1. What do London (UK), Santa Clara County (US), and New Delhi (India) have in connection with Moscow?
2. Why are Stalingrad (now Volgograd) and Coventry (UK) important names in the history of town twinning? Why do towns twin?
3. Are you aware of any organisations in your town/city that promote links with other towns/cities across the world? How do you know this? Does your town/city have any visible references to other towns/cities?
4. Has your town/city organised any events with its foreign partners? Have you taken part in any? What happens at the following events: a civic reception, a garden party, an evening out? What type of event would give a foreign visitor a good idea of your region's culture/industry?
5. What is your attitude towards twinning? Choose from the following:
a) It seems harmless, but it doesn't particularly interest me
b) It's an expensive waste of money. It's just a chance for councillors to get free holidays
c) Long live twinning! It is far better than bashing each other's heads in.
6. Why do you think twinning is in decline? Read article here: Twinning Reading
Do the reasons given in the article match your own?
7. If your town/city were to scrap its links with other municipalities abroad, would it be popular or unpopular with voters?
8. The article cites several examples of town halls twinning with others for political reasons - is this a good use of twinning? Do you know of any other examples of twinning being used to make political gestures?
9. Is technology going to make twinning less likely in the future? Are there any areas that have yet to be exploited by using town twinning?
10. (Taken from the comments section) Why are the following funny?
a) "I live in Slough - it's twinned with Hell (Norway)."
b) "I well remember the "Twinned with Chernobyl" sign some joker attached to the "Welcome to Slough" hoarding on the M4."
c) "I live in the borough of Bracknell, which is twinned with the German town of Aarse."
d) "An old joke goes "Rotherham doesn't have a twin town, it has a mutual suicide pact with Scunthorpe."
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Situation
You have been approached by the mayor of your town to create/scrap/invigorate (you choose) the (existing) town-twinning arrangements of your municipality.
After much reflection, you have called a press conference to announce the changes. Hold the press conference and answer any questions from local journalists.
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Discuss quotes
“I’ve never approved of the idea of twinning, because places are inevitably matched with places like them. So if you live, say, in a stunningly beautiful medieval town… then you’ll be twinned with your exquisite European equivalent. But if you live in Warrington or St Helens then you’ll be twinned with another industrial casualty.”
--- Pete McCarthy
"Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship"
---- Benjamin Franklin
“A ship in a harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”
– John A. Shedd
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
― Henry Miller
"When you look at a city, it's like reading the hopes, aspirations and pride of everyone who built it."
--- Hugh Newell Jacobsen
Student Handout PDF: Twinning Outline
Photo: Zukiman Mohamed