Talking point: Survival

This week's talking point is survival. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas come to mind more easily the day you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

When was the last time you went to some kind of natural environment?
What did you do there?
How did you prepare for your trip?
What advice would you give to people that are planning to do these activities?

Camping in a forest

Backpacking in a foreign country

Swimming in the sea

Hiking in the mountain

A visitor is coming to stay in your country or region. What would you tell them about the following?
- endangered species and where you can find them
- dangerous animals or other creatures (e.g. birds, fish, insects)
- other possible risks or dangers (e.g. diseases, dangerous places, travel, weather)

ANECDOTE
Think of a dangerous situation that you or someone you know was in, or it could be something you know about from a book, a film or the news. Make notes about the following questions:

Where and when did it take place?
Who was involved?
What was the scene or background to the story?
What were the main events?
How did you / the person feel?
What was the outcome?

To illustrate the topic you can watch the video planning for backpacking around the world.

Talking point: Natural disasters

This week's talking point is natural disasters. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas come to mind more easily the day you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

What items do you expect to see in  a living room? Make a list as exhaustive as possible.
Have a look at the picture below, which used to be a living room before disaster struck. Are any of the items on your list in the picture?
What do you think may have caused the living room in the picture to become like that?
If the picture were a natural disaster that occurred in your country what would you do to help? 

Look at the words below. Put them into two categories: natural disasters and human-made disasters.
– bomb damage
– drought
– earthquake
– fire
– flood
– volcanic eruption
– tsunami
– missile strike
– landslide

What do you think are the worst kinds of natural disasters? Why?
Think of a natural disaster that has happened in your country.
How effective was the response of the emergency services?
How well did people cope?
Why do you think that some people cope better with challenging situations than others?

Read these ‘ethical dilemmas’ about aid. Choose one and discuss your answer with other students.
A
You give money for a charity for disaster relief. You later find out that most of the money never reaches the people in the disaster zone. Would you stop giving money to any charities in the future? Why / Why not?
B
You work for an aid organisation. There is a natural disaster in a country with a terrible record of human rights. To provide aid, you need to work with this country's government. Would you do that? Why / Why not?
C
You work for an aid organisation. You arrive at a disaster area and people are sleeping in tents. The organisation has put you and the other aid workers in an expensive hotel for security reasons. Would you stay? Why / Why not?

To illustrate the point you can watch the video 10 Deadly Natural Disasters Caught on Video.