Sex, Ideas and Human Evolution

Another TED talk classic! Just listening to the first five mins of Matt Ridley's When ideas have sex suggests a wealth of opportunities for utilizing it in teaching sessions.
Seed
The statistics, lexical chains and easy relation to business open it up to various of my current business English groups and suggest that it'll quickly get used in an EFL session.
Notes
facts and figures of growth

hand axe < > computer mouse

both designed to fit the hand
1 million year model
30,000 generations

one substance < > range of substances
+ range of ideas

combination, cumulative, accumulation, combinatorial,

mutations, different

inherit, lineages, evolution, handed down,

exchange, reciprocity, trade,

traditions

Precious gift, precious treasure

Would you dare to teach this lesson?
Could your class dynamic withstand it?
What value might it bring?
What difficulties might arise?


Stacey Kramer: The best gift I ever survived 3:18 video on TED.com

bible kingdom of god the precious pearl
- somewhere is a great animation of this, never grabbed the link, somewhere out in the ether

Opposites

Opposition, or its absence, is a recurrent theme whatever field you're operating in, and a natural source of stimulating conversation. The following EFL outline makes use of linguistic and cultural opposites, and has a simple descriptive task at the end

Homonyms
A hefty list of opposites on englisch-hilfen.de, it continues over pages two, three & four.

• select/given 3-5 words mix/match task to definition
• write/find homonym
• share to group + put to projector
• extend to cultural differences

TED Opposites
Weird or just different, Derek Sivers' TED talk on intriguing, cultural differences

• gist > write/select correct one word description
• detail > differences between: American & Japanese cities; Chinese & Western doctors; West African music beat & 'our' music;

Productive
Describe a photo; use a local photo if possible to demo the possibilities. Something like this:

• prepositions of position
• give people descriptions
• prepare text ideas in pairs, but write as individuals
• peercheck making suggestions for improvements
• work into an FCE type photo comparison task

Use:

• coming towards / going away,
• at the top/bottom
• in the foreground/background
• on the left / right
• towards the top/bottom/left/right/
• in the centre/on the edge