World History Second Conditional Discussion Questions

World history second conditional discussion questions

Part One – Rules in the past and present

Choose one of the rules or policies from the past in this list and explain under what circumstances you would reintroduce that rule. If no one else in your group can think of a better reason, you get one point.

• a royal family with real powers
• banishment (forcing criminals to leave the country)
• banning of particular religions
• banning particular kinds of clothes, e.g. turbans
• banning people from travelling abroad
• child labour
• corporal punishment in schools
• forcing people to go to the church, temple or mosque
• having rules about personal appearance, e.g. on whether people can have beards or not
• limiting what names people could give their children
• prohibition (banning alcohol)
• public executions
• public shaming of criminals
• redistribution of land
• Roman circuses (with gladiator fights, etc)
• slum clearance
• transportation (taking criminals to another country as settlers)
• witch trials
• workhouses for people who can’t support themselves financially

Part Two – World history second conditional discussion questions

Take turns asking each other questions from this list.

• How would we treat Neanderthals if they were still alive, do you think?
• If you could change the history syllabus in your schools, what would you do?
• What historical period would you travel to if you could travel to any time at all?
• What would happen if oil ran out? Would we return to the state we were in in the past? If so, which period would it be like?
• What would you do if you weren’t allowed to vote due to your age, gender or income?
• Who would you want to meet if you could meet anyone from the past?

Make other conditional questions about history combining with the present for each other.