Teacher Kathy's Corner: Debates in 301

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Debates in 301

At the end of our unit on Colonialism I would like my 301 class to try a debate. The topic will be whether Taiwan should remove portraits of Sun Yat-sen from schools and government buildings which is currently being debated by Taiwanese legislators [read more in English here]. The classes provided their own controversial issue they feel strongly about. One class chose capital punishment and the other nuclear energy. I am looking forward to their results. We already went to the computer lab to find sources and I am surprised they never had to do this in any of their classes before. Googling information seemed insurmountably more difficult than it really is. I hope I can give them more research practice in the future.

They will use a mind map to outline their argument's points with sources.

In late February, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan proposed an amendment with the support of twenty other lawmakers that would require the removal of portraits of Sun Yat-sen孫中山 from government buildings and schools. The proposal may presage future efforts within the DPP-majority legislature to remove Chinese historical and cultural influences on the island, which could complicate cross-Strait relations under incoming DPP president Tsai Ing-wen.

[read more in Mandarin here]

The class will follow the standard Lincoln Douglas format. (Watch a High School Debate Example)

I will arrange the class into groups of six. Each group will represent one side -- the affirmative or negative. Each team will include students who assume the following roles:

Speech 1: The first affirmative speaker introduces the topic and states the affirmative team's first argument.

Speech 2: The first negative speaker states their first argument.

Speech 3: The second affirmative speaker states their second argument.

Speech 4: The second negative speaker states their second argument.

Give a 5-10 minute break for each team to prepare their rebuttal speech.

Speech 5: The negative team states two rebuttals for the affirmative team's two arguments and summarizes their own two reasons.

Speech 6: The affirmative team states two rebuttals for the negative team's two arguments and summarizes their own two reasons.