I've had the best luck with relationship discussions. "Hot Topics" and current issues are hit and miss. Controversial things seem to generate the most silence for me. I think that people don't want to state their opinions on sensitive topics in a room full of people whom they don't know very well.
On a side note, I got tired of searching the internet and newspapers for "great" topics. So in an adult class I had I assigned homework to one person each class. Their homework was to prepare a question for the class to discuss in the following class. This worked REALLY well! For one, they were bringing in questions/topics that were interesting to them. Secondly, a few students used it as an opportunity to indirectly get advice on something, like their child's education or places to go during vacation.
eric |