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Lesson 6 of 8
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New
- Year 5
Preparing for a debate
I can follow a guide to help prepare for a debate.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- An important part of preparing for a debate is generating points for your side of the argument.
- The points that your team generates should be ordered from strongest to weakest to ensure your best points are included.
- The points generated should be assigned to different members of your team.
- A debate team should liaise with each other while writing their speeches to avoid repetition.
Keywords
Generate - Generate means to produce or create something.
Order - To order is to arrange things a particular way.
Assign - To assign means to allocate or designate.
Liaise - Liaise means to communicate with someone else.
Common misconception
Children may think that all points are equally effective in a debate.
Whilst it is good to generate lots of points when preparing for a debate, they will vary in how effective they are.
This lesson will prepare your children to work in teams to independently prepare for a debate. However, they will likely need adult support while they get used to doing this.
Teacher tip
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.In a debate, what would an opposing team member use to interrupt a speaker while they are making their speech?
In a debate, what would an opposing team member use to interrupt a speaker while they are making their speech?
rebuttal
summary
Q2.What will a point of information often be phrased as?
What will a point of information often be phrased as?
a statement
a command
Q3.Why should a point of information only be 10-15 seconds long?
Why should a point of information only be 10-15 seconds long?
to make sure the audience do not lose interest
to give the speaker just a short time to rest while they're not speaking
Q4.Which of these would an opposing team member not do when making a point of information?
Which of these would an opposing team member not do when making a point of information?
stand up
place one hand on their head
extend one hand out to the speaker
Q5.How many points of information should be accepted during a speaker's speech?
How many points of information should be accepted during a speaker's speech?
as many as possible
none
Q6.Which of these are ways a speaker could decline a point of information?
Which of these are ways a speaker could decline a point of information?
make a cross with their hands
look away from the person making the POI
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is the acronym used to support a team in preparing for a debate?
What is the acronym used to support a team in preparing for a debate?
PEPS
BRB
Q2.What does GOAL stand for?
What does GOAL stand for?
generate, order, arrange, liaise
generate, order, assign, look
generate, organise, assign, liaise
Q3.What is a team generating when preparing for a debate?
What is a team generating when preparing for a debate?
noise
questions
Q4.How many points should a team try to generate?
How many points should a team try to generate?
1 - 2
2 - 3
more than 5
Q5.What should the team do after they have generated all their points?
What should the team do after they have generated all their points?
assign them to the speakers
liaise with each other
Q6.Why is it important that a team liaises with each other whilst writing their speeches?
Why is it important that a team liaises with each other whilst writing their speeches?
to help each other write their speeches
to check each other's speeches have been written neatly
