Using Debates in English Lessons

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Using Debates in English Lessons

• A Communicative Approach

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Why Debate?

• Debate activities...
• Develop students creative ability, logic,
  teamwork, and critical thinking skills
• Are interesting and engaging for students
• Involve all students regardless of level
• Improve students self-confidence

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Methodological Note 1

• In debate activities, students practice each of
  the four skills
• Reading research, preparation work
• Writing taking notes, preparing arguments
• Listening understanding opposing arguments in
  order to respond
• Speaking making arguments and counter-arguments

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Methodological Note 2

• Debate activities help students practice various
  language structures, including those for
• Expressing agreement/disagreement
• Asking and answering questions
• Expressing opinions and reasons

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Sample Debate Activity

• The following outline shows one way to
  incorporate a debate activity into an English
  lesson. The format can be changed or expanded to
  work with any group.

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I. Introduce Debate Structure

• There are many possible structures for a debate.
  Your ideal structure depends on your groups, your
  topic and your time limit. However, most debates
  look something like this
• Introduction (A/B)
• Argument 1 (A/B)
• Rebuttal (????????????) 1 (A/B)
• Additional argument/rebuttal phases can be added
  as time permits.
• Concluding Arguments (A/B)
• ?You will want to explain the various phases if
  the students are unfamiliar with debating

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II. Model Phrases for Use in Debates

• Choose level-appropriate language structures
• Make sure students can pronounce and understand
  each phrase
• Encourage students to expand their vocabularies
  and use new structures (i.e., The way I see it
  instead of I think)
• Allow students to reference these phrases (on
  board, handouts, posters)

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Expressing Opinion

• In my opinion...
• The way I see it,...
• As far as I'm concerned,...
• I'm convinced that...
• I honestly feel that...
• I strongly believe that...

• It is fairly certain that...
• Without a doubt,...
• As is widely known,...
• As everyone knows,...

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Expressing Disagreement

• I don't think that...
• Don't you think it would be better...
• I don't agree. I'd prefer...
• Shouldn't we consider...
• But what about...
• I'm afraid I don't agree...

• Frankly, I doubt if...
• Let's face it,...
• The truth of the matter is...,
• The problem with your point of view is that...

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Giving and Explaining Reasons

• To start with,...
• The reason why...
• That's why...
• For this reason...
• That's the reason why...

• Many people think...
• Considering...
• Allowing for the fact that...
• When you consider that...

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III. Introduce the Topic

• Your topic should be controversial there should
  be good arguments for both sides.
• The topic should be expressed as a statement. For
  instance
• English is the most important subject for
  students in todays world.
• Students will be divided into two groups that
  will argue either the affirmative or the negative
  sides of this statement.

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Statement English is the Most Important Subject
for Students in Todays World

• Affirmative position
• English is the most important subject for
  students in todays world.

• Negative position
• English is not the most important subject for
  students in todays world.

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IV. Brainstorming Arguments and Counter-Arguments

• Give the students time to work as a group to come
  up with arguments to support both the affirmative
  and the negative statements.
• ?They will need to know not only the strong
  arguments for their side, but also anticipate
  the other sides arguments in order to refute
  them effectively.
• Remind students that their personal opinion on
  the issue is irrelevant. They must argue for
  their side even if it goes against their personal
  beliefs!

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Brainstorm...

• What are your ideas? Work with your group to find
  strong affirmative and negative arguments.

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Sample Arguments

• Affirmative
• English is the worlds most-spoken language, so
  knowing English will give our students the
  ability to travel anywhere in the world
• English is the language of international
  business, so students need it for their future
  careers.
• (etc.)

• Negative
• Not everyone can have a career in international
  business. English is not for everyone.
• Science and math are the true international
  language and are more important than English. We
  need scientists and engineers to develop our
  economy.
• (etc.)

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V. Organize for the Debate

• Students should divide responsibilities. (One
  person will give the introduction, another the
  1st argument, etc.)
• Remind students that each team member must speak.
  Arguments and rebuttals can be split between two
  team members if the groups are too big.
• Students should work together to refine their
  ideas from the brainstorming phase into
  logical, strong arguments.

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Organize...

• Make sure your team is ready for the big debate!

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VI. Conduct the Debate

• The teacher can act as the judge, awarding points
  for effective arguments and rebuttals.
• Remind students to stick closely to the
  predetermined debate structure, to be polite, and
  to use the debate phrases.

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Debate...

• Ladies and gentlemen, may the best team win!

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VII. Wrap-Up

• Draw conclusions from the debate. Which arguments
  were strong? Which were weak? Was it easy to
  refute the other teams argument? Did your
  personal opinion about this issue change because
  of the debate?
• The teacher could assign a home task connected
  with the debate. For instance
• ?Summarize the debate over this issue, including
  the affirmative and negative arguments.
• ?Write a paper on your thoughts about this
  issue. Do you agree with the affirmative or the
  negative side? Did you learn anything or change
  your opinion because of the debate?

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Scaling the Debates
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Single Class Debates

• Your class time is limited, but debate activities
  can still be useful in class. If you only have
  10-15 minutes
• Try a rapid-fire debate. Teams have 5 minutes
  to brainstorm. Then, any student may jump in to
  give an argument or a rebuttal. The key is to
  keep things orderly and to make sure that all
  students are participating.
• To practice debate structure and phrases, you
  could have students debate using prepared
  information (on cards or on the board) rather
  than brainstorming.

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Multi-Class Period Debates

• Debates can be stretched over parts of several
  class periods. A sample schedule
• Class 1 Introduce structure, practice key
  phrases (10-15 min.)
• ? Home task practice key phrases (write
  sentences?)
• Class 2 Introduce debate topic split into
  affirmative and negative sides begin
  brainstorming process (15-20 min.)
• ?Home task brainstorm /- arguments. Choose
  the 3-4 strongest arguments for each side. and
  write sentences using key phrases.
• Class 3 Organizing for debates (7-10 min.) and
  debating (15-20 min.)
• ?Home task Write a wrap-up of the debate.

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Debate Clubs or Camps

• Debate Clubs or a Debate Camp could be a great
  way to help your students become more confident
  in speaking and using English.

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Case Study Kremenchuk Debate Camp, June 2010
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A Week of Fun and Learning

• 35 10th-form students, 7 American Peace Corps
  Volunteer teachers, and 3 Ukrainian English
  teachers participated
• Students spent four days learning about debates,
  practicing effective techniques, researching, and
  preparing
• The culmination of camp, on the fifth day, was a
  series of three debates on controversial topics
  like Ukrainian should be the only official
  language in Ukraine and Fast food should be
  banned.

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Learning about debate structure
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Making strong, effective arguments
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Researching the topic
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Presenting the argument
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Preparing the rebuttal
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Final Thoughts

• If interested, I have some debate-related
  materials in .doc format that I can share. Give
  me your e-mail address or contact me at
  patrick.gardner.smith_at_gmail.com
• Questions?
• Comments?
• Thanks to everyone for coming and participating!
  Good luck using debates in your classes.