Speaking

1. Fear of the unknown

In the first text in this unit (“10 Ways Our World is Like the Renaissance”), foreigners were considered “barbarians” during the Renaissance. This is true of some contemporary societies as well since people, throughout history, have feared and continue to fear the unknown. How do we look upon strangers or foreigners today?

2. O’Neill cylinder – an O’Neill space habitat or colony a. In a small group, discuss: i. When do you think that space colonization will be possible? ii. What kind of colonization will there be, and what will it look like? iii. Who are likely to be the first colonizers? iv. Can you see yourself being part of this? Why or why not? b. Then write a list with three arguments in favour of, and three arguments against colonizing space.

An O’Neill cylinder is a proposed space settlement for the 21st century using materials from the Moon. The settlement was proposed by the American physicist Gerard K. O’Neill in 1976. He had calculated how the cylinders could rotate to provide artificial gravity, in order to enable long-term human habitation.

The concept of an O’Neill space habitat is mentioned in the text “To Colonize Space Or Not To Colonize: That Is The Question (For All Of Us)” by Fred Kennedy. In it, comparisons are made between Jeff Bezos’ interest in space for economic and cultural growth to Stephen Hawking’s interest in space colonization as a means of rebooting human civilization in case of a potential catastrophe on Earth.

3. To colonize or not to colonize? Debate

Divide into two teams. One is to argue for colonization of our solar system (pro), and the other is to argue against colonization (con).

Work in your teams to prepare relevant arguments for or against colonization. Support your arguments with examples and/or evidence. Use examples from the texts in the unit and/or look up information online.

Each team chooses a few students to represent them and their arguments.

One or two moderators will run the debate by keeping track of time and making sure that the two sides speak in the right order. See page 159 in the English Handbook for information on debating.