Reading & Vocabulary T's notes Debate

Academic Reading & Vocabulary. ACE Cambodia

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Academic Reading & Vocabulary Lesson 21 – Speed Debating

Procedure

Lead-in (Anticipatory Set)

1

Inform students of the lesson’s aims and intentions.

Write the word ‘privatization’ on the board. Elicit the meaning. Tell students they will be

learning and debating issues regarding privatization.

o Privatization: 1) The transfer of ownership of property or businesses from a

Title

Lesson 21: Debate

Theme

Supporting an

argument

Timing

1.5

Primary Aim(s):

Students will able to debate multiple topics with minimal preparation time.

Students will be able to cross-examine each other and distinguish fact from opinion.

Secondary Aim(s):

Students will be able to apply abstract thinking to a topic of discussion.

Students, through persuasive dialogue, will be able to convey their point of view to another student.

Learning Experiences:

Speed Debating

Reading and comprehension questions

Evidence of Learning:

Evidence based on ability to speak for an extended period on a topic.

Skills Trained:

Critical thinking/ argumentation/ abstract thinking

Materials & Resources: -HO 1, HO 2, HO 3

http://www.debatepedia.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Water_privatization

-Speed Debating Video -water Privatization Video

Pre-class Preparation: Print and cut out speed debate

cards

Anticipated Problems & Solutions

Problems: 1. Students will not grasp the

concept of privatization. 2. Students will debate too

loud of other groups to hear.

Solutions: 1. A video has been provided

in section 2 showing the concept.

2. The classroom can be reorganized to take advantage of multiple spaces, not necessarily all seated together.

Overview

This lesson gives students a

chance to inject their own

opinions and ideas into the

lesson and connects with Unit

3’s bottle water debate. This

lesson focuses on honing

students’ critical & abstracting

thinking skills by offering a

chance of debating multiple

sub-topics in class. The lesson

uses a concept called Speed

Debating that requires

students to think quickly and

analytically.

The theme is Water

Privatization. Students will be

introduced to the definition of

privatization as well as a real-

life story of a people that

overcame a private company’s

control over a small city’s

water supply. Introduced as

well is the ongoing real-world

debate between the benefits

and drawbacks of having

water privatized.

5-10




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government to a privately owned entity. 2) The transition from a publicly traded and

owned company to a company which is privately owned and no longer trades publicly

on a stock exchange

Debate Preparation (Reading & Background)

2

HO 3 is required for this activity.

o Students will be debating about issues concerning the privatization of water,

miscellaneous popular debate (such as free healthcare), specific small issues within

Cambodia, and issues involving schools.

Ask students where is Bolivia and if they know anything about it. Explain that in Bolivia there

is a city called Cochabamba where a private organization tried to place heavy fees on the

consumption of water from the people.

Optional video to introduce students to water privatization and the situation in Bolivia –

available in the teacher’s folder labeled Water Wars 2 Privatization.

HO 3 is a reading passage about a real-world occurrence of Water Privatization and the

controversy it inspired in Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Have students read this to give context to the controversy.

o Encourage students to link what they read about the bottle water debate in Unit 3

with this topic.

After the reading on HO 3, there are five comprehension questions students can answer and

a DISCUSS IT box once groups have completed the reading.

Comprehension Answers

1. In recent years, private companies have taken over municipal water supplies in a number of poor countries.

2. In late 1999, a company called Aquas del Tunaria, owned by Bechtel, an American multinational corporation, was given a 40-year contract to increase the water supplies and services of Cochabamba, Bolivia, a city of 600,000. Shortly after taking over in January 2000, the company raised water rates substantially.

3. Many people had to choose between feeding their family and paying their water bill.

4. Residents took part in a four-day general strike, which shut down the city.

5. The people of Cochabamba had won.

Have students check the answers to the five comprehension questions in pairs or groups and

elect some students to share their DISCUSS IT section with the class.

Think about…

Water is a human right not a commodity. The right to life should be universal but it does not always turn out that way. With

cooking and drinking, the average person needs 15 liters of water a day to survive.

How can each individual on the planet get this amount if there are heavy taxes placed

on water? Is privatization a positive or negative symptom of society?

25-30

Ideas for…Extension

Imagine – Tell students to imagine a world where, suddenly, the water supply in their country dried up. Politicians came to the podiums to profess they “…saw this coming” and that had the country paid the

increased water rates to privatize their water before there would be water available today. Would this have been worth the sacrifice? Is sacrificing today for tomorrow worth it?


3


Speed Debating

3

HOs 1 & 2 are required for this activity. HO 1 has 15 different topics. Depending on the

class size, only a few of these might be used and it is at the discretion of the teacher to

choose which would be most interesting/appropriate for students.

To motivate and set the scene, show the short speed debating video marrying the concept of

speed dating with speed debating. This video is available in the teacher’s folder.

This activity is speed dating but with arguments. This activity helps grow students’ ability to

spontaneous debate without the aid of preparation and builds their quick response

repertoire.

Set up two rows of desks or shares facing each other.

On each chair and its opposite should be placed HO 1’s Speed Debating cards so that

students sitting opposite each other have matching pairs (for example: 1a with 1b, 2a with

2b, etc.).

o Each pair will have a topic on their cards: either agreeing or disagreeing with what is

written. Students MUST follow what the paper tells him or her even if it is not their

personal opinion. Either student A or student B should read their topic to the other

student and then they may begin debating.

Give students HO 2 for guidance and instructions. Explain the instructions and review with

students.

o Give students time to review and practice the useful language section.

Starting the Debates: Have students sit across each other, both reading aloud their cards.

Let students debate for 3-5 minutes per topic before switching seats. Have each row switch

in opposite directions so each new debate is met with a new partner.

1a

1b

Closure

4 A fun idea for reviewing and closing the lesson: o Snowball: Students write down what they learned about privatization & speed

debating in the form of a question on a piece of scratch paper and ball it up. Given a signal, they throw their paper snowballs in the air. Then each learner picks up a nearby question, reads it aloud and attempts to answer the question.

EXPANSION

Privatization advocates claim private companies are the most cost-efficient, reliable way to get

water to the world's poor -- but critics disagree. Write a paragraph explaining your view, either for water privatization or against. Be sure to explain

why you think so.

Extension

For higher-level groups, play

music in the back ground so

student must concentrate on their listening

skills while debating.

30-45

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Reading & Vocabulary T's notes Debate