The Big #DebateProject in #ESO4 #co-teaching Using debates in the classroom #literacy #literacyapproach

 

CO-TEACHING WHILE USING DEBATES IN THE CLASSROOM TO PROMOTE LITERACY

Using debates in the classroom provide students the opportunity to work in a collaborative and cooperative group setting; additionally, debates can help them grasp essential soft skills such as critical thinking and presentation skills, among others:

• Reading, writing, Listening, Mediating, speaking and interacting.
• Awareness of citizenship and social etiquette.
• Soft skills such as Fostering abstract thinking, clarity, organisation and persuasion.
• Presentation skills and public speaking.
• Research techniques and skills.
• Teamwork and cooperation. 

Before starting the actual project: the chosen topic for the debate was: Is the educational system designed for extroverts? This topic is connected to a previous unit, entitled "Student's Life".

They had already worked on the topic using different sources and putting into practice different skills:

- READING (with their Literacy Teacher, Fernando) by taking a personality test and finding out what their personality type is, according to the test.

- LISTENING (with their literacy teacher Marina), watching a TED Talk video by Susan Cain.

- READING (with both of their teachers) an extract from Susan Cain's work "Quiet".

- SPEAKING (with Marina) about the conclusions they had drawn from all the materials covered.

- READING of two articles on the topic and FURTHER RESEARCH.

- WRITING when taking notes and working on the written CASE, supervised by both teachers. 

For THE DEBATE, THE STUDENTS WERE PROVIDED WITH A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK about the structure and the language used first, so that they could get familiar with the debate structure & language output. 

Then, the class was split into four teams (A, B, C and D):

• Team A:  DARÍO, HUGO, SOFÍA, HÉCTOR.
• Team B: IRENE FRAN, LUNA, CARLA .
• Team C: DIANA NEREA, PABLO, GUILLE, JORGE .
• Team D: ROBERTO, LYDIA, CRISTIAN, CLAUDIA, MARTA.

Each of the debates followed a general format, just as follows:

• Introduction to the debate.
• Proposer A presented their case.
• Questioners from team B asked questions, answered initially by Questioners from team A.
• Proposer B presented their case.
• Questioners from team A asked questions, answered initially by Questioners from team B.
• Audience adressed questions to both teams A and B, answered by Questioners from A and B.
• Summariser A presented their summary.
• Summariser B to present their summary.

Each team was working together to prepare their case for one week; the second week was allocated as a private research period during which each group was expected to prepare for the debate. By having them prepare, discuss and organise their points of view for one side of the argument they were able to discover new information and then put knowledge into action, later on.

Within each team  a particular role was assigned to each individual:

• A proposer who gave a presentation (prepared by the team) for about 15 minutes in support of their case.
• One/Two questioners, who asked questions of the opposing team after the opponents case had been presented, and answered the questions asked by the opposing team and the audience.
• A Summariser who presented the summary of the case (prepared by the team) and tried to incorporate the answers to the most important questions posed during the debate.

Each of the above roles were given to a different person. The audience consisted of everyone else involved in the other debate, plus the two literacy teachers. 

Each student also prepared a written case for their topic. Samples below:

WRITTEN CASE

Well, the presentation that Darío presented was perfectly explained. There are too many stereotypes about introverted people. Being an introvert doesn't mean you have social anxiety or that you can't be with a person. We can all feel nervous or uncomfortable at any time, we don't have to be introverts. And also, being an introvert is not a bad thing, it is not an illness or anything. It's just a way of being. And that is why we think that the school is made for everyone.

HUGO TINOCO ARENAS

FRANCISCO DARÍO CABALLERO ROMÁN

DIANA GARCÍA FIDALGO

The day of the debate

Although the debate was designed to take place in the classroom, due to the weather conditions (heat wave), we decided to do it online.