グローバル教育〔 地球的規模で考える 〕
PDA即興型英語ディベート
2023年度第４回即興型英語ディベート
On Wednesday July 19th from 13:00 to 15:00, we held the fourth debate meeting of the year.
This time, the students took part in a longer warm up activity called "The Rebut Game." In this activity, they made pairs and each student took either the government or opposition role. Then, they had two minutes to prepare their ideas about a debate motion. After that, they each had three minutes to deliver a speech. However, the other student had to use POIs and try to rebut using the different kinds of rebuttals practiced in the last practice session on June 19th. Finally, both students took some notes that would be used in a final activity.
Next, the students were given hints about how to give a good summary for a debate. Summarizing the debate is the job of the last speaker for each team and is different from the other roles because it cannot be planned in detail before the debate starts. Instead, the debater must listen carefully to the other speakers, identify the clash point of the debate, and explain why their team has won with regard to the clash point.
The final part of the practice activities was to use the notes from the warm up activity and practice making a debate summary. Students then delivered these summaries while paying particular attention to speaking in a strong, confident style. Such a speaking style is of course important for all parts of the debate, but especially for the last speaker as they are the final impression that will be given to the judges.
After practicing, we split into two rooms and started the day's debate. The topic was Japan should promote the use of nuclear power plants. (日本は原子力発電所の利用を促進するべきである。) The debating went very well. Students tried hard to rebut their opponents and summarize the debates, and many speakers have begun to give much longer speeches using all of their alloted time.
This was the last meeting for the first semester and it is the last meeting that has practice activities before the debate. That means that from September, the students will do two debates each time and getting lots of feedback from the judges.
During the summer vacation, some students will join an online debate camp. For everyone else, have a great vacation and we'll see you soon!
