Lesson Plan Session 2: Education (C1.1 & B2.2)

For the second session of classes both my C1.1 and B2.2 groups focused on the theme of education. While I began with a short introduction illustrating how education is structured in the United States along with grading systems and an overview of the academic year, I finished with an in-class debate.

Splitting the room into two sides -- agree and disagree--, I had my students stand and walk to the side of the room they agreed with. While a neutral choice was not an option, I made sure before beginning the activity by stating how everyone's opinion was valid and even though they may be a minority in the classroom, their beliefs are in no way wrong.

Here were a few sample debate questions I posed to my students:

• Should school uniforms be banned?

• Should religion be taught in schools?

• Should teachers carry weapons to protect their students?

• Should schools be allowed to censor certain materials/topics?

• Should study abroad programs be mandatory for students attaining a higher education?

• Etc.

After two weeks of doing this activity in both of my levels, all my students loved the activity! Even though I had prepared 14 different debate questions, none of my classes advanced past the first 6. Although it usually took the first debate question for my students to warm-up and become comfortable, by the end everyone shared their own opinions and even engaged each other without my coaxing. In the future, my students have even asked that I provide more debates! My students were all in smiles at the end of the lesson and many even stayed after class to debate the topics further with me. I will make sure to provide more lessons using this format in the near future.