Survey (Opinion Poll)

Class records.

Each student in the group is given one question. They are to go around the class and find out how many times everyone in the class had done these things. When they have all finished, the information can be displayed on a poster.

e.g.

Find how many times people in the group have flown in a plane.	Find out how many times' people in the group have broken their legs.
Find out how many times people in the group have drunk champagne.	Find how many times people in the group have been to a pop concert.
Find out how many times people in the group have been in hospital.	Find out how many countries people in the group have visited.
Find out how many times people in the group have travelled on board a ship.	Find out how many times people in the group have won something in a competition.
Find out how many times people in the group have passed an exam.	Find out how many pets people in the group have owned. What kind of pets?

(taken from Classroom Dynamics by J. Hadfield)

Debate

For or against?

Students listen to the news (e.g. about cloning people) and speak for and against it giving arguments.

e.g.

Will we live to see the first cloned human?

Films and science fiction books have often played with the idea of reproducing exact copies of people. Today, science fiction has become science fact. We have our first real clones, though they are not human beings – yet!

A clone is an exact copy of another living thing. So if you had a clone, it would be exactly like you – from your hair colour to any inherited disease.

Cloning is a controversial issue. Some people are ready to eat cloned fruits and vegetables, but many people express nega­tive attitudes about cloning animals. They think it is morally unacceptable. The question of human cloning is even more controversial.

Every plant, animal and person has genes. They are passed on from generation to genera­tion. They make sure that humans give birth to humans or cows give birth to cows. They also make sure that a pig cannot give birth to a frog, or a horse to a dog.

The recipe for a human being is contained in the 80,000 genes we inherit from our parents. These genes have the instructions that not only make us human but also determine things like skin colour and the shape of our nose.

Scientists have known about genes for a long time. What they haven't known until recently is how to change them. Now they do.

The gene revolution began in 1997, when Dr Jan Wilmut and his colleagues from Edinburgh University produced the first cloned sheep, Dolly. Dolly was cloned from the udder of a six-year-old adult sheep. Dolly is still alive today and has even had lambs of her own.

In 1999, a young bull was cloned in the USA. In March, 2000, American scientists announced the birth of five cloned piglets! Chinese scientists are now trying to create the world's first clone of a giant panda. They hope their dream will come true.

Another sheep is one thing. But how about another you? Dolly's cloners say that their work should never be tried on humans. Human biology is differ­ent from a sheep's. If an experiment did not work out, scientists could end up with a defective copy of a human. After all, it took researchers 277 tries to produce Dolly. The other 276 eggs did not survive. Should people be used that way?

Nevertheless, the idea of human cloning seems very exciting. The famous sci­ence fiction writer, Arthur Сlark, many of whose pre­dictions have come true, says: "Some time ago, a young engineer came here to collect several of my hairs – not that I've got many left. And he's going to extract DNA from them. And that's going to be launched, probably in 2001, in an orbit that will take it past Jupiter and will be kicked right out of the solar system. So one day I may be cloned, maybe a thousand million years from now, in some far star system."

The following problems can be raised by the participants of the debate:

Suppose we cloned a man. Are we really sure he will be a man? Who will be responsible for him? Who will bring him up? Will he be happy? Will he have the same rights as we have? What would happen if a dictator, someone like Hitler, cloned himself? Would we be able to survive?

(taken from Speak Out 2000, № 3)