Lesson 4: One debate – different perspectives

The students reflect on the debate

Lesson description

Clarifying the agenda for the lesson

The teacher presents the agenda of the lesson, and points out that it corresponds to the key questions of the students’ homework. If the students agree and make no suggestions to focus on one point in particular, the teacher introduces the first phase of the lesson.

1. Three news reports with discussion

The teacher announces that the three reporter teams will now present their news stories. The students have the task to listen and to compare, as the reporters’ work for different types of newspapers. To compare the news stories, the students should be ready to take notes. The teacher clarifies the task by drawing a simple matrix on the board or flipchart:

The teacher refers to the papers only by number, leaving it to the students to introduce their paper. Language is a possible feature by which to compare the stories, and the students are free to take note of what they notice. If they prefer one type of paper and news story, they should give reasons.

The teacher makes sure that the students have no more questions on their task and then gives the floor to the three press reporter teams. The press reporter teams read their stories in turn, without any discussion or comment between the stories.

Then the students give feedback. The teacher listens, and encourages the students to explain what criteria they used for comparing and judging the stories.

The teacher sums up the discussion by pointing out one key aspect: the three teams of press reporters attended the same debate, and yet the images they created for their reading audiences differ considerably This shows that media transmit reality for all those who were not present at the event. But by transmitting reality, they construct it – selecting and highlighting some elements, omitting or paying less attention to others. The teacher can refer to selected details of the news stories or student inputs to support this point (see materials for teachers 8.1).

2. Reflection: how did the rules affect the debate?

The teacher again asks for student inputs. The teacher listens, and so do the students. Some comments may be expected to be quite critical (the time limit is “undemocratic”, it does not allow free expression), and some students may support the rules.

During the discussion, the teacher can ask the critics among the students to consider what would happen if the time limit was lifted. They will realise that the debate would need longer, and the time budget of the lesson sets an absolute time limit, and therefore the rules have taken reality into account and distributed the available time fairly, admittedly in very small slices. The speakers should com­ment on how they coped with the time limit: did they manage to focus on key points?

3. Debriefing

Here the students give some general feedback.

The teacher should not attempt to justify his/her work in the face of criticism, nor to argue critical remarks away. As the students have had a very large share of activity and responsibility, both success and failure are theirs as much as the teacher’s. The teacher should point this out if the students are not aware of it.

If the students enjoyed the debate, the teacher might suggest an extension in the form of a debating club. Here, some of the issues suggested by the students could be debated. Debating clubs are very common in English-speaking countries around the world, and also among teachers of English as a foreign language. The Internet offers a rich variety of excellent material for teachers and students interested in debating.