Implementation of ‘One Coin, Two Sides – The Art of Debating’ (SOI-HU-132)
This Learning Scenario offered a perfect opportunity to start a new topic with my students. I used it as a warm-up activity and to revise facts and vocabulary that they already know.
A group of politicians debate at a coroner's inquest whether Lord Melbourne's temporary resignation was equivalent to murder or to suicide. Coloured lithograph by H.B. (John Doyle), 1839, Wellcome Collection, United Kingdom, CC BY 4.0 Steps and changes
I started with a question: ‘Why do people have different opinions?’ Because there are only 13 students in my group, we discussed the topic together.
Then I showed them two pictures from the Learning Scenario and started talking about them. We collected many related words.
As the final step, they learned some useful expressions which later helped them to express their opinions. For example: To my mind, In my opinion, On the other hand … etc.
The debate
For the debate, they were put into two groups. The topic was healthy lifestyle as seen by an adult and a child. Their homework was to collect information from parents and classmates about this topic.
In the next lesson, the groups had a debate. One person from each group took notes and afterwards summarized the thoughts. The debate was also recorded so as a follow-up activity, we could analyze the debate and learn from mistakes.
As a finishing touch, the groups had to create a digital poster based on the information they had been discussing.
Next steps
Bezoek van de V.V.C. aan Kilbirnie (Schotland) in het kader van de Highland games op de U.Z. sport- en speldag - V.V.C; Jespers Jaak. Sportimonium - CC BY-NC-SA 4.0During the debate, sport and outdoor activities appeared on both sides. Therefore as follow-up activities, I’m about to create a Learning Scenario based on the sport collection of Europeana.
Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario?
One Coin, Two Sides – the Art of Debating created by Heath Schembri)
Did you find this story of implementation interesting? You might also like:
- What Would They Say? implemented by Gratiela Visan
- Newspapers and Reports implemented by Karolina Nedelkovska
- Imagine Life Before the Internet implemented by Marilina Lonigro
CC BY 4.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana Collections and provided by the Wellcome Collection.