Pop Culture Debate (advanced classroom activity, 30-40 minutes)
Sure to get even the most introverted students talking!
This activity is something you should only use if you already know your class quite well and have been teaching them for at least a few months. The debate works best if you have an idea of what specific kinds of pop culture your students are in to (e.g. specific TV shows, songs, & singing groups).
Before class you will need to prepare a few different debate topics and write them down on cards (e.g. rap music .v. classic music or The Apprentice .v. Heroes). You will need to write guidelines on the cards to help the students think of things to talk about. Below is an example of what a card should look like.
Your team supports RAP MUSIC (the other team supports classic music)
• What does rap music have that classic music does not?
• Why is rap music more popular?
• What famous people sing rap music?
• How is rap music good for society? For teens? For you?
• How does rap music make you feel?
The other card in this debate would be CLASSIC MUSIC. You can add more questions to the card if you like. The more questions the better.
Put the students in teams of 2-4 and give each team a debate card. Try to give the team that likes rap music the rap card. You will need an even number of teams so every team has another team to debate with. Explain that the teams will each designate a main speaker and that two teams will come to the front of the class to support their given topic. The teams should know what topic they will debate against. Give the teams10 minutes to develop their arguments before choosing the first two teams.
You may need to ask questions and engage the students to get them talking so you should prepare some engaging questions regarding each debate topic.
While writing this article I stumbled upon a great section of The ESL Library. There are a number of pre-made mini debates. You have to pay money to see them but if you’re willing to pay, they seem to be a good resource. http://www.esl-library.com/index.cfm?pageid=7&lang=en&step=2§ion=7