This is a phrase sheet for C2 proficiency students. Download the handout below:
Tag: CPE speaking
Debating at Higher Levels
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This is a lesson plan for higher levels (C1+) designed to help students develop their discourse management and debating skills. Download the handouts below:
- Debating at Higher Levels Teacher’s notes
- Debating at Higher Levels
- Advanced Debates Phrase Sheet + Topics
- 5 min Debate Slang: Transcript
Discourse Analysis: Guardian 5-minute Debates
In this section of the lesson students will watch a video from the Guardian 5-minute debate series in order to analyse the ways in which the speakers structure their arguments and the language they use. The topic of the debate is:
- Should slang words be banned in the classroom?
In the debate the two speakers (Michael Rosen and Lindsay Johns) are specifically talking about London street slang. A school in South London took the decision to ban street slang from the classroom, the banned words are in the picture below:
If you want to look up any of these words you can use the urban dictionary.
Language to pre-teach:
- code switching – changing from one language, dialect, or way of speaking to another depending on who you’re speaking to.
- cultural relativism – the theory that beliefs, customs, and morality exist in relation to the particular culture from which they originate and are not absolute. (What’s considered acceptable in one culture might not be in another)
- Live in an ivory tower – to be out of touch or to not understand the true reality of a situation. To live in a privileged position and therefore not understand the real world.
Have students watch the debate, while they are watching they should answer these questions:
- Who wins the debate and why?
- Useful phrase for debating.
- Ways of structuring an argument.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2013/dec/09/should-schools-ban-slang-video-debate
Discuss their thoughts in open class.
Give out the transcript and show students the powerpoint. The powerpoint will take them through some of the structural techniques that Michael Rosen uses such as:
- Conceding/partially agreeing
- Hedging/being more indirect
- Asking and answering your own questions
- Presenting evidence
- Being emphatic
A Less Formal Debate – Debate-O-Rama Cats vs. Dogs
Now tell students they’re going to watch a less formal debate, the topic is dogs vs. cats. Split the class into two groups: the dog group and the cat group. Each group has to watch the video and and write down the arguments that the two people give to support their animal, i.e dogs are smelly, cats are selfish.
Students watch the video and takes notes. (Video from 1:15)
Give out the debate language handout. Tell students that they are going to recreate the dogs vs. cats debate but using the language on the handout and some of the structural techniques we saw earlier. Give them 8-10 minutes to structure their arguments. The debate will follow the following structure:
Debate Structure
- Opening statement (90 secs)
- Cross examination (30 secs)
- (repeat)
- Rebuttal #1 (30 secs each)
- Rebuttal #2 (30 secs each)
- Closing Statements (30 secs each)
Award a winner based on the strength of their arguments and how well structured they are. The debate handout has further debate topics for future classes.
Debate Handout:
Language
| Opinion
The way I see it, In my view, In my opinion, I think that My view on the matter is… As far as I understand it, As far as I’m concerned, I’d say that… I personally am (not) a big fan of… |
Evidence/Popular Opinion
All the evidence points to/suggests… I think you’ll find that… If you ask anyone,… The vast majority of people would say… We have no evidence that… 9 out of 10 people would say that… There’s no evidence to support that whatsoever.
|
| Main arguments
I support/oppose the notion that… for the following reason: Firstly,… The key issue here is… The real question/dilemma is… (question form) The critical/crucial factor here is… It’s vital to remember that… By far and away the most important point is… |
Adding points
What’s more, On top of that, Besides that, Apart from that, Another thing to consider is… We shouldn’t forget that… It’s also worth bearing in mind that… |
| Rebutting/Cross-Examining
So what you’re saying is… So let me get this straight… Correct me if I’m wrong but… You’re not seriously suggesting that…, are you? You can’t possibly be saying that… I feel I must also disagree with you about… |
Conceding/Partially Agreeing
I admit that your point about… may be true, however, I take/see your point about… Let’s say I agree with the idea of… I hear what you’re saying, but… |
| Conclusion
In a nutshell, So to sum up, So in summary, So to wrap up, So as I was saying, All in all, |
Debate Structure
1. Opening statement (90 secs) 2. Cross examination (30 secs) 3. (repeat) 4. Rebuttal #1 (30 secs each) 5. Rebuttal #2 (30 secs each) 6. Closing Statements (30 secs each) |
Low-stakes Debate Topics
(Credit to debatable youtube page)
| Dogs vs. Cats | Superpowers:
Flight vs. Invisibility |
Pancakes vs. Waffles | Hot dogs vs. Hamburgers | French fries vs. Patatas bravas |
| Beer vs. Wine | Whisky vs. Rum | Are ghost real? | Does the internet do more good or bad? | Camping, good or bad? |
| Taylor Swift vs. Ariana Grande | Soup vs. salad | Pasta vs. pizza | Is it ok to pee in the shower? | Tea vs. Coffee |
| Coke vs. Pepsi | Burger King vs. MacDonald’s | Chinese food vs. Japanese food | City vs. Country | Morning Showers vs. Night Showers |
CPE Speaking Long Turn Practice Class
This class will focus on ways to prepare students for the long turn part of the proficiency speaking exam.
Here you can download my class handout for the long turn:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=79CFF252BEEA0A7D!330&authkey=!AAo9zXade0WcDyw
Here you can download a powerpoint of example long turn questions:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=79CFF252BEEA0A7D!329&authkey=!ACkj6f61lAOrNls
In this part students are required to speak for 2 minutes about a given subject. They will be given a card with a question and 3 bullet points of suggested areas to focus on. Students are required to stay on topic for the 2 minutes but they DO NOT have to cover the bullet points, they are just a guide.
There are 10 examples of genuine long turn questions taken from various handbooks and passed papers on the powerpoint above. What I like to do is set “ambush” long turns; have the powerpoint set up and after finishing a different class activity suddenly put up a question and instruct students to begin talking immediately.
For these practices you should have students sit in pairs. Each pair should have a timer of some kind. Remind students that they need to talk for 2 minutes without interruptions. Ensure that the student who is not taking their long turn hides the timer from the view of the speaking student; in the exam they will not know how long they’ve been speaking for and they must get used to structuring their turn to last the allotted time.
Before starting the practices go through the class handout. The handout is just a guide with some ideas about how to structure a long turn. My main focus in writing the handout was to encourage my students to personalise the question and also to link it to current affairs. After each practice turn encourage students to share the ways in which they personalised each question and any links to current affairs they found.
Here is the handout:
Speaking Long Turn
Talk for 2 minutes without interruption about a subject with 3 pointers to guide you.
How important is sport in today’s society?
- Entertainment
- Health
- Different stages of life
Tips
You will only have a few seconds to gather your thoughts before you start talking. Try to think of your turn as introduction, body, and conclusion.
Start with a time buyer:
- It’s funny you should ask that…………..
- That’s weird I was just talking about this the other day…………….
- Hhhmmmm that’s a tough one………….
- That’s an interesting question………………
- Now let me see…………………..
Immediately personalise the topic
Generally people find it easiest to talk about themselves and their own experiences rather than speak objectively about something. Speaking about personal experience is also more engaging for the listener.
- For me personally sport isn’t that important.
- As far as I’m concerned sport is a big part of my life.
- Speaking from personal experience I’d say
Using your experience as a starting point you can then link into more general discussion of the topic. Think of it like the exciting first paragraph of an article.
Link the topic to current affairs
Normally there’s a link between the topic and something happening in the world at the current time.
- Take Barça for example, the loss to Madrid clearly affected the whole city.
- We only have to look at the doping scandals involving Lance Armstrong……
Wrap up
Try and recap everything you’ve said and tie it all together
- So as I was saying……
- To sum up……..
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