yeah, they brought wine too tonight for the break. Some of them are xenophobic retards, but they're nice people.

 

[Morganna]

hahha, that's what I meant. Well, you got them interested! I can't wait to hear how the greatest hamburger experiment goes down! I wonder if there is a way to show them what a great, Maryland style crab cake tastes like! Hmmm, they do mail order them fresh from allot of places, but it's kind of costly.

 

[Dead Winter]

Anything seafood, they love it. I don't know why, but they're absolutely nuts about seafood...and to be honest, I think their seafood sucks ass. I'm from Louisiana, so I grew up with crawfish, shrimp, and catfish - poor man's seafood, and it's still better than the $75 a head seafood restaurants around here.

I'd love to get my hands on some Maryland-style crab.

 

[Morganna]

mmm, I think that place that I got my seasoning from mails out their crab cakes and crab. Let me check on that for you!

 

[Morganna]

They used to ship whole, steamed crabs. According to this because of shipping they just do crab cakes and their seasoning now.

hahah, anyhoo, crab cakes were what we wanted! http://www.obryckis.com/index.cfm

Here is another: http://www.marylandcrabcakes.net/index.php

I've never eaten the 2nd one, but it would seem that Obryckis only has the backfin meat in their mail order crab cakes. I prefer the lump myself.

 

[Lordlucid]

Anything seafood, they love it. I don't know why, but they're absolutely nuts about seafood...and to be honest, I think their seafood sucks ass. I'm from Louisiana, so I grew up with crawfish, shrimp, and catfish - poor man's seafood, and it's still better than the $75 a head seafood restaurants around here.

I'd love to get my hands on some Maryland-style crab.

mmmmm Crawdads!

 

[Lunar Still]

only it's in Italy and replace the flags with pasta dishes.

If Italy's flag was a pasta dish, I'd probably move there at once.

 

[Dead Winter]

Actually, Italians cannot stand being Italians. They're ashamed of their country. Most of them don't even know the words to their national anthem...it's probably better, because it sounds like a clown wrote it.

It's their culture that they're fanatic about. They're more proud of their history than what they've become.

 

[Lunar Still]

I don't give a shit about Italians, I just figure a country that puts their favorite food on their flag would probably be a pretty laid back place to live.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

Actually, Italians cannot stand being Italians. They're ashamed of their country. Most of them don't even know the words to their national anthem...it's probably better, because it sounds like a clown wrote it.

It's their culture that they're fanatic about. They're more proud of their history than what they've become.

If I went from being world conquerors to greasy metro's, I'd be the same way.

 

[Macharius]

What's funny is how none of my elders, including a 96 year old great grandmother who had 2 kids there, really want to go back there. I'm pretty sure a class should know that almost 70 years ago, Italy was not the place to live if you weren't a fascist. That being said if natives who left there for the United States don't want to come back then obviously the only thing that has changed is that people aren't washing their clothing under running water over rocks. Not everything my great grandmother cooks is pasta either; beans and escarole can make up one thing and then she'll make a steak or chicken if she doesn't feel like making fusilli. Ask them how they would improve their country considering i've been there for wedding a few months ago and what i've came up with through talking to a lot of people over there (and the news) is that the quality of life sucks, the economy sucks, government sucks...etc. Low wages, High unemployment, Public services that don't work, Crime on the rise all over the Country. Maybe they just went a little over board because they live there but i had to remind them that the US faces some of that too.

 

[Dead Winter]

Your family was from the south, weren't they?

The south of Italy is like Mexico, only Mexicans actually want to work. (not a reflection on your family, just the average "Terrone" these days)

Plus, Italians are spoiled drama queens. They think that if a bus is running late that the entire transportation system is in shambles. They have no idea of the problems facing Americans these days. Again, all the shitty stuff usually happens around Naples and Calabria and Sicily. And they're all in the south. Coincidence? Nah.

 

[Söy]

talk about Cosa Nostra... do it!