Part One: Warm Up
- Do you eat meat or other animal products? Do most people in your country?
- What meat do people usually eat in your culture? What kind of meat is not eaten?
- What is a vegetarian? Why do people become vegetarians?
- Are many people in your culture vegetarian? Why or why not?
Part Two: Expressing Opinions Review
In Use of English 6-1, we learned some ways we could express opinions. First, let’s review some of the expressions for expressing opinions.
Less Confident
- I could be wrong, but ...
- I’m no expert on this, but ...
- I guess (that) ...
Confident
- From my point of view, ...
- As I see it, ...
- I don’t think so ...
- The way I see it is ...
- I think (that) ...
- It seems to me that ...
- I believe (that) ...
Very Confident
- It’s pretty clear (that) ...
- I’m pretty sure (that) ...
- I’m convinced (that) ...
Open the Exercise and do sections #1, #2 and #3.
Part Three: Asking for and Exploring Opinions
As you can see, there are a lot of ways to ask for someone’s opinion, clarify what they are saying, or even challenge their ideas.
Asking Questions
- What’s your position on...?
- What’s your opinion about...?
- Do you have any thoughts about...?
- What do you think we should do about...?
Clarifying
- Can you tell me why you think that?
- Can you explain that more?
- Are you saying that...?
- Just to be clear, do you mean...?
Challenging Ideas
- How do you know that’s true?
- That may be true, but I think...
- But that’s simply not true...
- But, have you considered that...
- You have to agree that...
- I think you’re forgetting that...
- I see what you’re saying, but...
- Can’t you agree that...
Now, look at these statements with your partner. For each, you will argue one side and your partner will argue they other. You can flip a coin to decide who gets which side. Discuss the statements with your partner(s) and give opinions that match the side you were given. Remember to clarify ideas that you don’t understand and challenge opinions you disagree with.
- Fast Food is just as dangerous as alcohol or cigarettes, so it should be illegal for anyone under 19 to eat.
- Cooking should be a mandatory course in school that is studied as much as math or science.
- Food is the most important part of a person’s culture.
- A country should grow all of its own food and not rely on other countries for anything.
- The government should put high taxes on sugary drinks, salty snacks, and candy.