1. Организационный момент.
Teacher: Good morning! How are you today?
Now I’m going to tell you the objectives of our lesson. A debate will occupy most of the time of the lesson, so the aims of the lesson are:
- To develop speaking and listening skills.
- To practise some elements of the debate: giving arguments, counterarguments, asking and answering questions.
Teacher: What is the topic of our discussion?
Pupils: Arts.
Teacher: What arts do you know?
Pupils: Drawing, painting, music, dancing, literature etc.
Teacher: Which of these arts do you prefer and why?
Pupils: ask 3-4 pupils to answer this question
Teacher: You’ve just mentioned that you like reading books; it’s really very useful, beneficial. By the way, do you remember the story we’ve read about the girl whose name was Matilda? (Учебник Английский язык 7 класс Афанасьева О.В., Михеева И.В. Unit 6 The reader of books after Roald Dahl). I’d like you to answer my questions:
- What are the main characters?
- What was Matilda fond of?
- What books did she read?
- What did Matild”s father think she should do instead of reading books? (He wanted her to watch TV).
Teacher: Watching TV, reading books, visiting different galleries, exhibitions, museums. There is a wide choice of opportunities for a person to be clever, intelligent, educated. Tastes are different. What should we do? I think it’s time to start our debate. I’m going to introduce the chairman of our debate and give him the floor. (The students knew the motion and their homework was to think of some arguments for and against the motion).
Chairman: Ladies and Gentleman, it is very real pleasure that I welcome you all here this morning. I feel sure we are going to have an interesting and pleasant meeting today. The motion of the debate is: Watching TV is enough to become a well-informed and well-educated person. I’d like the students who are in favour of the motion take their seats on the left and the students who are against it – on the right. Now you are two teams: opposes and proposers.
At the beginning of the debate the chairmann addressed the audience and asked them to vote for and against the motion.
At the lesson the motion of the debate was proposed by 3 speakers (the third one summed up the arguments of the team of proposers) and the motion was also opposed by 3 speakers (the third speaker also summed up the arguments of his team).
There are some arguments that the pupils prepared for the debate.
Arguments for the motion:
- We think that there are a lot of really good educational programs on TV now. TV gives wonderful possibilities for education. There is a considerable variety of programs. We can choose what we want to see. We are absolutely sure that we become better informed by watching documentaries, science programs, and discussions. There are a lot of wonderful programs for children now. They broaden their mind and intellect. Nowadays parents work morning till night and they don’t have time for communicating with their children. They can see such programs together and it’ll unite them.
- There are a lot of activities that can help people to learn much information, to be educated. For example, travelling. You can get acquainted with good traditions and customs of people from different countries, do a lot of sights; see a lot of attractions without leaving your room, sitting in an armchair. TV helps people to be educated and especially those who can’t leave their houses, for example disabled people. TV brings the world to their living room. They can travel to different countries and enrich their mind.
- To sum up, we would like to say, that the opportunities of TV are great that by watching TV we can see the best actors and performances, to hear the latest news, listen to political discussions. There are a lot of worth watching TV programs (channel Culture, BBC, My planet etc.) The choice of programs is really wide: feature films, talk shows, news, interviews and documentary films. Also, we can travel without leaving our room, visit different countries. It’s good for those people who can’t afford to travel, people who are ill and have some problems with their health. So we can say that it’s enough to watch TV if you want to be an educated person.
Arguments against the motion:
- We don’t agree with the motion and we see it differently. If you want to be intelligent and educated it’s not enough only to watch TV. Reading books plays a very important role in our education and can’t be replaced by watching TV. We know that there are different types of books, for example, historical novels, classics, fairy tales, humorous stories and others. These books help people to be clever, educated. They transport us into new worlds and introduce to wonderful people. Books arouse deep emotions and develop our imagination.
- Also, while reading we can underline some words, phrases, the most important information that we should remember.
- We are convinced that using computers and surfing the NET now are very important for our education. Firstly, millions of people around the world can receive and exchange information about almost anything. Secondly, there are a lot of educational sites for example, for those people who want to learn and to know foreign languages.
- We are sure that if you want to be educated it’s not enough to watch TV. You should visit different theatres and museums. When you see a theatrical performance in the theatre you can admire the scenery of the play, the actors, music. After the performance you can applaud the actors, call them or even go backstage. It broadens the mind; you learn a lot of new information and become more educated.
- To sum up, watching TV is not enough to be clever, intelligent. We think that if a person wants to be educated it’s necessary for him to read books, visit theatres, exhibitions, museums. We are pupils and we should attend different societies after our lessons and for example, there are a lot of them in our school where we can acquire a lot of useful skills there. We think we’ll be able to use them in our future life.
The speakers of both teams answered the questions of their opponents and each of them started his speech by giving some counterarguments.
At the end of the debate the chairman addressed the audience and asked to vote for and against the motion again. At our lesson the motion was not carried out, 68% rejected the motion.
Before giving the students their homework the teacher analyzed the results of the lesson and told them to pay much attention to the structure of an argument that usually consists of the thesis, explanation and support (evidence). Some of the arguments were week and without any support.
Homework:
Write a short essay explaining your position. Organize it according to the plan:
- Introduction
- Arguments (2-3)
- Conclusion
Write 100-150 words.
(The following words will help you: I think, first of all, to sum up, firstly, secondly, in conclusion).