This is a great activity to start off a debate class. The goal is to break down a speech into a set of structured statements, while introducing students to the form of debate.

1. Class One Activity:
Structured
Argumentation
● The goal of this activity to learn to view a speech as a collection of
structured statements AND be introduced to the exchange of
ideas common to debate
● The activity is designed to be run in a large group and involved
everyone

2. Debate Good!
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This work is produced by Logan Balavijendran and shared under the Creative Commons
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3. 1. Divide the class into equal groups
(2, 3, 4 per group or more)
2. Give the entire class a topic. It
should be something simple, with
ample opportunity to generate
arguments
3. Allocate groups to Support or
Oppose the topic
4. Groups have 10 minutes to prepare
reasons defend their side
5. Each group takes turns contributing
something to support their side,
switching between sides, groups
and individuals in groups
Support Oppose

4. Support Oppose
“Single sex schools are better for studying
because you are not distracted by the
opposite sex”
“Mixed sex schools teach you to deal with
distractions, because in the real society both
sexes must interact”
“Students can interact outside of school, the
main purpose of school is studying”
“But students spend more of their time in
school, only very little time is spent outside of
school to interact”
“Schools can organize activities for students
to meet other schools, like during games”
“But students need to learn to work together,
to do assignments with members of both
sexes. Not just to play with each other”
Example!
Single Sex Schools
are Better Than
Co-Ed Schools

5. 1. As the debate is happening,
write the arguments students
are making on the board.
This helps students see the
whole debate and respond
to arguments their friends
are making (students often
don’t take good notes during
the activity).
2. At the end of the debate,
summarize the arguments
and separate the ones made
by the Support and Oppose
teams.
3. You can now show students
how in a debate, instead of
making independent
statements, they will be
connected together to make
a full speechSupport Oppose
“Single sex schools are
better for studying
because you are not
distracted by the
opposite sex”
“Students can interact
outside of school, the
main purpose of school
is studying”
“Schools can organize
activities for students to
meet other schools, like
during games”
“Mixed sex schools teach you
to deal with distractions,
because in the real society
both sexes must interact”
“But students spend more of
their time in school, only very
little time is spent outside of
school to interact”
“But students need to learn
to work together, to do
assignments with members
of both sexes. Not just to play
with each other”

6. About
this
Resource
I created this circa 2007, when I was teaching
debate in Chung Ang University in Seoul. My
students had little or no debate background (and
often interest, as it was a mandatory course) and
often were of a non-English speaking background.
The course was designed to deliver clear practical
benefits in a fun and engaging way. Most lessons
were delivered as activities and games (where the
points don’t matter) rather than lectures (eventually
I flipped the classroom, which worked really well).
This resource has since been used in other
classrooms, debate workshop and by many many
others. Feel free to use, share and adapt, as long
as you share what you made. And if you discover
or design an innovative debate teaching tool, I’d
love to hear about it.
Good luck and have fun!
Logan