Time to Debate!

PART I: Wait for Mrs. Hegsted to play a clip of kids "debating." If you are absent, watch the clip below. Links to an external site.

Submit an answer about the following questions:

• Are the kids debating? Why/why not?
• Are the kids using logos (facts), pathos (emotion), or ethos (credibility) in their argument/debate?
• What makes someone good at debating?

PART 2: Let's put our persuasive powers to use. We are going to get into pairs and take turns debating.

1. Choose a topic from the following list: 

• Video games or board games?
• Nintendo or Sony?
• Baseball or basketball?
• Soccer or football?
• Skiing or snowboarding?
• Tennis or badminton?
• Golf or bowling?
• Running or walking?
• Drawing or painting?
• Singing or dancing?
• Reading or writing?
• TV shows or movies?
• Novels or comic books?
• Biking or hiking?
• Fishing or gardening?
• Blogging or writing in a diary?
• Sewing or knitting?
• Yoga or parkour?
• Twitter or Instagram?
• Chess or checkers?
• Plane or boat?
• Bus or subway?
• Canada or Mexico?
• Europe or Asia?
• Disney World or Universal Studios?
• Aquarium or zoo?
• Movie theater or arcade?
• Play or musical?
• Hotel or hostel?
• Art museum or history museum?
• New York City or Los Angeles?
• Day trip or overnight trip?
• Spontaneous trip or planned trip?
• Travel alone or travel with others?

2. One partner will side that yoga is better than parkour. The other partner will side that parkour is better. Before debating, prepare by writing down 3 points of evidence that support your stance. For the first round, use ethos (ethics and reasoning) and logos (logic) with your three points. Each round will be 1 minute long. 

3. Then debate for a 2nd round, including pathos (emotion). Write down three new points to support your stance that have to do with persuading your partner through emotions. 

4. Try not to include any fallacies while debating. However, when you both are finished debating, write down 3 fallacies on your topics from what you came up with using this website. 

5. Submit your work. 

Topic List is from prepscholar.com