Monday, 19th October

Today, Francisco showed us a wonderful warm-up activity, that can also be used to launch a debate among the students. The teacher presents a controversial statement to the pupils, and asks them to decide if they agree with it or not. The class is split into two different groups: those who agree and those who disagree. A discussion is held, trying to convince the people who don't share your own position. As part of this debate, the students can fill in a table with the pros and cons of each possibility, or write different arguments that could be used to convince your opponents. The activity can also force the students to find reasons to defend not their position, but their opponents' position, and it could also include the corresponding rebuttals that could be presented against all these arguments. This activity tends to make the students feel uncomfortable, so after the debate, some time is devoted to revise all possible positions and to make a final point. Frequently there is no right or wrong position, so it is important to make it clear that all possible points of view could be acceptable. In fact, the activity can be made even more interesting, working with 'the 3 positions': my own position, my interlocutor's position and a third, neutral position, which would be the one an external observer would have. This can give the students the opportunity to compare their own frame of mind with other perspectives, and it can be an excellent way to show them that extreme positions tend to ignore the positive contributions that different approaches can give us in order to enrich our own point of view. I was fascinated by the way this activity could be used in my own classroom, as it would help me a lot when trying to deal with controversial issues, such as ethical dilemmas or problematic decisions. In fact, I was looking for useful and effective strategies that could help me to improve my performance in these kind of activities, which tend to be difficult to manage and control. I must confess that this training course is not only being interesting, but it is also being very useful and practical indeed!