Debate Competition: a Speaking and Listening Activity

Students take part in a debate in form of a game/competition and practise their speaking and listening skills.

The best way to describe this activity is as simple as its name: it is a debate, but it is also a competition. Therefore it is a game with rules, where you score points.

In this competition, there are positive and negative points. The rules are as follows:

1. How to score positive points:

Every new, understandable and relevant argument scores a point.

2. How to score negative points:

Every time a team member speaks French.

If a team member has not spoken by the end of the debate.

So there are two main rules to win this competition: everyone in a team has to speak and they have to speak English!

I came up with a template to write down the points for each team.

Debate ideas are:
- Being a farmer/mechanic is a great job.
- Tractors have not changed in the last 100 years.
- Tractors should be replaced by robots or other innovations.
- Oil energy is great.
- Apple is better than Samsung.
- Video games are better than sports.
- You have to get a university degree to get a good job.
- Chemical inputs are necessary to grow food.
- New Holland equipment is better than John Deere.
- Organic is better than industrial farming.
- The United States vs France
- Football vs Rugby
- Speed limitation is necessary to reduce the number of deaths on the road
- Marvel vs DC Comics


Debate Competition Template

Cécile Sohier