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sweetrevenge
Joined: 24 Dec 2013
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 Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:06 pm Post subject: Creating a debate for a class that is weak in english. |
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| Hello, last week my coteacher complained that I'm not being interactive enough with one of my english classes. Personally, I think this is a baseless claim because the class I'm teaching isn't very strong at english and doing a debate would be literally impossible. Last class, I barely got through a Direct Object lesson and I'm lucky one of the girls pays attention in class to answer the practice questions. However, I'm on their payroll so I'll do whatever they want. Any advice? |
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le-paul
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:13 pm Post subject: |
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get them to choose the subject and let them list pros and cons (on the white board, talking, writing a list or what ever).
If they can support their idea with 'because...' they get a point.
Team with most points wins.
Example
What is best summer or winter vacation?
summer is best because
i can go swimming.
i can eat ice cream
i can...
you get the idea...
('comparing and contrasting' is infinite in terms of subjects) |
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sweetrevenge
Joined: 24 Dec 2013
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| get them to choose the subject and let them list pros and cons (on the white board, talking, writing a list or what ever). |
This is a really good idea and very doable. If they don't know how to say a word, I could easily let them use google translate. I think I'm going to create a powerpoint with instructions and then let them take it from there. |
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le-paul
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:26 pm Post subject: |
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You could also give them a few keys phrases on the board to help out (eg 'It can', 'it could' etc. depending on their level). They then just have to complete the sentence with their own lists (this is why it pays to give them time to prepare a list and for some reason, i found kids love writing lists...).
If you want to get them all excited, split them male female and debate which are better, boys or girls 
Anyway, bon chance! |
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le-paul
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Location: dans la chambre
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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oh, and by the way, dont be disappointed of you fall flat on your backside with this, its probably not your fault.
Koreans are very, very bad at critical thinking and often have a hard time 'debating' - especially kids.
Just a little warning... |
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SeoulNate
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Location: Hyehwa
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Stan Rogers
Joined: 20 Aug 2010
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| Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 1:34 am Post subject: |
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| Bad word debate using all the swear words they can think of. Most creative insult combination wins. |
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Chia Pet
Joined: 23 Jun 2013
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| Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:45 am Post subject: |
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If you think your arrogant little post was educational or helpful to the OP, I feel sorry for your students.
Anyway, debate is a trend that is widespread in Korean ESL now. It probably gained popularity because it seems like a way to get students to talk AND get them to prepare for standardized tests (practice supporting a thesis statement). The parents may eat up the hype, but for most students debate sucks as a conversation springboard. There may be a few competitive students who like it, but I doubt you'll find any in a low-level class.
Tell your co-teacher to come up with just ONE lesson plan that he/she thinks is a good example of what he/she wants, and use it in the class. If he/she refuses to do that (perhaps giving you a response like SeoulNate's post), go talk to the vice-principal or something. You're being put in an unfair situation.
Debate  |
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Hokie21
Joined: 01 Mar 2011
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| Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:53 am Post subject: |
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| Get over this obsession with Google Translate. It's complete garbage and does not accurately translate between English and Korean. |
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isitts
Joined: 25 Dec 2008
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 6:27 am Post subject: |
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| le-paul wrote: |
get them to choose the subject and let them list pros and cons (on the white board, talking, writing a list or what ever).
If they can support their idea with 'because...' they get a point.
Team with most points wins.
Example
What is best summer or winter vacation?
summer is best because
i can go swimming.
i can eat ice cream
i can...
you get the idea...
('comparing and contrasting' is infinite in terms of subjects) |
+1
Yeah just start with really simple opinions like above...or even like, "Which do you like better? Dogs or cats? Why?" Opinions like that are not quite debate, but more of a pre-debate in that they get the students to say what they think on topics that are not very confrontational. And you can work your way up from there to more debate-worthy topics and do the whole debate formula with rebuttals and everything. Once they've been doing it for a while, the students can think of their own topics to argue over.
Mind you, I did this with high schoolers. You didn't mention what age group you're working with. |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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I think Le Paul's advice is good. My own experience is that even weaker students do better if given lots of advance time to prepare. You might announce the topics (dogs or cats / summer or winter) well ahead of time and give students class time to prepare their presentations, making sure that you arrange teams with opposing or different positions.
This sounds kiddy, but it even works with university students: anyone who asks a question after the presentation to challenge the speaker gets some chocolate. |
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