Formal debate: building on what has been said
A debate is not a shouting match; it is a shared argument with rules. The best speakers listen hardest.
Part of your national curriculum
- Spoken English: Speak confidently and effectively, using Standard English confidently in a range of formal and informal contexts
- Spoken English: Participate in formal debates and structured discussions, summarising and/or building on what has been said
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Participate in formal debates and structured discussions, summarising and/or building on what has been said
Key learning points
- • The motion and the burden
- • Structured turns
- • Rebuttal that builds
- • Listening notes
This lesson at a glance
- 30 minutes
- 15 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 15
Watch first
Formal debate: building on what has been said
An English teaching video on this topic from CENTURY Tech. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Participate in formal debates and structured discussions, summarising and/or building on what has been said
Learning cycle
Part 2 of 15
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 · The motion and the burden
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 3 of 15
Learn
The motion and the burden
Debates run on a motion: ‘This house would make homework optional in Key Stage 3.’ The proposition must show the change is needed and workable; the opposition must show the present system is better or the change harmful. Knowing your burden keeps you on the point.
Explore the idea
Part 4 of 15
Learn
Structured turns
A typical structure gives each side an opening speech, rebuttal speeches and a summary. Summary speakers must not add new arguments; they weigh what has already been said. Timing is part of the discipline.
Quick check
Part 5 of 15
Quick check
What must a summary speaker do?
Quick check
Part 6 of 15
Quick check
Which is a properly structured rebuttal?
Reset break
Part 7 of 15
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Learning cycle
Part 8 of 15
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 · Rebuttal that builds
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 9 of 15
Learn
Rebuttal that builds
Use the three-step move: restate their point fairly, identify the weakness (evidence, logic or scale), then extend your own case. ‘They argue optional homework increases freedom; the survey they cite covers one school, and freedom without practice narrows later choices.’
Explore the idea
Part 10 of 15
Learn
Listening notes
Split your page: their claims on the left, your responses on the right. Debate marks are awarded for responding to what was actually said, so the notes matter more than the prepared script.
Quick check
Part 11 of 15
Quick check
What is the proposition's burden on the motion above?
Quick check
Part 12 of 15
Quick check
Why keep two-column listening notes?
Challenge round
Part 13 of 15
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 14 of 15
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Formal debate: building on what has been said
4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. What must a summary speaker do?
2. Which is a properly structured rebuttal?
3. What is the proposition's burden on the motion above?
4. Why keep two-column listening notes?
Lesson round-up
Part 15 of 15
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
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Points this lesson
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Best run
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Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
The last bus
The bus shelter smelled of wet coats. Mira pressed her timetable flat against the glass, as though staring at the numbers might make the 9:42 appear. Rain tapped the roof in small, impatient fingers. Somewhere behind her, a shop shutter came down with a sound like a full stop.
She had been brave all day. She had been brave in the corridor, brave at lunch, brave when the register reached her name and nobody looked up. Being brave, she decided, was mostly a matter of keeping your face still.
Headlights swung around the corner and lit the puddles gold. Mira picked up her bag. Tomorrow she would say something. Tonight she would simply go home.
Original extract written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Find two words or phrases that show how Mira is feeling, and explain what each one suggests.
- How does the writer use the weather and the sounds to build the mood? Use a short quotation.
- Write the next paragraph in the same style, keeping the writer's short sentences at the moments that matter.
Reading response
ReadingRead the extract again, then write about how the writer makes you feel that way. Use a short quotation and explain your choice of words.
2 paragraphs (PEE)
Extended writing
WritingWrite your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.
250–350 words
Reading log
ReadingNote the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.
20 minutes' reading
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 15 · Watch & discover
How this is going
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Speak confidently and effectively, using Standard English confidently in a range of formal and informal contexts
- Not looked at yet
Participate in formal debates and structured discussions, summarising and/or building on what has been said