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
2026年度英語ディベートスタートしました！
On April 27th (Mon) and May 1st (Fri), we started this year's English debate activities for the 38 students who have joined. This year, we have increased the number of meetings from 12 to 14, so the activities started earlier than they have in the past.
On the 27th, first the students practiced confident speech delivery by introducing themselves to their teams following various advice given by the teachers about gestures, voice, facial expression, and so on. Next, the students were reminded of the flow of a PDA debate, which had been explained in the explanation meeting earlier in April. Then, they practiced brainstorming and planning together. This is a practice point that has been improved from previous years. Students have a planning time flowchart to guide their use of the 15 minutes preparation time for their debates. The chart has useful reminders things to consider such as what big issues are connected to the debate topic, and which approach they might use to best deliver their point. These areas will all be explained and practiced in detail in future practice sessions while students refer back to the flowchart.
After practicing brainstorming, the students took part in their first debate. The motion was Online AI should be banned. (インターネットでのAIの使用を禁止すべきである。) This debate was only judged by the students so that they could practice the timing of the PDA debate format. They students did very well, especially returning second grade students, who helped new members throughout.
Next, on May 1st, the students practiced organizing their ideas. The PDA format encourages using a concise AREA pattern. This means the students give their Assertion, Reason, an Example, and then restate their Assertion. This pattern is very clear and easy to use, but can lead to students arguments being rather simplistic and lacking depth. As such, we encourage students to go beyond AREA. We introduced two ways to do this: giving more details for their reason and expanding concrete examples to more general matters. Students will be encouraged to go beyond AREA in these and other ways in order to produced strong arguments in future debates.
After the practice activities, the students experienced their first debate with online judges. The motion was School uniforms should be abolished. (制服を廃止すべきだ。) Students did a great job of confidently delivering their speeches, and the experienced students wonderfully supported new members. Well done, everybody!
