Introduction to debate
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Why this why now
This unit uses and builds on pupils' knowledge of debating introduced in the Year 4 unit 'Getting ready to debate'. Here, pupils review and develop their understanding of conventions around debating, including justifying, making points, giving proof, summarising, responding, judging and scoring a debate. Pupils also learn how best to prepare for a debate and how to write notes to support the delivery of a speech within a debate. This unit prepares pupils for further speaking, listening and oracy work in the Year 5 unit, 'Successful speeches'.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Persuasion is about using words and ideas to try to change someone's mind or behaviour.
- Facts and opinions can both be used in order to persuade others.
- An opinion is a view or belief that a person has.
- Facts are a statement of truth.
- When speaking in front of others, using a strong and clear voice is important.
Threads
Why this why now
This unit uses and builds on pupils' knowledge of debating introduced in the Year 4 unit 'Getting ready to debate'. Here, pupils review and develop their understanding of conventions around debating, including justifying, making points, giving proof, summarising, responding, judging and scoring a debate. Pupils also learn how best to prepare for a debate and how to write notes to support the delivery of a speech within a debate. This unit prepares pupils for further speaking, listening and oracy work in the Year 5 unit, 'Successful speeches'.
Prior knowledge requirements
- Persuasion is about using words and ideas to try to change someone's mind or behaviour.
- Facts and opinions can both be used in order to persuade others.
- An opinion is a view or belief that a person has.
- Facts are a statement of truth.
- When speaking in front of others, using a strong and clear voice is important.
Reading, writing & oracy
Introduction to debate
In this unit, pupils develop their understanding of debating conventions, including justifying, making points, giving proof, summarising, responding, judging and scoring a debate. Pupils learn how best to prepare for a debate and how to write notes to deliver a speech during a debate.
8 lessons in unit
slide decks, worksheet PDFs, quizzes and lesson overviews. You can select individual lessons from the Introduction to debate unit and download the resources you need, or download the entire unit now. See every unit listed in our primary english curriculum and discover more of our teaching resources for primary english programmes.