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Ted Power's Prepare for Discussion was published on 19th April 2024 and made available on Amazon as a 208-page paperback.
I embarked on this project as early as 1997 choosing topics which proved popular over many years in my general English classes. The 28 topics are alternative beliefs, animal welfare, the arts, crime and punishment, cultural differences, economics, education, environment, fashion, health, holidays, language learning, male & female roles, marriage, the media, political systems, religion, rich world : poor world, science and technology, society, sport, traditions, transport, travel, violence, work and youth & old age. The material should prove especially useful to learners intending to study in UK universities where they would be expected to participate in discussions covering a wide range of themes.
In recent years, it became apparent to me that the treatment of several of these topics was very much out of date, so I set myself the task of rewriting much of the material and ensuring that all the components were both in date and up to publication standard.
I have put months of work into improving these materials, though the main problem of self-publishing is making sure that new materials can be found on Amazon which has to display a vast number of books.
Since I have no advertising budget, I am therefore using my website to draw attention to a resource which I believe should prove valuable to individual teachers and students of English language as well as schools investing in class sets of materials (perhaps with the intention of offering an English discussion course).
"The same two students dominated the discussion"
"The teacher just gave us a list of questions and expected us to discuss."
"We weren't interested in the topic."
"I knew what I wanted to say in my own language, but I couldn't express it in English. I didn't have enough vocabulary."
"I know the words when I see them written down, but I find it difficult to recognise them when they are spoken."
"I haven't practised discussion at school in my country. We don't discuss in the same way. I don't know the special expressions which English people use. I didn't feel confident."
Prepare for Discussion follows a sequence of exercises containing core vocabulary and useful colloquial expressions in the lead up to discussing each of the 28 popular topics. In this way, it sets out to minimise the disappointment which can occur when learners are expected to discuss semi-specialist material without adequate preparation.
Please take the links below for examples of the exercise types you will find in the books as well as my thoughts on the value of these exercises in teaching discussion
There is also an appendix containing extracts from the dialogues allowing systematic practice of the colloquial expressions used in discussion.
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