ESL Discussion: Western vs. Eastern Dragons + Mythological Creatures

I do some proofreading work for a Chinese publication from time to time, and from time to time it inspires a good ESL discussion. Last week I was proofreading an article describing the differences between Chinese dragons and Western dragons. I found it really interesting and was sure there was a discussion somewhere in there, and that I would easily find a video to work from. Pfft, there are maybe two videos on the subject on YouTube worth watching, and only one that seemed well-researched. For better or for worse, the video for my discussion on Western vs Eastern dragons also touches on some other mythical creatures the two sides of the world share. A deep dive into the philosophical implications of the different interpretations of dragons is what I was looking for… I hope this discussion on Western and Eastern dragons gets you somewhere near there.

• Warm-up question ideas: Name a mythical creature, describe it and what tell us a bit about it.
• Watch the video once and have students choose one creature they would be interested to learn more about.
• Look at the vocabulary words on the PDF before watching the video a second time.
• Put students in pairs to answer the questions on the left.
• Set up new pairs to complete the speaking activity on the right.
• Put students in groups of 3-4 and have them complete the group activity. You can leave it totally open, like it is on the worksheet, or add some details of your own to help get your students started. For example, you could say “Replace the dragon with a very mean neighbor.” Or, “The hero is a young boy living in a small American town.”

The link to the video: https://youtu.be/-W8Xz3pqpzg