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Debating debate.

Debate: is a sophisticated form of immediate interactive


communication. Debate assumes a high level of discourse skill and it is
by nature abstract. So we must make it more real. Debate is usually
considered a speaking skill but it is more than that as we must first listen
and understand.

Main concepts:
Resolution or proposition: the opinion in a debate.
Affirmative teams: team which agrees with the
resolution
Negative team : team which disagrees with the resolution
Judges. People in charge of evaluating the debate.
Constructive speech: speech done to construct the
cases.
Rebuttal speech: speech done comparing each points and
explain why they have won.

Debate delivery.

The manner is paramount.

Gestures (fingers, fists, point)
Eye contact (look at the judge and the
audience , not opponent team)
Posture (look strong and confident).
Voice (clear and loud, show emotion)
Humour.
9 steps in the way to
debate.

1. Have an opinion.
2. Explaining the opinion.
3. Supporting your opinion.
4. Organizing yiur opinion.
5. Refuting explanations.
6. Challenging supports.
7. Organizing your refutation.
8. Debating an opinion
9. Discover debate.


Have an opinion.
Opinion is the starting point of debate or
discussion. In our daily life we are constantly agreeing
or disagreeing, and we need to teach our learners to do
so. We must make very clear the fact that opinions
need to be supported by reasons and reasons with
evidence.

We can say that there are three main kinds of
opinions:
Value. (better) Policy (should) Fact(is/was/will be)













Pre-debate activities.

A. Presenting facts based on research.

1. State your opinion.
2. Ask 5 people if they agree or not. Keep a record
3. report results orally.

B. Debate from the news.

1. Read news and match resolutions.
2. Read news and write resolutions.
3. Find an article that states an opinion and write
the resolution.



I think that
I believe
that
In my opinion
Im certain
that
I feel that


I agree
I disagree
I think so
I dont think
so
Me too.
Not me.



Explaining opinion.

We must convince a judge or an audience with our opinions by means of
providing reasonable explanations. Opinions must be based on two
reasons at least, three or four are better. These reasons must be
convincing, we call them strong reasons.
The most convincing opinions win the debate, so strong opinions win the
debate. We call these strong opinion: signposts.

Signposts
- must logically support the opinion.
- Must be specific and clear.
- Must be convincing to a majority of people.

When giving reasons we usually:
Compare. (comparatives, as as)
Contrast (ellipsis, but)
Show a cause effect relation (if).
Main tools in debate:

Brainstorming.
Evaluating.
Prioritizing.

Pre-debate activities:

1. Choose the best reason.
Summer is better than winter
Because we are on holidays.
Because winter isnt better than summer.
Because summer is 3 months long.
opinion reason support
2. Give me one reason why
Opinions and reasons to match.

3. Brainstorming reasons, write as many as possible in 4 minutes,
prioritize, copy them on the board. Compare ideas. Change groups
and resolutions.


Supporting your opinion.









Ways of supporting your opinion.

1- Explanation. (if ) so, because.
2- Example (for example, for instance,, Let me give you an
example,)
3- Statistics (20% of them, 15 of all, one out of five, etc)
4- Expert Opinion( according to, a recent article, X said Y, to quote X)
Bibiliography

Pre-debate activities.

1. Learners read different sources and decide for or against.
2. Get evidence from different sources to support both sides.





Organizing your opinion.
Use your signposts.

The first speech in a debate is called the First Affirmative Constructive
(1AC) speech. It has three parts. Conclusion can be left out for the final
speech.






















introduction
welcome. introduction of team
number of reasons.
signposts

affirmative
points
2 to 4 reasons
Each reason:
signpost + reason + support
conclusion
mention signposts again.
repeat resolution.
ask judge to consider "we beg to propose"




Pre-debate activities.

A. Present your resolution.

1- Think of a resolution.
2- Think of reasons and support. (fill in a chart)
3- Learner A presents with help of model.
4- Learner B listens and fills in chart.











2. Letter to the editor.

1. Think of a resolution and write about it.
2. Use the information from Learner A (previous Activity) to write it.



Resolution



Refuting opinions.
True understanding of an issue means to think about the opinion and
reasons for both points of view. Refutation is used in a debate to tell why
the opposing teams points are either not true or not important.












Language for learners.
Reasons
not true
not true
not always true
not necessarily true

true but not important
not relevant
not significant
easy to solve

















Pre-debate activities.

1. Point / refutation. (matching mingle activity)
2. Read the affirmative case and write the refutation.
3. Listen to a resolution and write the refutation. (charts)
4. Critiquing an editorial. (find the editorial and write the refutation)
5. Tennis debate. (teams A / B)
Affirmative team thinks resolution for 3 minutes. Negative Team has time to
think a refutation.
not true
That's not true.
That's false.
That not always true.
That's not necessary true.
not important
... because it is not
significant.
The difference doesn't
matter.
The difference is too
small.
It's not relevant to the
topic.
It's easy to solve. To solve
that do X.
Serve volley serve and volley


Challenging supports.
In debate its necessary to challenge the validity or truth of every support
and piece of evidence.
Each team provides evidence which might not be true or valid.
So the other team must test the evidence by asking questions about the
source of the evidence.

. Organizing your refutation.

The negative team gives the second speech of the debate the First
Negative Constructive.














Your opinion to the judges and the
audience.
Attack the 1AC.
Introduction.
Refutation.
Links the refutation to the negative case.
"We have refuted all thier pooints, now
Let me tell you....."
Transition.
Negative Points.
Conclusion.
How to state a
refutation?















Language needed:

They gave no source for
They gave no date for
The source is outdated
They gave no explanation why .
The source is biased
Signpost
Their first point was ...
Rephrase
They said that ....... because ........
Negation
this is not true.....
Rationale
(why the evidence is
questionable)
Their expert is biased











Debate format.

Two main parts:



First Affirmative Construct 6 minutes
Negative Rebbutal 3 minutes
First negative Construct 7 minutes
Afirmative Rebbutal 3 minutes.


Evaluating Debate.

R
e
f
u
t
a
t
i
o
n

Let me refute
the affirmative
reasons,
then....
First I will
attack the case
and then ...
I would like to
refute their
points, then I
will present ..
R
a
t
i
o
n
a
l
e

They gave no source
for
They gave no date for
The source is
outdated
They gave no
explanation why
The source is biased
Their expert is biased
C
o
n
c
l
u
s
i
o
n

We have
talked
about X
and shown
you Y...
For these
reasons,
we beg you
to oppose.
Matter
Manner
Method

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