As part of our focus on British values, we have discussed the important role of democracy in our society, which has linked in with our English topic on persuasive language and debating. Beofre holding our own class debate, we discussed how to argue a point effectively, using facts, acknowledging opposing arguments, and maybe just a little bit of hyperbole…!
As a class, we chose a motion, which was: “this house believes children should be allowed more screen time”. We then spent lots of time discussing and researching both sides of the argument, recording facts and evidence from studies. We thought about what kind of language we could use when conveying our arguments, and how to link our arguments together coherently.
Children were divided into a “for” and “against” team, and went about organising who would argue each point, and who would be in charge of rebutting the opposite team’s arguments. We even had our own Mr Speaker, who did an excellent job of keeping The House in order!
We then voted, and, perhaps surprisingly, the majority voted against the motion.
This topic sparked some really interesting discussions that the children were invested in and passionate about. While the notion of speaking in public was a nerve wracking one for some, it was an exciting way to spend an English lesson, and there was a huge sense of achievement at the end! Well done, Willow Class!