Contents
=> “Tough Choices: If I had to…” - talk training
=> “Tough Questions” - talk training from English Teacher X
=> “Tax Day Poem & Facts”
=> In the Next Issues

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Tough Choices: “If I had to…”
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Often at a dinner party, Mr. Poosheesty will invent these “If you had to . . . ” questions to entertain and irritate us.

I’ve collected some of them, because, hey, they might result in some quality classroom discussion time for advanced and intermediate groups.

Sift through them first, find the ones that will work best in your classes, write them down on slips of paper or on the board, get the students in small groups–and, there it is–a bonafide English speaking practice.

By the way, for teachers doing the 2nd conditional (would + past tense forms), these are for you.

TOUGH CHOICES: “If you had to . . . “

1. If you had to be blind, deaf, or mute, what would you be? Why?

2. If you had to leave your country to live the rest of your life in Australia, Japan, Canada, or Mexico, where would you live? Why?

3. If you had a ghost in your house, would you rather have a boy ghost or a girl ghost, and an adult ghost or a child ghost? Why?

4. If you had to wear only one color of clothing for the rest of your life, what color would it be? Why?

5. If your doctor said you had to give up either meat or cheese for the rest of your life, what would you give up? Why?

6. If you had to be either dumb and beautiful or smart and ugly, what would you choose? Why?

7. If you had to betray your country or your friend, which would you betray?

***
After the discussion, teachers can offer this quotation from novelist E.M. Forster:

“If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.”

have the guts = have the courage
***

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Tough Questions — talk training from English Teacher X
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Here are some thought-provoking, discussion-provoking, amusing questions which should spark students’ imaginations. I got them from a certain English Teacher X.

1. What would you do if you saw a UFO?

2. What would you do if a very small man (180 cm tall) approached you on the street, pointed a knife at you, and asked for all of your money?

3. If you could know the exact time and date of your death, would you want to?

4. If you could have any super power - for example, the ability to fly, or to be very strong, or to become invisible - which super power would you choose? Why? What would you do with this power?

5. If you could meet any three famous people, which three people would it be, and why?

6. If you could end world hunger by cutting off one of your arms, would you do it?

7. If you had a time machine and could travel to any three times in history, which three times would you want to visit, and why? Take some time to think about it.

8. If you had $5000 and you had to spend it within 24 hours, what would you do?

9. What would you do if your teacher came to class drunk?

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“Tax Day” — poem and facts
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April 15th is a day
everyone will know
not a holiday
but a day of woe–
the day when you pay
all that you owe
– Arthur T. Fluff (1899-1911)

This old poem talks about Tax Day. That’s April 15th. By 12:00 o’clock midnight all Americans are supposed to file their taxes. That means they have to mail in the paperwork for their own taxes for the prior year, and the money they have to pay. Lots of people procrastinate, as you can imagine, and the post office is often crowded towards midnight on April 15th.

Vocabulary:
to file = to submit your tax paperwork
procrastinate = delay or put off doing something
woe = sadness, grief

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In the Next Issues
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April 30th: Mr. Poosheesty’s unorthodox dictations

May 15th: A Brief History of Mayonnaise and Tartar Sauce

May 30th: New Vocab

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copyright 2005, Kevin McCaughey and I.M. Poosheesty