The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK Forming opinions and ideas: Think of a really interesting question to ask

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK To work out what you think about something, it helps to think of really interesting questions to ask about it. Try coming up with interesting questions about the news topic using these beginnings!

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK What if _____?

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK Would you rather ____ or ____?

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK Should _____ do _____? Example: Should the US apologise for Hiroshima?

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK Which is more ______, this or that? Example: Which is more important, beauty or brains?

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK Should we _____? Example: Should we give more to charity?

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK How _____ is _____? Example: How important is equality?

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK How can you tell if _____? Example: How can you tell if something is brave, not foolish?

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK When is ____? Example: When is it right to go to war?

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK What’s the difference between _____ and _____? Example: loneliness and being alone? being good and being polite?

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK What is _____? Example: What is fairness?

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK What counts as being _____? Example: What counts as being British? Are you still a good person if you do a bad thing? What makes you, you?

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK “Universal themes” are ideas that matter to almost everyone, everywhere, forever. For example hope, friendship, racism, unfairness and power are all universal themes. Ask a question about universal themes

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK Lots of news stories are interesting because they affect these universal themes. Ask a question about universal themes

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK To ask a really interesting question about a news topic, you could try to work out what the universal themes are. To do that, imagine what ideas would be left behind in the topic if you took away all the people and all the specific details. Ask a question about universal themes

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK Imagine that the story of Hansel and Gretel was a news story. If you strip away the people and all the details you are left with: lies, temptation, hope, cleverness, wickedness, danger and risk. These are all interesting universal themes. Ask a question about universal themes Example

The Burnet News Club THINK OF A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION TO ASK Now you can create questions about the news topic based on these themes. For example, for a news story about a war, you could ask: “ What should your country mean to you? ” or “ Is it ever OK to fight?” Ask a question about universal themes