Saw this shared on facebook and just had to repost it, should cause some interesting debates.
Tag: debate topics
Dilemmas and Debates
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This is a straightforward “What would you do?” speaking activity to practice hypothetical conditionals and just generate debate and conversation. Download the powerpoint below and project it or print it:
Language of agreeing and disagreeing will be useful.
| Agreeing | Disagreeing | Ending an argument: |
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Credit to: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tracyclayton/moral-dilemmas-that-will-break-your-brain#.lhwmbK9XK
For a couple of the ideas.
Conversation topic: The best way to…
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This is a straightforward conversation topic lesson plan which can be used with both teens and adults and many levels (high A2+). Students discuss the best thing to do in different situations.
You will need the “best way to…” powerpoint:
Language
Put the following structures on the board:
Opinion:
- In my opinion
- From my point of view
- As far as I’m concerned
- I reckon
The best/worst thing to do is…
Agreeing and disagreeing:
| Agreeing | Disagreeing | Ending an argument: |
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Project the powerpoint onto the board and go through the slides. Play devil’s advocate and ensure that students debate each topic thoroughly.
Debates
You could split the class into teams and debate one of the topics. Give each team an opinion, for example “the best way to break up with someone is by text”, and they have to defend that opinion even if they don’t agree with it.
Homework
Have students choose one of the topics raised and write an essay on it; exploring the different ways suggested and reaching a conclusion as to which is the best.
3rd Conditional: Balloon Debate
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Before you use these materials, why not check out our new podcast for learners and teachers alike? It’s called 2Ts in a Pod, have a listen here:
This is a conversation lesson plan to practise past (3rd) conditional structures whilst debating the value of specific professions to society. Credit to the university of Kent for the inspiration for the activity. I have changed the wording of the task slightly so that students must imagine a world without the achievements and inventions of some famous names from history.
You will need the handout, I have made 4 versions:
Intermediate teens:
Balloon Debate intermediate teenagers
Intermediate adults:
Balloon Debate Intermediate adults
Advanced teens:
Advanced adults:
I planned this as an activity to practise uses of advanced 3rd conditional structures such as:
But for + noun phrase, would/could/might have….
But for Thomas Edison, the lightbulb would have been invented much later.
Or inverted past conditionals:
Had it not been for Shakespeare, we wouldn’t have such a rich vocabulary.
You may want to preteach these structures using my other materials which you can find here and here.
Below you will find they advanced adults version of the activity.
Balloon Debate
You are in a hot air balloon which is losing height rapidly and will soon crash because it is overweight. You are travelling with a group of school children who will grow up to be very famous. You have to decide which 7 to throw over the side; if the balloon crashes you will all die. The passengers are:
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Language
| Conditionals | Making Decisions |
| If_____ hadn’t invented_____, _____ wouldn’t have happened. | There’s no way we’re throwing ______ overboard because______ |
| But for ________ we wouldn’t have________. | Throwing _______ is out of the question because________ |
| If it hadn’t been for ______, we wouldn’t have _______ now | I think ________ is expendable. |
| Had it not been for _______, we wouldn’t have________. | What did _______ really do for us? |
Examples:
If Charles Darwin hadn’t discovered evolution, society wouldn’t have developed like it has.
If it hadn’t been for Gandhi, India would still be a British colony.
But for Shakespeare, we wouldn’t have such a rich language.
Had it not been for Abraham Lincoln, the slaves wouldn’t have been freed.
Homework Activity:
Students write an essay examining two of the people from the balloon and deciding which one has contributed most to society. They must compare and contrast the achievements of the two and reach a conclusion as to which should be crowned as the most inspiring person in history.
TED Talk: Daniel Kish, How I use sonar to navigate the world
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This is a conversation lesson plan for higher levels (B2+) based on Daniel Kish’s TED talk “How I use sonar to navigate the world”.
You can either watch the video in class or set it as homework. I have included a copy of the transcript which some students may find useful. You can download the lesson plan below:
TED Talk Daniel Kish Lesson Plan
Daniel Kish TED (transcript)
Introduction Questions
What do you call a person who can’t see?
What would it be like to be blind?
How do you feel when you see a blind person in the street?
Are there any advantages to be being blind?
Think of some things that blind people can and can’t do.
How do blind people navigate the world?
What do you think would be the most difficult thing for a blind person to do?
Show the video.
Discussion Questions
What was your initial reaction to the video?
What did you think when you first saw Daniel?
What did he say about the way in which people treat and react to blind people in society?
What’s his message?
Describe how he navigates the world.
What does he call this system?
Do you think you could use flash sonar?
Do you think you have good eyesight/a good sense of smell etc.?
- sight/vision
- smell
- taste
- touch
- hearing
With a partner try to put your senses in order of importance. (This should spark off a lively debate)
Try and come up with a definitive order as a class.
If you had to lose one of your senses, which would you choose and why?
Debate
Divide the class into 5 groups and write the 5 senses on small pieces of paper. Each group picks a piece of paper, they then have to explain why the sense they have picked is the most important. Give them a few minutes to think of some arguments and every day situations to back them up.
Follow up activity
Students write a CAE/CPE report/proposal detailing ways in which a school or public space could be adapted for blind people. Alternatively, you could set an essay based on the TED talk evaluating Daniel Kish’s upbringing compared to more conventional parenting styles for blind/disabled children.
The Spanish Timetable: Reading and Speaking Activity
This is a reading and speaking activity based around an article from the New York Times about possible changes to the Spanish working say timetable. The original article is quite long so I have edited it down a bit, it should be suitable for B2/FCE upwards. Here is a link to the edited version and the discussion questions:
Start by asking students to tell the class about their average day with specific focus on the times at which they get up, eat, go to work, go to bed etc. Ask them if they follow the typical Spanish timetable outlined in the introduction to the article. Do they eat late? Do they have a siesta?
Once they have shared their different schedules set the class a time limit depending on their level to quickly read the article and underline any unfamiliar vocabulary. This could include:
To hunker down – to meet up/get together
a boon – a bonus
a lag – a delay
Go over the new vocabulary on the board, then either split the class into small groups and give out the discussion questions or hold a whole-class discussion. Below are the discussion questions from the hand out:
What’s your initial reaction to the article?
Do you agree with any of the opinions stated? Which ones?
Describe your daily routine; does it follow the “Spanish” timetable?
What are the advantages/disadvantages of both the Spanish and the “European” timetable?
How difficult would you find it to adjust to a new timetable?
Do you think changing the timetable would affect the country’s culture?
Do you think most people would find it easy of difficult to adjust to a new timetable?
Do you think the current system helps people be efficient?
When you have finished the questions you could organise a class debate for/against the idea of changing the Spanish timetable to be more in line with the rest of Europe. Sometimes when organising debate teams it’s a good idea to force your students to argue for a point that they don’t actually agree with. Debate structure should be as follows:
- Each team presents their argument (3 uninterrupted minutes per team) – the other team must remain silent but can take notes for the rebuttals later
- Rebuttals (10 minutes) – Teams can attack the opposition’s arguments based on statements made in the presentation of their argument.
- Result – Teacher can decide which team has the most coherent argument.
You may find my activity on language of agreement/disagreement useful for the debate.
Rebuild civilisation conversation lesson
My take on a conversation class classic. There have been many different versions, I did this one in my Spanish class and then translated it into English to use with my students. I am afraid I don’t know the Spanish textbook title so can’t give a credit.
Click here to download the handout:
Rebuild Civilisation
Below or in the handout above you will find the conversation task. Before you start the activity you might want to pre-teach some vocabulary. For example some verbs and nouns:
cultivate – cultivation
procreate – procreation
populate – population
Or for lower levels you can give the students more of a framework. For example:
I think we should / shouldn’t / ought to /ought not to take ………………… because……………….
This handout on language of agreement and disagreement might also be useful:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=79CFF252BEEA0A7D!247&authkey=!ANBIbEVteXyYHnY
Encourage students to justify all their decisions, don’t let them get away with simply crossing the banker off the list because they’re angry at bankers. Try to play devils advocate too; stand up for the banker, the computer programmer or the economist to encourage the students to think critically and find justifications.
Class instructions:
- Give out the handout and explain the situation to the students.
- Put the students into groups of 3-4, or if you have less students pairs is fine. Try to have at least two groups, the more groups there are the more opinions there are and the more discussion there will be.
- First have the students individually read the list and select a provisional list of 7 people. Tell them not to worry if they have trouble choosing only 7.
- Then in their groups they must share their thoughts and try to convince their classmates which people to choose.
- Give them plenty of time to do this and make sure they justify everything.
- Then have a feedback session; each group reads out their list of 7 and explains their reasons for choosing them.
- Then try to come up with a universal list of 7 for the whole class. So each team must defend their choices and try to talk the other teams round to their way of thinking.
There has been a nuclear catastrophe. Everyone on the planet has died except the 20 people listed below. There is a small aeroplane with only 7 spaces. The aeroplane will take the 7 people to a desert island in the Indian ocean where they will rebuild civilisation.
In your groups you have to decide which 7 people will travel on the aeroplane.
- A 50-year-old male judge.
- A 25-year-old female economist.
- The 52-year-old Chief of an African tribe.
- The Chief´s pregnant wife.
- A 30-year-old male professional ballerina.
- A young, male soldier from an island close to the one they are going to.
- A 35-year-old female agricultural engineer.
- A 35-year-old male priest.
- A 28-year-old female opera singer.
- A 24-year-old handsome, well-built man.
- A 25-year-old hot, buxom blonde woman.
- A 26-year-old nun.
- A 37-year-old male witch doctor from the African tribe.
- A 52-year-old male psychiatrist.
- A 14-year-old male child-genius.
- A 27-year-old female history teacher.
- A 32-year-old male computer programmer.
- A 37-year-old male biologist who specialises in the evolution of species.
- A 31-year-old female painter.
- A 41-year-old male banker.
Wrap up:
If you were in this situation what do you think you could offer the new civilisation?