Discussion Book 3
Main Features at a Glance
● Integrated package: textboook, self-study website and optional CD
● Designed for upper intermediate level
● Designed to fit into the 30-week academic year
● Interesting topics and stimulating questions for students to discuss
● Ten standard units and two special critical thinking units
● Ten lecture-style audio presentations online, downloadable and on optional CD
● Additional material online
● Full and free online support
● Student online activities can be tracked fully by the teacher
● Auto-marking online tests and downloadable paper-based tests on the website
ISBN 978-4-906706-21-1
Regular price: ¥2,999 (book and website access only, including 10% sales tax)
Aims and Components
The English Course – Discussion Book 3 is an upper intermediate (CEFR B2 level) course intended for college and university students. The course is designed to promote critical thinking and extensive discussion about a variety of interesting and important issues. Each unit includes two sets of discussion questions, a lecture-style audio clip, reading and vocabulary activities and an end-of-unit task. Each unit is designed to take three 90-minute classroom periods and the course therefore fits into a university year. The classroom work is reinforced with a writing exercise and an online study centre with additional exercises and tests. Though primarily designed as a discussion course, the amount of material and flexibility in the design of each unit allows the book to also be taught with the focus as a listening and note-taking course, a four-skills course, or as a task-based language course.
Syllabus and Content
Unit 1: Communication Skills
● The meaning of communication skills
● How students feel about their own communication skills
● How important communication skills are in modern life
Unit 2: Social Issues
● The kinds of issues which are common in modern societies
● The issues affect students' own societies the most
Unit 3: Food of the Future
● The kinds of food that will be eaten in the future
● Why we need to change what we eat
● How students feel about those changes
Unit 4: Happiness
● How happy students are now and what makes them happy
● The things that bring most people happiness
● If it is possible to change one's level of happiness
Unit 5: Science or Science Fiction
● The things from science fiction of the past that are now real
● The science fiction of today that may become real in the future
Unit 6: Critical Thinking Activity 1 - The Island
● Choosing who should be saved in a doomsday scenario
● Short-term survival needs
● Long-term survival needs to re-build the human race
Unit 7: Beyond AI
● How AI may develop into machines with superintelligence
● The benefits and problems superintelligence might bring
Unit 8: Taking Risks
● How students feel about taking chances in life
● The potential benefits and problems of being a risk-taker
Unit 9: Sustainable Cities
● The aims of developing sustainable cities
● Students' thoughts on SDGs in general
Unit 10: Understanding Dreams
● Understanding what our dreams mean
● What the most common dreams are and why
Unit 11: Diversity
● The meaning of diversity, prejudice and discrimination
● How diversity, prejudice and discrimination affect society and life
Unit 12: Critical Thinking Activity 2 - The Murder Mystery
● Understanding a scenario in which a murder has taken place
● Solving the murder mystery
Appendix 1: Transcripts
● Transcripts of audio material for Units 1-5 and 7-11
Appendix 2: Language and Skills
● Language and skills for communicating in the classroom
Appendix 3: Extra Materials
● Extra materials for investigating and discussing the topics
Unit Structure
This is the suggested schedule for teaching each standard unit in the course, but will vary according the level of each group of learners.
Week 1: Introducing the topic
Task 1: Warm-up questions
Students discuss ten questions about the topic with a partner or in a small group.
Task 2: Vocabulary
Students match vocabulary items to their definitions. The vocabulary items are featured in the audio clip used in Task 3.
Task 3: Listening and note taking
Students listen to an audio clip of a lecture and take notes of any points that they think are important.
Task 4: Pair-work comprehension
Students compare their notes with those of a partner and assist each other in completing Task 3.
Week 2: Developing the topic
Task 5 – Comprehension exercises
Students attempt two exercises consisting of five short-answer comprehension questions and ten gap-fill extracts from the script.
Task 6: Reading
Students read the transcript of the lecture (in Appendix 1) to identify the correct answers for Task 5, check for any new vocabulary, and increase their understanding of the content.
Task 7: Further discussion
There are a further ten questions for students to discuss with a partner or in a small group based on the content of the lecture.
Week 3: Presentations and follow-up
Task 8: Extending the topic
Students work on a task to extend discussion on the topic. This task varies from unit to unit.
Task 9: Follow-up
Students write a paragraph or give a presentation about their opinions on the topic. Then they go to the website to complete the consolidation activities.
Sample Material
Click on the images below to see sample material from a unit of the textbook and accompanying audio material.
Unit 3 (Food of the Future) pages from the Discussion Book 3 textbook
Click the picture of the book on the left to open and/or download a PDF file of Unit 3 from the textbook.
Unit 3 (Food of the Future) full audio lecture from the Study Centre website
Click on the headphones icon on the left to link to listen to an (MP3 format) audio file for Unit 3 of this title. The lectures are also available in edited formats (for example, paragraph-length clips) at the Study Centre website.
About the Authors
Gary Ireland
Gary Ireland was born in Leicester, England, but has spent the last 32 years living in Japan. Having first visited Japan as a back-packer in 1986, Gary returned in 1988 and began to teach English at a language school. He taught at a wide variety of institutions before beginning to teach in college and university in 1993, and has taught at eight Tokyo colleges and universities since. Currently, he is a professor at a university in Tokyo. After graduating from university and before settling in Japan, Gary spent several years travelling around the world, and has continued to travel widely since moving to Japan. He has visited over 50 different countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Central America. Gary and Max created the idea for The English Course and set up The English Company in 2006.
Max Woollerton
Max Woollerton is also British. He came to Japan in 1987 and began teaching English at a private language school. Within six months, he had moved on to working in a vocational college and was the coordinator for a course on current issues and a course teaching English for Special Purposes. Between 1996 and 1999, he broadened his experience by teaching students of every age and level in a variety of institutions. Max began teaching in universities in 1999 and has taught at eight Tokyo universities as a part-time instructor. In 2004, Max Woollerton gained a Master of Education degree at the University of Manchester (Education Technology and ELT Programme). Since 2012, he has been a full-time associate professor at Chuo University in Tokyo. In 2018-2019, he was a visiting researcher at the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of East Anglia in the UK.