Teaching Debate in the EFL Classroom Brainstorm Why

Teaching Debate in the EFL Classroom

Brainstorm Why would teaching debate in an EFL classroom be beneficial?

Why teach debate? Debating ability is a valuable skill Debate utilizes useful English It is a unique way to teach the same grammar

Why…continued Develops critical thinking skills Introduces global issues Develops research skills

Class Objectives Students should understand how and be able to share their opinions Students should become more aware of global and crosscultural issues Students should gain critical thinking skills

Objectives continued… Students should gain experience in research Students should increase there knowledge and comprehension of written and spoken English

How to teach? - Baby Steps 1. Unit 1 - Opinions What is an opinion How do you express your opinion How do you express agreement of disagreement Resolutions: fact, policy, value Debate in the news Unit 2 - Expressing Your Opinion Giving reasons Strong reasons: logical, specific, convincing Types of reasons: comparison, contrast, causeand-effect Brainstorming

Baby steps continued… 1. Unit 3 - Supporting Unit 4 - Organizing Your Opinion - Reason Signposts: label your - Support arguments Types of support: Organizing an explanation, affirmative speech example, statistic, Simple debate expert introductions Intro to research Simple debate conclusions

Baby steps continued… 1. Unit 5 - Refutation Unit 6 - Challenging Refuting opinions Supports Types of refutation: Testing supports: no o Not True: never, not source, not enough always, not explanation, out-ofnecessarily date, questionable o True but Not statistic, Important: not questionable source, relevant, not biased significant, easy to solve Stating refutation of a Stating a refutation source

Baby steps continued… 1. Unit 7 - Organizing Unit 8 - Debating Your Opinion Your Refutation Debate formats (we Organizing the recommend negative case three on three Listen, Attack, debates) Rebuild Responding to Negative attacks introduction Rebuttal speeches Refutation format Taking notes Debate delivery

So, you don’t have the ideal situation Incorporating debate into the regular EFL classroom 1. Mini Debates 2. Four Corners 3. Talking Cards 4. Brainstorming 5. Reading Critically (newspapers) 6. Sharing Opinions strong reasons

Brainstorm How can you incorporate debate into your classroom?

Useful Links… http: //iteslj. org/Techniques/Kri eger-Debate. html http: //esl. about. com/ http: //www. eslflow. com/debate anddiscussionlessons. html http: //42 explore. com/debate. ht m http: //www. lessonplans 4 teach ers. com/debate. php http: //www. eflesl. com/%0 Ddebates/index. ht ml debates/index. html

Adapted from a presentation by Mandy Manning & Tomoko Nakamura