Lesson POL-5

Welcome! Please consider how your attitude affects your and other students experience of the lesson.

Be respectful, come prepared with relevant material and show interest in order to have the best possible educational experience.

Learning outcomes

During the course of this lesson, you will learn:

  • Listen to and describe how to use rhetorically and grammatically empowered spoken English.

  • Choose and incorporate sources in your mock debate or negotiation.

  • Interact with another student (or alone) and record a rhetorically empowered mock debate or mock negotiation, using correct grammar, fluency and a varied vocabulary.

Lesson outline

Essential exercise: Mastery test and pre-watching exercises

Detailed exercise: The Great Debate, episode 1

Advanced exercise: vocabulary exercise

Homework and exit ticket

Essential exercise: pre-watching

Watch The great debate: Rhetoric 101 and discuss

Time for the exercise: 40 minutes

Before watching the show:

  • The topic is Should we abolish animal testing for medical research? What do you think, is animal testing justified?

  • What arguments do you think the debaters will use?

  • Click the vocabulary list below and read both the English and Swedish versions of the words used during this episode.

Vocabulary - Eng/Swe

  • Conviction - övertygelse ■ Confidence - självförtroende

  • Poise - balans ■ Animal cruelty - djurplågeri

  • Abolish - avskaffa ■ Species - art

  • Toxicity - giftighet (även otrevlig eller dysfunktionell) ■ Resemble - likna

  • Compelling - övertygande ■ Opposing - motsatt

  • Tap into - använda, ha tillgång till ■ Bolster - stödja

  • Validate - bekräfta ■ Necessity - nödvändighet

  • Invasive - inkräktande ■ Beneficial - välgörande

  • Trustworthy - pålitlig ■ Bereaved - berövad

  • Ludicrous - löjlig ■ Convey - framföra

  • Disregarding - bortse från ■ To the extent that - så pass att

  • Pounding heart - bultande hjärta ■ Trembling hands - barrande händer

Detailed exerise: The great debate

Discussion questions

Note some of your thoughts on https://padlet.com/feke_norman/xf91tjjpoq9qr61t, such as:

  1. What were the participants' main arguments? How effective were those arguments, according to you?

  2. How do the speakers cope with their nervousness?

  3. Does it make a difference to you as an audience that one of the speakers stops and does a retake a few times?

  4. Does it affect his credibility as a speaker?

  5. What tips are given to handle nervousness when speaking to an audience?

  6. What strategies do you have for coping with nervousness?

  7. Why is it so important to keep eye contact and to have good posture?

  8. How can you look like a winner yourself by turning the opponent’s arguments against them?

  9. In your opinion, who won the debate? Explain your answer.

Source: UR, retrieved 2021

Advanced exerise

Defining vocabulary using a Frayer model

Time for the exercise: 30 minutes


  1. Select a word from the vocabulary list to describe.

  2. Watch the video to the right

  3. Create a Frayer model and include:

    • A definition

    • Characteristics

    • Examples

    • Non-examples

  4. After 30 minutes, 5 students will be randomly selected to show their Frayer model and explain their word.

Pro-tip!

    • Google your word + define = Oxford definitions

    • Google your word + anontym = Oxford similar or opposite words

Exit ticket

"Today, I learned..."

Homework

Record a short spoken argument on Flipgrid on the topic:

Should we abolish animal testing for medical research?