The China Teaching Web

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

Talking about prison is a sober ESL Conversation topic that will pique your students interest. It will also allow you to find out more about prisons in China.

Warmup: Pass out an article to your students about going to prison in America. An article that you might consider using can be found at http://www.thesource.me.uk/your_life/law_and_rights/prison.htm . Go through the story having different students read each paragraph. Talk about prison ESL vocabulary as necessary.

Discussion:

• What do you think about the prison experience in America? Does it sound different than in China?
• What do you know about the prisons in China? Are they clean? Do prisoners get three meals a day? Can they do any work?
• What do you think it would be like to go to prison? Do you think that prison can change a person?
• Have you ever been inside a prison before for any reason? If so, what was it like?
• Do you think that children should be put in prison or should there be another option for them?
• Do you think that innocent people go to prison every year? How many mistakes do you think are made?
• What do you think it would be like to work as a prison warden or guard? Is this a job that you would be interested in doing?