discussing issues in the classroom

Much of the time in the English-language classroom is spent talking about 'issues'.

An academic paper puts a question to teachers:

What is your opinion? When you manage to get away from the everyday emergencies of dealing with classes, family, and the other aspects of a teacher’s life and look at what is going on in the world, are
you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the human race and of our fellow residents on the planet Earth? Do you believe that we in our role as second language teachers can have any impact on what is going on in the world, or should our teaching concentrate solely on improving our students' language proficiency?

Global issues projects in the English language classroom. | George Jacobs - Academia.edu

In other words, looking at 'issues' goes beyond looking at the news headlines and getting depressed about it all. As the authors continue to say:

Topics within the realm of global education include sexual preference, peace, women’s issues, environmental protection, development (including eliminating hunger and poverty), human rights, protection of non-human animals, AIDS education, and cross-cultural understanding. The use of such global education topics may be seen as bringing bad news into the classroom, causing students to feel depressed and unmotivated. No doubt, there is much in the world to be sad about, but at the same time, there is much happening to celebrate. Some all-too-familiar examples of the bad news include wars, poverty, racism, disappearing species and rainforests, discrimination against women and those of different sexual orientation, and apathy in the face of all these problems. On the bright side, we can see in the news and in our own lives examples of peace returning to war-ravaged lands, sustainable development helping to lift people from poverty, people of different races living, working, and learning together harmoniously, protection of endangered species and establishment of protected forests, people working to overcome discrimination and standing up against injustice, and all of this happening because people, including students and their teachers, do care and do believe that they can make a difference.

There has been quite a lot of academic study of this - all very practical in fact:
Global issues in an advanced conversation class: Language and politics in ELT | Gimenez | Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices
The Place of Moral and Political Issues in Language Pedagogy
Controversial Issues in the Classroom

And there are specific websites/blogs which consider these:
Global Issues in English Language Education - EFL CLASSROOM 2.0

This is perhaps a little too hippy-dippy for many of us cynics, but 'the news' is often very negative - and all about who did what to whom, rather than standing back and looking at the bigger picture.

There is course-book material which proves very useful:

Global Issues in the ELT Classroom
 
Poverty, Slums, Child Soldiers, Water Stress, Early Marriages, AIDS, Gender Illiteracy, Fair Trade, Climate Change, Malaria and a lot more. These are the issues your students can explore using and developing their English language skills.
 The topics follow the UN Millennium Development Goals initiative – the most ambitious initiative today tackling inequities across the world. 

Global Issues in the ELT Classroom is a resource pack with more than 30 lesson plans each from 45 to 90 minutes long. It targets teenage and adult students of three levels of English: pre-intermediate, intermediate and upper-intermediate. 

The lesson plans are task-based, develop critical thinking and make the most of students creativity. The teacher is often only a facilitator in the classroom.

The teaching resources have been created with maximum student participation in mind, and to heighten their awareness of the most pressing of today's global issues. It is further anticipated that some students will choose to become personally involved.

Global Issues in English Language Learning

Which this brings us to:

> task-based learning:
The Best Sites To Introduce Environmental Issues Into The Classroom | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day…

> critical thinking
Jay Doubleyou: english for academic purposes: critical thinking

> creativity
Global Issue Songs in the English Classroom by Sunao Shimizu

How far are you willing to go...
Breaking the ice: addressing LGBT issues in the ESOL classroom | NATECLA London
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