Historyspeaking topic

In the era of Napoleon III, aluminum was more precious than gold; the emperor served his most honored guests on aluminum plates rather than gold ones, because the metal was so hard to refine. The foil we now throw in the trash once being a royal luxury lays bare that a thing's value comes not from its essence but merely from how hard it is to obtain.

The historical value of aluminum and the difficulty of refining it

practice with this topic

Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.