CornerTopic.doc

topic:   online shopping
1、did you have the  experience of online shopping? when and what did you buy?
2、what is your opinions about online shopping?
3、why is online shopping more and more popular?
4、please talk about the cons and pros of online shopping
5、how can we do to avoid traps and deception of online shopping. if you have the experience about traps or deception,please tell us the matter in detail
6、what can be done to ensure consumer's rights?

September 1, 2009:
English Club Topic Direct and Indirect Communication
1. Do you feel that you are a direct communicator or an indirect communicator? Give an example.
2. Who do you feel you can communicate directly with and who do you feel you should communicate indirectly with?
3. In the following situations, is direct communication or indirect communication more effective? Why?
a) Asking a favor
b) Breaking up with a boyfriend/girlfriend
c) Telling your teacher you didn’t do your homework
d) Firing an employee
4. Have you ever had a bad experience in which someone said something to you too directly?
5. If someone is communicating with you indirectly and you don’t understand the message they are trying to tell you, how do you deal with the situation?

9.15.09 English Club Topic: Friendship
1) Come up with a definition for what friendship means in China.
2) What are 3 qualities you want in a good friend? What are 3 qualities you don’t want in a friend? Why?
3) How and where do people in China make their closest friendships?
4) If you move to a new place, what is a good way to make new friends?
5) What advice would you give a foreigner about how to develop good friendships with Chinese people?
6) If there is a foreign volunteer in your group, ask him/her what advice he/she has about being friends with westerners.

9.22.09 English Club Topic：Work
1) What is your ideal job? (Including: How many hours per week? What kind of benefits? Located in which city?)
2) What does it mean to be successful in your work？
3) What kinds of situations would cause you to change jobs?
4) How can you maintain good relationships with your co-workers? What qualities do you want in a co-worker?
5) If you have a problem with your boss, how can you resolve it? Should you talk to him directly about your problem?
6) If a person has a good job opportunity in a city far away from his/her spouse and child, do you think he or she should take the job?

9.29.09 English Club Topic: Education
1. Tell your group about your most enjoyable learning experience of the past. What made it good?
2. Describe what qualities you think the ideal teacher must have. What are some qualities you don’t want in a teacher?
3. In Chinese society, do teachers have a high status or a low status? Do you think being a teacher is a good job? Why or why not?
4. Is it the teacher/school’s or the parents’ responsibility to teach a child good morals and behavior?
5. In your opinion, do men or women make better teachers?

10.06.08 English Club Topic: Holidays
1. What is your favorite Chinese holiday? Which Western holiday most interests you?
2. Do you think holidays are very significant? What meanings are expressed by such holidays as National Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, Christmas, Spring Festival and Thanksgiving?
3. What is the history of your favorite Chinese holiday? (For example, what’s the history of Dragon Boat Festival?)
4. What did you think of the National Day celebration?
5. Describe your ideal holiday.

10.13.09 English Club Topic: Life Stories
1. Briefly share the life story of someone you admire. Why do you admire that person? What made his/her life special?
2. Tell the highlights of your own life story. What major events in your life made you the person you are today?
3. If you could change one circumstance or event in your life, what would it be? Why?
4. Create an ‘ending’ to your life story. What are some things you want to do/accomplish before you die? How can you do/accomplish those things?
10.20.09 English Club Topic: Rich and Poor
1. Rank the following in order of importance to you: a) health b) family c) money d) a good reputation e) education. Why did you choose that order?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being rich? Do you advantages outweigh the disadvantages or vice versa?
3. Can a person be poor and happy? What do you think the hardest part about being poor would be for you if you were poor? What do you do you think would be the hardest part about being rich?
4. Whose responsibility do you think is it to take care of the poor: their family, the government, their neighbors, everyone?
5. Has the economic crisis affected your life at all?

10.27.09 English Club Topic: Family
1. Describe your family, and tell your group a story about your family from your childhood.
2. Who do you think should have the highest authority in the home- the husband, the wife, or both equally share authority? If you think both should have equal authority, how should they make decisions on where to work or live if they don’t agree with each other?
3. What do you expect to do to take care of your parents when they grow old? What do you expect your child to do for you when you get old?
4. Do you think the Chinese tradition of children taking care of elderly parents will change in the future because of the One Child Policy? How can only children cope with the pressure of taking care of their parents when they are old?

11.03.09 English Club Topic: Cities
1. Describe your hometown, and tell your group 3 things you like about your hometown and three things you don’t like about it.
2. If you were the mayor of your hometown, what problems would you try to fix? How would you go about fixing those problems? What things would you not want to change?
3. How do you feel about Changsha? What challenges do you think Changsha will face in the next 2 years? 10 years?
4. In your mind, what city is the ideal city? Is there a place where you’d like to live for the rest of your life?

11.10.09 English Club Topic: Happiness
1. Define happiness. Is it a feeling, a state of being, a decision? Is happiness something that comes and goes with changing circumstances or something you can always have?
2. What things in life and the world make you happy? Why do those things make you happy? What things take away your happiness?
3. Complete the sentence: “I would be completely happy if…”
4. Are you the kind of person who actively tries to achieve or obtain the things you think will make you happy or are you more the kind of person who tries to accept your situation as it is and learn to be happy in it? Do you think it’s better to be resigned to your fate or try to change it?

11.17.09 English Club Topic: What/If…
1. What would you do if someone accused you of a crime you didn’t commit?
2. If you could change a major historical event, what would it be?
3. What would you do if a fierce animal was going to attack you?
4. If you could be an employee of any company in the world, which company would you choose?
5. What would you do if the person you loved didn’t love you back?
6. If you could be a bird or a fish, which would you be?
7. What would you do if it was your best friend’s wedding, but you didn’t have any money to give him/her?
8. If you had to choose one of the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch) to lose, which one would you choose to lose?
9. What would you do if you got lost in an unfamiliar city?
10. If you were going to a foreign country and you could only take one thing with you, what would it be?

11.24.09 English Club Topic: Thanksgiving
1. What five things are you most grateful for in your life? Are they tangible things or intangible?
2. What person in your life do you feel the most grateful to? Why?
3. If someone helps you in a big way, how do you express your gratitude? Do you use words, gifts, treat them to dinner, etc.?
4. If you do something good for someone but they don’t express thankfulness, how do you feel? Should you do something in that situation? Is it right to expect people to be grateful?

12.1.09 English Club Topic: Being Cool
1. What does it mean to be cool? What does it mean to be a geek/nerd? Is it possible to be both cool and a geek?
2. Do you think the people in your high school thought/think you were/are cool or a geek (or both)?
3. What social groups or positions were/are there in your high school? (For example, in America, we have groups and positions like jocks, computer geeks, skaters, class clown, teacher’s pet, student body president, cheerleader) What social group did/do you fall into? Did/do you hold any special position in your school?
4. If you could go back and do high school again, would you? If you did do it again, what would you do differently? Study more or study less? What social group would you want to be a part of?

12.08.09 English Club Topic: Trust
1. How would you define trust? Is it just a feeling? Is it a decision?
2. How do you come to trust a person? Does trust require time and experience with another person or can you trust someone as soon as you meet them?
3. Who in your life do you trust the most? How has that person gained or earned your trust? If you found out that person had lied to you, would you trust them again or not?
4. Do you feel that you are trustworthy? If so, why? If not, why not? Do you think trustworthiness is a characteristic you can develop?

12.15.09 English Club Topic: Personality
1. Which three words would you say best describe your personality? Give examples for each word you choose.
2. Do you think a person’s person results more from nature (they were born with that personality) or from nurture (their family/society/culture formed their personality)? Why? Are there certain personality traits you think result from nature and others that you think result from nurture?
3. Do you think people can change their personality through effort? (For example, can a person who is shy change his personality to be outgoing?) Can society or culture change a person’s personality?
4. If you could significantly change your personality, would you choose to? Why?

12.22.09 English Club Topic: Gifts
1. What’s the best gift you’ve ever received? What’s the worst gift you’ve ever gotten?
2. What’s the best gift you’ve ever given someone else? Why was it special?
3. There’s a saying that goes, “It’s better to give than to receive.” What does this saying mean? Do you agree with it? Does China have any sayings about giving gifts?
4. If you were given $1 million to buy gifts for your family and friends, what would you buy them and why?

December 29th English Club Topic: New Year’s
1. What are some New Year’s resolutions you’ve made in the past? Were you able to keep those resolutions?
2. What resolutions do you want to make for 2010? If you could accomplish one thing this year, what would it be? What steps can you take to carry out your New Year’s resolution?
3. If you were to make “Life Resolutions,” meaning the things you want to accomplish before you die, what kinds of resolutions would you make? Is there something you feel like you must accomplish in this life time? How can you accomplish it?

January 5th, 2010 English Club Topic: The Senses
1. What are some of your favorite smells? Is there a certain smell you associate with your hometown?
2. What is the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning? What is the last thing you want to see before you die?
3. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Which kind of food do you like least: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, spicy?
4. What is the grossest thing you have ever touched? The softest?
5. If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be? What sound drives you crazy?

1.12.10 English Club Topic: Cheating
1. Have you ever cheated on an exam or a homework assignment? Do you know anyone who has taken an exam for a classmate? Describe the situation.
2. Do you think it’s ok to cheat on a homework assignment? On a exam? To take an exam for another person? Is all cheating wrong or is it ok on some level?
3. Have you or any of your classmates been caught while cheating? How did you/they feel when you/they got caught?
4. If your classmate came to you and said that if you didn’t take his(her) English test for him(her), he/she would fail his/her class and not be able to graduate. Would you agree to take the test for him/her?

1.19.10 English Club Topic: Winning and Losing
Quotes about Winning:
- “Winning isn’t everything, but the will to win is everything.”
~Vince Lombardi (American Football Coach)
- “Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Poet)
- “Winning isn’t always finishing first. Sometimes winning is just finishing.”
~ Manuel Diotte (Inspirational Speaker)
1. What do you think each of these quotes mean?
2. Do you agree with these quotes? Why or why not? Would you change them at all to fit your viewpoint?
3. What sayings are there in Chinese about winning and losing?

1.26.10 English Club Topic: REVENGE
Quotes on REVEGE:
“[Revenge] is sweeter far than honey.” ~ Homer
“ ‘Tis more noble to forgive, and more manly to despise, than to revenge an Injury.” ~Benjamin Franklin
“Sweet is revenge- especially to women.” ~ Lord Byron
“Those who plot the destruction of others often perish in the attempt.” ~ Thomas Moore
1. Discuss what you think each quote means. How would you say it in your own words?
2. Do you agree more with the first quote or the second quote? Do you think these quotes contradict each other? Is it possible for revenge to be both sweet and ignoble?
3. Do you think, as the third quote says, that women enjoy revenge more than men? Why or why not?
4. Do you think that a person can take revenge on another person without there being negative consequences?

2.2.10 English Club Topic: Spring Festival
1. How will you celebrate Spring Festival? Who will you spend it with?
2. Which performances are you looking forward to on the New Year’s Eve tv program? What are some of your favorite ones of the past?
3. If you were to receive a present (not money) for Spring Festival, what present would you like to receive?
4. How does Spring Festival these days compare with how it was when you were a child? Do you like it better now or when you were a child?
5. What do you think Spring Festival will be like in the future?

3.2.10 English Club Topic: The Year of the Tiger
1. What are the characteristics of the Year of the Tiger? What personality traits will a person have if they were born in this year?
2. Which animal year were you born in? Do you think you have the characteristic traits that are typical of your year? In your opinion, which years are the best t