Good Luck Totem

My dear students, you know you will be having your midterm exams this week. I believe in totems that bring luck (Aytac will remember from the previous semester), so I have chosen a strong one for you. Hope it works, if you like you can print and keep it with you during the exams. Good luck.

Ethical Issues

What do you think about the following questions? Please make a few comments on some of them.

1- Should animals be used in scientific experiments?

2- Should humans be cloned?

3- Does a company have the right to read its employees' emails?

4- A. Should we consider addiction a "disease"? What does that mean in terms of the role of the alcoholic or other drug abuser?
(1) Should we collectively pay for drug treatment?
(2) If they enter rehab and relapse, should they be taken back? How many times?

5- Should abortion be allowed? Is this a religious or a legal issue?

6- What about conditions for adopting babies?
(1) Is it okay for gay or lesbian partners to adopt a child?
(2) What about adopting a child of a different race? Or religion?

7- Is there a moral justification for capital punishment, also known as institutional murder?

8- Is it O.K. to shop at a store that sells products made in countries that have bad human rights records?

I Have a Problem

The following letters are taken from a British Newspaper, two teenagers have serious problems and hope to get some useful suggestions. What do you think, can you help them?

I am scared of all sorts of things

Ever since I can remember, I have been scared of all sorts of things and I can't shake it off.
I'm 18 and I know all teenagers have problems but this is eating away at me and nothing anyone says seems to make an ounce of difference.
I am scared of swine flu, global warming, nuclear war and almost anything else. When a plane goes by, the noise makes me think that Yellowstone is erupting or it's the apocalypse.
I have talked to my mum and she just tells me to stop worrying.
I have a boyfriend in America. We met online and I'm terrified that he will die before I ever get a chance to see him. That's another downside to overseas relationships.
My fears are enveloping me now. I know people will think that I'm just paranoid but I think I'm justified in worrying about those I love.
Please help me,
Fragile



My brother has a secret debt- to a drug dealer

I am starting to hate coming home because I feel invisible. Everything revolves around my big brother even though he treats my mum badly.
I'm 19 and at college, so it's an important stage in my life. I don't get any support from my mum because she is so busy with my brother.
He is 21. He has got into debt with a drug dealer. He has been diagnosed with depression and my mum thinks it is because he can't get any work, but I know the truth which is that he smokes a lot of weed.
He still lives at home. He has never been able to control his money and is always asking my mum for it and this is putting her in debt.
For as long as I can remember he has been horrible to her and on more than one occasion has made her cry.
My mum complains to me about it because she doesn't know what to do. When I suggest she talks to my dad (they're divorced) or just lets my brother figure it out for himself because he has to learn, she brushes it aside.
She says he won't talk to his dad because he doesn't see him as his dad. She says she is the only one my brother can turn to, but I feel this is his own fault because he doesn't see any of our family.
I know my mum can't take much more but if I get involved at all my brother threatens me so I'm stuck.
Whenever I need my mum she is too busy with my brother. I am not jealous but I am fed up with being ignored.
I'm beginning to feel I can't go home sober any more as I can't cope with hearing about what my brother has done next and my mother complaining about it.
What should I do?
Desperate Brother

Aliens

This is the trailer of an interesting movie by Steven Spielberg.The name of the movie is ''Taken'', it is about people who are abducted by extra terrestrials.
What do you think about aliens, do they exist or not?
Are they friendly or hostile? Do you know any unexplainable events involving aliens?

Crop Circles

The picture below shows you various examples of crop circles. What do you think about them? Who made them- human beings or aliens?

Linking Words

You can practice linking words using the link below
http://www.admc.hct.ac.ae/hd1/english/cause/index.htm

The New Task: Writing a Story

Hello, my dear students hope you are enjoying your weekend. Before I inform you about the new task, I would like to thank you all for the contributions you have made so far. The conversations you wrote for the cartoon (Birds by Pixar) were great, actually they were much more creative than I expected, as I am aware of your creativity now I  feel so excited about your future comments. This week I have a new task for you, I hope you will like this one, too. By the way some of you haven't made any comments, I am expecting you to join us with this new task. Please get a gmail account and become a member of our blog as soon as possible. This week I want you to write a story for the paintings you see below. The genre is free, it can be a comedy, fairy tale, mystery, horror, romance... it is up to you. Before writing your own please click on the link below and read the example story.http://www.artofstorytelling.org/2010/01/24/vintage-festival-story-by-laura-boyd


Actually I was planning to use just one painting for this task, but while surfing the net I saw so many adorable paintings and couldn't decide which one to put. Therefore, I chose 4 amazing paintings, you may be familiar with them as they are among the most expensive 15 paintings in the world. These painting are the masterpieces of Picasso, Renoir, Klimt and Rubens, if you are interested in them and want to learn their prices please check this website: http://stylecrave.com/2008-11-24/the-15-most-expensive-paintings-in-the-world/

 Here are the magnificent paintings, choose one of them and write a story. The deadline for the stories is October,22. Good luck...