Debate seems to be one of the more difficult English Language activities to carry out in a classroom. Not least because most probably the teacher himself or herself has never been exposed to debates and has no idea where to begin.
I suppose, you could begin at the start.
Here's some pointers to begin introducing debates in class.
Pre-Debate Activities
Teacher Preparation
1. Make sure you are able to demonstrate the activities yourself before you ask the students to do it. You may have to park your ego at home. I say this because someone I was coaching found it difficult to vocalize 'aaaaaa-ehhhh-eeeeee-oooooo-uuuuuuu' because he/she was embarrassed.
2. Start classes by breaking the ice around their voice box :)
This may mean some yodelling, karaokeing or just humming. Amazingly, there are students who are surprised to hear their own voices.
3. Don't just teach them how to speak and write debate texts. HAVE DEBATES!
4. Prepare a timetable for the debates.
5. Assign different jobs.
6. Assign topics to the students.
Speaking
1. Ask students to vocalise. Amazingly, some students are afraid to be involved in debates because their voices won't come out.
4. If the kids need more help, give them words that they can use. Whether figurative or the usual debate lingo.
To be continued...contributions welcome. Especially from the online group members who won English Teachers' Debates at the National Level. FYI, Sabah has won this competition at the national level four times since its inception.
P/S : I am no longer involved in debates but still listening to debate 'stories' shared by friends who are still in the 'arena' as judges, coaches and organisers.
I suppose, you could begin at the start.
Here's some pointers to begin introducing debates in class.
Pre-Debate Activities
Teacher Preparation
1. Make sure you are able to demonstrate the activities yourself before you ask the students to do it. You may have to park your ego at home. I say this because someone I was coaching found it difficult to vocalize 'aaaaaa-ehhhh-eeeeee-oooooo-uuuuuuu' because he/she was embarrassed.
2. Start classes by breaking the ice around their voice box :)
This may mean some yodelling, karaokeing or just humming. Amazingly, there are students who are surprised to hear their own voices.
3. Don't just teach them how to speak and write debate texts. HAVE DEBATES!
4. Prepare a timetable for the debates.
5. Assign different jobs.
6. Assign topics to the students.
Speaking
1. Ask students to vocalise. Amazingly, some students are afraid to be involved in debates because their voices won't come out.
a) Make them go 'aaaaah-ehhhh-eeeeee-ooooo-uuuuuu' just like in linguistic class.
b) Teach them how to throw their voice. Tell them to imagine their words are like balls which they blow out of their mouths and pretend that they are bouncing those 'balls' off the wall. You can begin this class in the classroom and graduate to fields. If they are able to do this well, you can stand at the other end of a football field from the students and actually hear them say the words. But they mustn't shout. Go from student to student and listen to them. A good first word to use is 'HAH.'
c) Give them extracts of speeches from Martin Luther King (I have a dream...), William Shakespeare (Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears) and even Barack Obama to deliver. This part can be real fun! I just introduced the Infamy Speech by Roosevelt (uploaded in Files) in one of my classes and the students LOVED it! This speech was delivered the day after Pearl Harbour was hit by the Japanese and the President was asking Congress for permission to go to war. Powerful stuff...
Writing
1. Show them what a debate script looks like. There should be a fixed structure, such as Intro, Definition, Stand, Point, Explanation, Elaboration, Reinforcement of Stand, Powerful Ending. It helps if you give them a table to fill in.
2. Show them the difference between a neutral statement and a persuasive one.
3. Teach them the very basic structure of a paragraph :
Point + Explanation + Evidence/Elaboration
b) Teach them how to throw their voice. Tell them to imagine their words are like balls which they blow out of their mouths and pretend that they are bouncing those 'balls' off the wall. You can begin this class in the classroom and graduate to fields. If they are able to do this well, you can stand at the other end of a football field from the students and actually hear them say the words. But they mustn't shout. Go from student to student and listen to them. A good first word to use is 'HAH.'
c) Give them extracts of speeches from Martin Luther King (I have a dream...), William Shakespeare (Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears) and even Barack Obama to deliver. This part can be real fun! I just introduced the Infamy Speech by Roosevelt (uploaded in Files) in one of my classes and the students LOVED it! This speech was delivered the day after Pearl Harbour was hit by the Japanese and the President was asking Congress for permission to go to war. Powerful stuff...
Writing
1. Show them what a debate script looks like. There should be a fixed structure, such as Intro, Definition, Stand, Point, Explanation, Elaboration, Reinforcement of Stand, Powerful Ending. It helps if you give them a table to fill in.
2. Show them the difference between a neutral statement and a persuasive one.
3. Teach them the very basic structure of a paragraph :
Point + Explanation + Evidence/Elaboration
4. If the kids need more help, give them words that they can use. Whether figurative or the usual debate lingo.
To be continued...contributions welcome. Especially from the online group members who won English Teachers' Debates at the National Level. FYI, Sabah has won this competition at the national level four times since its inception.
P/S : I am no longer involved in debates but still listening to debate 'stories' shared by friends who are still in the 'arena' as judges, coaches and organisers.
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