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A short class with Sarah and her students. The other ways are under More.
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We often discuss themes in class. What do you think changes when we hold a formal debate instead?
There are two teams, one for and one against?
Yes, a proposition and an opposition. What else?
Maybe everyone gets a fixed turn and a time limit.
Exactly. A formal debate has a motion, set speaking turns, time limits, a chair to keep order and adjudicators who decide the result.
So we can't just jump in whenever we want.
Right, though some formats allow short points of information during a speech, if the speaker accepts them.
Our theme is justice and our text is Antigone. Could we debate the statement 'Justice is important'?
Not really. Nobody would disagree.
So a motion must be debatable. Try again, using the play.
This house believes that Antigone was right to break Creon's law.
Good. Can both sides find evidence in the text?
Yes. One side can use her duty to bury her brother; the other can use Creon's argument that the city needs its laws obeyed.
Then it is a strong motion: debatable, rooted in the text and clearly worded.
What does the first proposition speaker do?
Define the key terms and set out our team's case.
And the third speakers on each side?
They answer the other team and sum up the main clashes, usually without new arguments.
Now a rebuttal. Opposition says, 'Antigone was wrong, because a ruler's law keeps the city safe.' How do you answer?
Creon's law punishes the dead and ignores the gods, and by the end his own family is destroyed, so his law did not keep anyone safe.
Excellent: you answered their point directly and backed it with evidence from the play.
A motion, two teams, set speaking turns, time limits, a chair and adjudicators make a debate formal.
A good motion turns a big theme into a debatable, text-based, clearly worded statement.
The first speaker sets out the case, the second extends and rebuts, and the third rebuts and sums up.
Each argument needs a topic sentence, explanation, textual evidence and a link to the motion.
Challenge arguments, not people, and refer to the text accurately.
Justice: on the motion that Antigone was right to break Creon's law, the proposition stresses her duty to bury her brother and honour the gods, while the opposition argues that a city cannot survive if citizens obey only the laws they agree with.
Freedom: on the motion that the boys in Lord of the Flies needed stricter rules, one side points to the assemblies and the conch losing their power, while the other replies that Jack's tribe had the harshest rules of all and was also the most violent.
Identity: on the motion that Okonkwo's downfall comes more from his fear of weakness than from colonial rule, one side uses his determination not to be like his father, while the other shows how the arrival of the missionaries and colonial government breaks apart the society that gave him his identity.
Pick a theme, then frame a motion; argue with proof, not with emotion.
Two teams meet in a courtroom built from a novel. The judge is the adjudicator, the case file is the text, and the verdict goes to the side whose evidence is clearer, not louder.
Define, Build, Answer, Sum up: the jobs across the three speeches, in order (first speaker: define and set out the case; second: build and answer; third: answer and sum up).
TEEL - Topic sentence, Explanation, Evidence, Link.
Term
Motion
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Term
Proposition and opposition
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Term
What makes a good motion?
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Term
Job of the first speaker
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Term
Rebuttal
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The statement that is debated, often beginning "This house believes that".
The team that argues for the motion, also called the affirmative or government.
The team that argues against the motion, also called the negative.
A direct answer to an opponent's argument that shows why it is weak or incomplete.
In some formats, a short question or remark offered during an opponent's speech, which the speaker may accept or decline.
A judge who decides the result of a debate and explains the decision.
Events, characters' choices or short quotations from a text used to support an argument.
In a thematic debate, two teams argue formally for and against a motion built from a theme in literature, such as justice, identity or freedom, using evidence from the texts they have studied.
This lesson explains what the Thematic Debate activity involves. It shows how a literary theme becomes a debatable motion, who takes part (proposition and opposition teams, their speakers, a chair and adjudicators), how a formal debate runs from the first speech to the last, how to prepare arguments and rebuttals from textual evidence, and which rules keep the debate fair and respectful. Model motions are drawn from well-known texts.
The description of this activity is brief: based on themes in literature (for example justice, identity and freedom), students take part in formal debates. "Formal" is the key word. Unlike a class discussion, a formal debate has a fixed motion, two opposing teams, set speaking turns, time limits and judges.
A theme is a big idea a text explores. A debate needs something narrower: a motion, a clear statement that one team supports and the other opposes. Motions often begin "This house believes that..." Here is how a theme and a text become a motion:
A good motion is debatable (sensible people could disagree), rooted in the text (both sides can find evidence) and clearly worded.
Speeches usually alternate, starting with the proposition: first proposition, first opposition, second proposition, and so on. Each speech has a time limit set by the teacher. In some formats, members of the opposing team may offer a point of information, a short question or remark during a speech, which the speaker may accept or decline. Some formats end with shorter reply speeches that sum up why each side believes it has won. The adjudicators then explain their decision.
Challenge arguments, never people. Use a formal register ("The opposition claims that..."). Refer to the text accurately, and keep to time. A debate is a test of reasoning and evidence, not of who speaks loudest.
Debating a theme makes you read a text from both sides, so you notice its complexity. It builds argument construction, rebuttal and oral fluency, and in MYP Language and Literature it is assessed mainly on producing text (Criterion C) and using language (Criterion D).