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Ways of introducing debating in English lesson at vocational schools

by Anna K. Stber-Auler
Mglichkeiten der Umsetzung des Debating im Englischunterricht an beruflichen
Schulen von Anna K. Stber-Auler R2003

What debating is about:

In debating, we have a proposition and an opposition.
Task of the Proposition:
Building a sandcastle
Task of the opposition:
Destroying the sandcastle

There are rules

Politeness is required

For debating it is important to listen and to respond

Requirements:
For Debating we need three things:

To get the students talking, it is important to get them enthusiastic!

This can easily be reached by playing games!!

Confidence can be reached by practice

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General knowledge can be reached by learning

which we do anyway at school.

Tip:
In the beginning dont worry about grammar!

Methods to train debating in vocational colleges:

Method 1
Getting started:
Content
Write words on pieces of paper and let every student talk about one of them for about
one minute.
Tip:
Start with words everyone can say something about e.g. my friends, my holiday
Intermediate: smoking, fridge
Upper level: parliament, democracy
This method can easily be done at the end of each lesson to repeat the results

Method 2
Yes no game
Content
One student asks his/her partner questions (Pair work).
The other student answers the questions but is not allowed to say yes or no.
Tip:
Instead of pair work the class can be divided into two groups. Each group has got
one representative to answer the questions of the other group. If the representative
says yes or no, another student of the group becomes representative.

Method 3
Angel and devil
Content
Two rows of students, the teacher or another student walks through the rows. One
row is the proposition one row is the opposition. The students are standing in a way,

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that every student of the proposition is facing one student of the opposition. The
teacher stops at the first two students. Now the students yell their arguments for or
against in the teachers ear. The teacher walks one step towards the side whose
arguments are more convincing. Then the teacher walks forward to the next two
students. And so on..
Tip:
Start with easy topics, like: a student is sitting at his/her desk making homework. The
friends are playing soccer in the garden.
Angel: go on making homework
Devil: join your friends in the garden

Method 4
Debating groups
Content
One group is proposing one group is opposing. Give each group 5 minutes to think
about arguments. The members of each group write their arguments on posters. The
posters are placed on the floor or pinned at the black board. The class discusses the
arguments.

Method 5
Talking minutes
Content
To a specific topic let one student argue pro and the other contra
Every student gets one minute time
Tip:
To secure the results: collect arguments on black board