Description:

Partners are given a set of debate topics to choose from (such as “should there be uniforms in schools?” or “should students study coding languages instead of foreign languages?”). They select which topic they’ll debate, and who will take which point of view. They then record their discussion for a set time (5 min, for example), with each student expressing their view on the subject. After the debate is finished, students use a rubric or list of questions to evaluate their recording. The questions enable them to reflect on their own work and determine areas in which they were successful or feel they could improve.

Follow-Up Activities: In place of the rubrics described above, students could evaluate why they feel they ‘won’ the debate or lost it, based on both the content and the language used in the debate.