ESL Conversation Topic — The Titanic :: The China Teaching Web

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ESL Conversation Topic — The Titanic

Written by Robert Vance on May 9, 2008 – 12:22 am

Level: Intermediate to Advanced

The Titanic is a topic that students always enjoy talking about in class. If you direct the discussion in the right direction, you can have a great conversation about this famous sunken ship.

Warmup: Ask the students if they have seen the movie Titanic. Show them some pictures or multimedia of the ship and ask them how they think the ship compares to ships these days. Print off a brief article from the internet about the Titanic and have your students read through the paragraphs taking turns.

Discussion:

Why do you think the Titanic ran into an iceberg? Whose fault do think it was?
Before the ship’s maiden voyage the ship’s builders claimed that not even God could sink the ship. What do you think about this arrogance? Was the tragedy a punishment for such talk?
Who do you think should have been saved first on the ship? Who should have gone last?
Many people believe that there were not enough lifeboats onboard because the company and the crew never dreamed that the boat could sink. Do you think there were other reasons as well?
There was at least one man on the ship who disguised himself as a woman so that he could have access to a lifeboat. Do you blame him for doing this? Do you think he was guilty for the rest of his life?
If you knew that you would be going down with the ship, and you could write one letter to give to someone getting on a rescue boat who would you write to? What would you write in your letter?
Could the same tragedy happen in the modern world? Is technology advanced enough to prevent this sort of tragedy from ocurring again? Has it happened again since 1912?

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