Teacher Debate guide
SETTING UP A DEBATE - ESU
CHECKLIST
For many
activities, students work in pairs to generate reasons using:
Why? Because…
Practice using Why? Because… with simple statements,
e.g. “My
cat is a great pet. Why? Because…”
|
A QUICK 30 MINUTE PLAN
What to do - Classroom set up: a clear space for students to move around
Time: 45 minutes
Two speakers on each team.
Give students an opportunity to discuss debate / events from their own
experience – perhaps they have seen some political debates on TV, seen a show
debate at school, or been to a local school or university to watch some
debates. Link this experience to the goals of the club.
Warm-up activity (5 minutes)
Stranded on a desert island
Students form pairs.
Set the scene: we are all going on holiday. Students should select one
thing that they would pack, and tell their partner. We are going to travel by
boat. We are on a ship in the middle of a big ocean when suddenly there is a
huge storm and the boat sinks.
Disaster!
Luckily, we can see a desert island nearby. We must swim to safety. In
pairs, students should choose one of their two items to save and bring to the island,
where we will have to survive until we are rescued.
Ask a few pairs to feed back to the group. Remark on “because…”
statements: we are making arguments here!
For many
activities, students can work in pairs to generate reasons using: Why?
Because…
Practise
using Why? Because… with simple statements, e.g. “My cat is a great pet. Why?
Because…”
|
Warm-up activity
Stranded on a desert island
Students form pairs.
Set the scene: we are all going on holiday. Students should select one
thing that they would pack, and tell their partner. We are going to travel by
boat. We are on a ship in the middle of a big ocean when suddenly there is a
huge storm and the boat sinks. Disaster! Luckily, we
can see a desert island nearby. We must swim to safety. In pairs,
students should choose one of their two items to save and bring to the island,
where we will have to survive until we are rescued.
Ask a few pairs to feed back to the group. Remark on “because…”
statements: we are making arguments here! Pairs should now combine to form
groups of four. Again, they should select only one item and prepare a short
statement to the whole group explaining why they chose this item.
Learning objectives:
To be able to structure an argument using a point & explanation. Understand
that debates have a for/against structure.
Use the
‘Why? Because…’ prompt to reinforce this. Introduce the vocabulary of
‘Point +
Explanation’, linking them to ‘Why? Because…’
|
The students should form two lines of equal length, facing each other
(an easy way to ensure the lines are equal is to ask everyone to high-five the
person opposite them, and adjust as needed). Explain that one line is “for” the
statement they will be given; the other is “against”. You aren’t allowed to
change lines!
The Alley Debate
Give the students a topic for the debate. Explain they now have 1 minute
to think about a short statement in defense of their side of the debate. It
should have a point and an explanation.
Demonstrate with an example if needed.
Starting with the “for” team, ask each student in turn to give their argument,
alternating between “for” and “against” until you reach the end of the alley. If
you have time for another topic, this time, ask students to reply to the person
who spoke before them, before giving their argument.
“They
said… but I disagree because… My own argument is…”
KEY VOCABULARY:
Point –
A short sentence that explains why you support/oppose a topic Explanation –
How and why your point is true.
DIFFERENTIATION:
For less
able students you can provide some suggested points that they can provide
explanations for.
Students
can work in pairs to generate arguments before the debate.
|
Suggested topics:
1.
Should everyone have
a pet in their home?
2.
Should we have to
wear school uniforms?
3.
Should people take
part in violent sports like boxing?
4.
Do celebrities make
good role models?
5.
Should your parents
be able to secretly check what you are doing on the internet?
Recap
the need for justifying opinions. Use the ‘Why? Because…’ prompt to reinforce
this. Introduce the vocabulary of ‘Point + Explanation’, linking them to
‘Why? Because…’
|
Balloon debate
4-6 volunteers should come to the front of the class/find a clear space.
Each one should choose a person that they will play during this game.
You may want to restrict them using a theme, e.g. “famous people from history“
or “characters from Harry Potter”.
Now set the scene: all these people are in a balloon, but unfortunately
it is leaking. To save ourselves, we will have to throw someone overboard!
Each student will now give a 30 second explanation of why their character
should be allowed to stay in the balloon, using a point and an explanation.
After these arguments, the rest of the group should vote on one person
to throw from the balloon.
This should be repeated until only one person remains in the balloon.
KEY
VOCABULARY:
Point –
A short sentence that explains why you support/oppose a topic
Explanation
– How and why your point is true.
|
HINTS & TIPS:
Mix things up with some different rounds. Instead of defending their own
character, students could respond to another character’s defense.
“You argued that… but I disagree because…”
Keep large groups involved by including rounds where people outside the
balloon offer defenses of the
characters, or ask questions to everyone in the balloon.
Themes
Characters from a book the class is reading
Famous scientists
People from a historical period the class is studying
Learning objective:
To be able to structure an argument using a point & explanation.
WHERE DO YOU STAND?
Need for
justifying opinions. Use the ‘Why?
Because…’
prompt to reinforce this. Introduce the vocabulary of
‘Point +
Explanation’, linking them to ‘Why? Because…’
Students
should form a line in the middle of the room.
Assign
one end of the room as “For” and the other as “Against”.
Students
are currently standing “on the fence”, where you are neither for nor against.
|
Give the students a topic. If they agree, they should move towards
“for”; if they disagree they should move towards “against”. The more strongly
they feel, the more they should move.
Give students 30 seconds to ask someone standing near them why they
chose to stand there.
Ask a few students to explain to the group why they are for or against,
using a point and an explanation.
After each student has spoken, ask the whole class to take one step
towards for or against to show whether they were convinced. Make this
accountable by following up, asking students why they moved one way or the
other.
Keep the discussion fresh by introducing new topics when needed.
KEY VOCABULARY:
Point – A short sentence that explains why you support/oppose a topic
Explanation – How and why your point is true.
HINTS & TIPS:
Encourage listening by asking students to comment directly on arguments
other people have made.
“Do you agree with X? Why?” “X said… why did/didn’t that affect where
you are standing?”
Encourage development of more complex ideas by asking students to build
on each other’s contributions.
“X said… can someone who agrees add an example of that?” “X said… would
anyone like to add to their explanation?”
Add challenge by swapping “for” and “against”, and asking students to defend
the opposite of what they believe.
Students can also play the role of journalists reporting on the debate, and
follow up on debates with written work exploring the topic.
Encouraging research:
• Ask a student or group of students to research a topic of interest and
present it to the club. For example, a student may research the political situation
in another part of the world; the workings of the Israel justice system; an
international organisation like the UN or WTO, etc.
• Use a mixture of ‘short preparation’ and ‘long preparation’ - ‘short
preparation’ debates, where students hear the topic/motion as little as fifteen
minutes before debating it. This
encourages quick, creative thinking - ‘long preparation’ debates, where
students can have days or weeks to research the topic using the library or
internet, and prepare their speeches in advance.
TOPICS
1.
This team would ban
junk food from schools
2.
Should we have any
junk food, like chips or chocolate, in our schools?
3.
This team would
punish parents for crimes committed by their children
4.
If a child gets into
trouble, should their parent be punished as well?
5.
This team believes
that celebrities should receive harsher punishments than ordinary people
6.
Should celebrities
get harsher punishments than ordinary people?
7.
This team would
require the media to display, promote and report women’s sport equally to men’s
sport Is it right that men’s sport has more time on TV than women’s sport?
8.
This team believes
that children should have to do chores to earn pocket money
9.
Should you have to
do chores to earn your pocket money?
10.
This team would make
it illegal for anyone in a company to earn more than 20 times that of their
lowest paid worker.
11.
Should some people
in a company earn more than 20 times what other people earn?
12.
This team would ban
non-essential cosmetic surgery
13.
Should we allow
people to get cosmetic surgery when they don’t need it?
14.
This team would ban
zoos
15.
Should we close all
the zoos?
