Part 2 Topic Number 

Part 3 Topic

 Questions

• How is restaurant food different to home cooking?

• Is the food that people in China eat today the same as the food people ate 30 or 50 years ago?
• Do children and old people have the same tastes in food?

• Do old(er) people and children have the same feelings about new/exciting experiences (or things)?

• Do young people and older people have the same attitudes towards adventurous activities? (Compare)
• How do you think living in a completely new and different place (e.g., overseas) can influence a person? 

• Do adults and children learn new things (new skills) in the same way? (Compare the two.)
• Compare the things that children today must learn with what children had to learn many years ago.

• Compare the lives of old people in China today with how old people lived 30 or 50 years ago.

• Compare the public swimming facilities in China with public facilities for other sports.
• In China, how popular is swimming compared to other sports?
• Why do people prefer to go to one particular sports facility, instead of going to several different ones? (For example, one particular basketball court, one particular swimming pool, one particular gym etc.)

• Compare self-made (homemade) gifts and gifts that you can buy in a shop.

• Compare the differences (and similarities) between gifts for children and gifts for adults.

• Compare how people become celebrities today with how people became celebrities years ago, for example, 30 or 50 years ago.
• Compare what kinds of people were famous in China in the past (e.g., when your grandfather was young) to the kinds of people who are famous today.
• What are some general qualities of famous people? Do they have any qualities that are different from ordinary people?
• Do young people and old(er) people have the same ideas about who is a famous person?

• Compare the types of TV shows that adults prefer to watch with those that children like to watch.
• Do women and men like to watch the same kinds of TV programs?
• (Similar to above) Compare the attitudes of adults and those of children towards TV.
• Compare watching TV to watching films.
• Compare watching TV to using the internet.

• How are TV programs today different to those of the past? 

• Compare getting the news from TV news programs and getting it from newspapers.
• Compare getting the news from TV news programs and getting it from the internet.
• (Similar to above) Compare the quality of TV news with that of the news on the internet.
• Compare watching TV to reading as spare-time activities.

• What are some differences between borrowing books from a library and buying books? (This question might be referring mainly to the different kinds of books.) 
• (Similar to above) Compare the types of books people usually buy in bookshops with the types of books in libraries.

• Compare reading books and watching movies. Which can you learn more from? How?/Why?

• Compare the (similarities and) differences between how children learn and how adults learn.
• (Similar to above) Compare the (similarities and) differences between how children and adults learn new skills.
• Compare the different attitudes of children and adults towards learning (or, towards education).
• How do you think a teacher for children (e.g., primary school children) should teach differently to a teacher of adults?

• Compare education via the internet with face-to-face education (in classrooms).
• What different kinds of training should be given to different types of people? (Examples of different types of people - male and female; different educational levels; different intelligence levels; physically handicapped & normal; rural & urban; [and different social classes])
• Do you think Western educational methods and educational methods in China are the same? 

• Compare travelling internationally and travelling within China.
• If a Chinese family migrates to a different country such as Canada or Australia, do you think the education of the children will be a problem?

• Compare the value of traveling to new places for children and for adults.
• Compare the advantages & disadvantages of going on long trips to the advantages & disadvantages of short trips.

• Compare the differences when two adults speak to each other and when an adult and child speak with each other.
• Do adults speak to children in the same way that they speak to other adults? (Why?/Why not?)
• Compare the way adults communicate with the way children communicate?

• Compare the differences between how animals communicate with each other and how humans communicate.

• Who can learn a language faster, children or adults? (Why? Compare adults & children as language learners.)

• Compare the impact of moving on children and on adults.

• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of rapid social change.
• Do you think change and development are always the same thing?

• Do people from different social classes (different levels of wealth) have the same attitudes towards (their) possessions?
• Do wealthy people and poor people have the same attitudes towards the topic of 'wealth'?
• Do old people and young people have the same ideas about the (monetary) value of things?

• Do poor people and wealthy (rich) people protect their possessions in the same way?

• Are there any differences to the way students in China relax, compared to the way students overseas relax?
• Compare how men relax with how women relax.
• Compare how young people relax with how older people relax
• Are there any differences to the ways people relax compared now to, say, 20 or 50 years ago?
• Some people think that doing nothing is the same as relaxing. What do you think?

• What's the weather usually like in your hometown? 
• (Similar to above) Compare the typical weather in your hometown with the weather here (in the test place).
• Does the place where a person lives affect that person's interest in the weather? (Hint: Country & city people; people who live in the desert compared to people who live where it rains a lot; etc.)
• How does weather (or the climate of a place) affect the kinds of buildings that this place has?
• (Similar to above) What climate (or weather) goes with what kinds of houses?
• (Same as above) What do you think is the relationship between the climate of a place and the kinds of houses that people there live in?
• (Similar to above) Compare the types of buildings (or houses) in hot, tropical parts of the world (or China) with those in cold parts of the world (or China).
• Have you ever been to a place that has a climate that is very different to your hometown? (If yes, what place; how is it different?)
• Is there any difference about you (i.e., any changes about how you feel & what you do) in different types of weather?

• How do the sports that people do change with the different seasons?

• Would you prefer to live in a flat (= apartment) or a house? (Why?)
• (Similar to above) Compare houses and flats.
• Compare houses that rural people live in with the flats (apartments) that most city people live in.
• How are relations betweens neighbours different in cities and in the countryside (as a result of these different housing situations)?
• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of living in a newly-built home and living in an old one.

• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of living in a high-rise apartment.

• How do buildings in different parts of China differ from each other? For example, how are buildings in southern China different to those in northern China?

• Why do different people choose to do different kinds of work? 
• Compare some of the different types of work that you know.
• What's the difference between a 'job' and a 'career'?
• What do you think is the most important factor when choosing a job or career - the salary, how interesting the job is, or how much power one can gain from the job?
• If you had to choose one of two different jobs, one being well-paid but not interesting and the other poorly-paid but interesting, which job would you choose? 

• Compare the advantages of team work with working alone.
• Do you think that the pressure of work is increasing in China?
• (Similar to above) Compare work pressure today to that of, say, 20 or 30 years ago.

• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of changing jobs (or, changing career). 

• Compare working overseas with working in China. (Compare the advantages & disadvantages for a person from China.)

• Do more people today prefer to be self-employed, compared to a few years ago?

• Do you think running a business today is simpler than it was before?
• (Similar to above) Would you say that it's easier, or more difficult to do business (or open a business) in China today, compared to several decades ago?

• In what ways are documentary films and films only for entertainment different?
• (Similar to above) Films in cinemas are all for entertainment. How do you think these films compare with documentary videos or documentary TV shows?
• Compare the films that older people (e.g., over 35) like to watch with those that younger people (e.g., 13 to 25) like to watch. 
• Compare animated cartoon films with films that have real actors. Which is better? (Or: Which do you prefer?) (Why?)
• What kinds of people like to watch different types of films?
• How are movies and real life different?
• Do different age groups like the same kinds of films?
• Do men and women like to watch the same kinds of films?
• In general, when  films are made of novels, how do the films differ from the novels?

• Do you prefer watching films at home or in a cinema? (Why? Compare the two.)
• Compare watching films in the cinema to watching films (e.g., DVDs) at home.

• Compare Chinese and foreign films. Which do you prefer? (Why?)

• (Similar to above) What do you think are the main differences between Chinese and foreign (American) films? Which are more popular in China? (Why?)

• (Similar to above) Compare how Chinese films reflect Chinese values (or, Chinese culture) and how Western films reflect Western values (or, Western culture).

• Are boys and girls interested in the same games or play activities?
• After they grow up (or, as they grow older), why do you think boys and girls tend to be interested in different activities?

• Are there any differences between the games boys like to play and those girls like to play?
• Do different age groups of people like to play different games? (Give examples - What games?)