Identity Cards

 

1. How many different types of card do you use in your daily life? Do they make things easier or more difficult?

2. Do people in your country have to have identity cards? If so, when were they introduced?

3. In what ways are identity cards a good idea?

4. What personal details do you think should not be stored on personal identity documents?

5. Identity cards may be introduced in Britain soon. Some members of the public object strongly to this. What do you think their reasons are?

6. If you have an identity card, is it worded uniquely in your language, or does it also have translations? Does anyone object to the translations?

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7. Read article here: Identity Card Reading

8. What is your reaction? Do you understand the Académie Française's desire to protect the French language? If not, what is driving the demand for all-French wording on official travel documents?

9. Clément Beaune, France's European Affairs Minister, said 'We are going to stop the decline of the French language.' How do you know if a language is in decline? What criteria could you use to judge that?

10. Is there a sentiment in your country that your language is being menaced by foreign languages? Who expresses this sentiment? Is there an institution like the Académie Française designed to protect the language? What measures has it taken? If not, would you like to see such an institution created?

11. Can you think of any examples of people from your country using foreign words even though a perfectly good native word already exists? Do you know any foreign words that English has borrowed?

12. According to UNESCO, 230 languages went extinct between 1950 and 2010. Does this lend support to the idea of protecting languages? Is a language's importance related to the number of speakers it has, or the concepts it can describe?

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Situation

You are writer and musician Etienne Liebig (see article). You have been invited to take part in a radio discussion on language in the 21st century. Make your viewpoint known and answer the host's (your teacher) questions.

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Discuss quotes

"I am absolutely opposed to a national ID card. This is a total contradiction of what a free society is all about. The purpose of government is to protect the secrecy and the privacy of all individuals, not the secrecy of government. We don't need a national ID card."

--- Ron Paul

"Nations which don't find their national identities will be preyed upon by other nations."

--- Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

“Teachers are powerful enough to kill indigenous languages: they are not powerful enough to bring them back to life.”

― Andrew Dalby

"He who knows no foreign languages knows nothing of his own."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Student Handout PDF: Identity Card

Photo: Jackmac34

Bitcoin Landfill

 

1. Have you ever regretted throwing something away? What was it? Was it easily replaced? Was its value to you purely fiscal, or was it sentimental?

2. How helpful are your local authorities in helping citizens find lost property, missing pets, or tracing other citizens? Is it easy to contact your local council?

3. When you think of your local landfill site, what comes to mind? What is usually dumped there?

4. When faced with near certain defeat, how would you describe yourself:

a) I'm an eternal optimist who will go on to the very end

b) I'm a realist who understands that I can't control everything?

Read article here: Bitcoin Landfill Reading

5. What is your reaction? How would you describe James Howells vis-a-vis the descriptions in question 4? Which of the following idioms would you use to describe the situation: 'hope springs eternal', or a 'hopeless enterprise'?

6. Howells says that "searching might not be as hard as you think". Do you agree? If he was a relative of yours, would you help him search?

7. How would you resume the council's position here? Do you agree with them? Doesn't Bitcoin's value merit doing something here? If this situation was replicated in your hometown, would the council's attitude be the same? 

8. This is not the first time that James Howells has attempted to persuade Newport Council to act since the 2013 loss; this year (2021), he has offered to create a 'Covid relief fund' for the people of Newport if the coins are found. Why would he do this?

9. It doesn't seem likely that the council will change its mind; what advice would you give Howells? If you were him, would you be tempted to take the law into your own hands?

10. What do you know about Bitcoin? Is it a worthwhile investment, or a 'bubble ready to burst'?

11. If Bitcoin were to lose all of its value in a market crash, do you think that Howells would still want to look for the missing coins?

12. What is the best way of storing digital codes/passwords/virtual currency?

13. Do you know any stories similar to this one? What happened?

14. Complete the following sentences

a) If James hadn't spilt a drink on his laptop,...

b) If Newport Council were a little bit more flexible,...

c) If Bitcoin loses all of its value, it...

d) If James had kept quiet about his loss,...

e) If I ever buy any Bitcoin,...

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Situation

You are the spokesperson for Newport City Council. At the request of local media, you have called a press conference to 'clear up' the council's position on this situation. Answer any of the journalists' questions.

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Discuss quotes

“It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.”

― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

“Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.”

― Rumi

“It's so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.”

― John Steinbeck

“Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.”

― Haruki Murakami

“Anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever finally comes to realise that nothing really belongs to them.”

― Paulo Coelho

“Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.”

― Arthur Schopenhauer

Student Handout PDF: Bitcoin Landfill

Photo: Karolina Grabowska