If you asked a random student at SMAN 3 Kota Jambi whether they like durian or not, you would probably get a response as spirited as the fruit is pungent. Whether that response would be positive or negative is a coin toss. But it is a perfect question to ask to get a class roiled up for a lesson about opinions, and that is exactly what ETA Payton Storey and Ibu Rachmayani did.

Although their students were already very opinionated about durian and many other things, the teachers wanted to make sure that they could clearly ask for, express, and explain those opinions in English. To do this, Payton and Ibu Rachmayani gave them terribly divisive dilemmas about absurd new rules that they would begin enforcing at school. But being ever so generous, the teachers gave their students the power to choose between the lesser of two evils, such as wearing all neon-pink uniforms or wearing all black ones, but with two extra jackets.

Jokes aside, Payton and Ibu Rachmayani taught their classes how to ask for someone else’s opinion, share their own, agree or disagree, and ask someone why they had the opinion they did. After all, why would you choose to waddle like a duck when you could hop like a frog?! And so, their students created and performed short dialogues, demonstrating their abilities to discuss such serious matters with civility and politeness while tempering their passions with care.

Payton Storey is currently teaching at SMAN 3 Kota Jambi, Jambi.