Discussion Book 2

Unit 1 – Technology
● How technology has changed lives in recent years
● Changes we may see in the near future
Unit 2 – Travel
● The good points and bad points of overseas travel
● Whether it is better to travel on a package tour or independently
Unit 3 – Culture
● What culture means
● How cultures differ from one another
● How one's culture relates to global culture
Unit 4 – Volunteering
● The reasons why people do voluntary work
● The positive and negative points of voluntary organisations
Unit 5 – Beliefs
● What one believes and does not believe
● Where one's beliefs came from
Unit 6 – Ads and Commercials
● Whether ads and commercials are a good or bad thing
● The things which make ads or commercials interesting or effective

Unit 7 – The News
● How important it is to follow the news
● How to choose the news for a tv programme
Unit 8 – Study Abroad
● How students feel about studying abroad
● The benefits and difficulties of going to study overseas
Unit 9 – Ecotourism
● The meaning of ecotourism
● The good points and bad points of tourism
Unit 10 – Education
● Education at the high school level
● What students liked and didn't like about high school
● How high school education could be improved
Unit 11 – The Environment
● Various environmental problems
● How environmental problems can be solved
Unit 12 – International Marriage
● The advantages and disadvantages of dating/marrying a foreigner
Appendix 1
● Transcripts of audio material for Units 1-12
Appendix 2
● Language and Skills

Week 1: Introducing the topic

Task 1 – Warm-up questions
There are ten questions for students to use with a partner or in a small group.

Task 2 – Vocabulary
Students match vocabulary items to their definitions. The vocabulary items are featured in the audio clip used in Task 3.

Task 3 – Listening and note taking
Students listen to an audio clip that is either a conversation or a lecture. Students must try to identify main points and details and match or sequence these elements.

Week 2: Developing the topic

Task 4 – Pair-work comprehension
Students compare their answers with those of a partner and assist each other in completing Task 3.

Task 5 – Reading
Students read the transcript of the audio clip (in Appendix 1) and identify the correct answers for Task 3.

Task 6 – Speaking practice
Students use the transcript (in Appendix 1) to practise speaking.

Task 7 – Further discussion
There are a further ten questions for students to use with a partner or in a small group.

Week 3: Presentations and follow-up

Task 8 – Project (Actual title varies)
Students work with a partner or in a small group on a project to demonstrate their ability to present their ideas relating to the topic.

Task 9 – Writing
Students write a paragraph about their opinions on the topic.

Task 10 – Web site
Students do the online activities on the web site.

Unit 11 pages from the Discussion Book 2 textbook

Click the picture of the book on the left to open and/or download a PDF file of Unit 11 from the textbook.

Unit 11 audio lecture from the Discussion Book 2 CD

Click on the picture of the disk on the left to link to listen to an audio file for Unit 11 of this title.

Gary Ireland

Gary Ireland was born in Leicester, England. Having first visited Japan as a back-packer in 1986, Gary returned in 1988 and began to teach English at a language school. He taught at a wide variety of institutions before beginning to teach in college and university in 1993, and has taught at eight Tokyo colleges and universities since. Currently, he is a professor at a university in Tokyo. After graduating from university and before settling in Japan, Gary spent several years travelling around the world, and has continued to travel widely since moving to Japan. He has visited over 50 different countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Central America. Gary and Max created the idea for The English Course and set up The English Company in 2007.

Max Woollerton

Max Woollerton is also British. He came to Japan in 1987 and began teaching English at a private language school. Within six months, he had moved on to working in a vocational college and was the coordinator for a course on current issues and a course teaching English for Special Purposes. Between 1996 and 1999, he broadened his experience by teaching students of every age and level in a variety of institutions. Max began teaching in universities in 1999 and has taught at eight Tokyo universities as a part-time instructor. In 2004, Max Woollerton gained a Master of Education degree at the University of Manchester (Education Technology and ELT Programme). Since 2012, he has been a full-time associate professor at Chuo University in Tokyo. In 2018-2019, he was a visiting researcher at the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of East Anglia in the UK.