Month: April 2017

Writing a persuasive essay

Use your notes from the debate to write an essay on the same topic.

All countries should create a new national anthem every 50 years.

You can either agree or disagree with the statement. Use three arguments to support your point of view in the body so that you essay will be 5 paragraphs altogether, including the introduction and conclusion.

Essay outline:

  1. Introduction: introduce the topic and define the terms, include a thesis statement that outlines what the body of your essay will be about.
  2. Body 1: your first argument, include a topic sentence that states what this paragraph is about, then use examples and evidence to support your point of view.
  3. Body 2: your second argument, include a topic sentence that states what this paragraph is about, then use examples and evidence to support your point of view.
  4. Body 3: your third argument, include a topic sentence that states what this paragraph is about, then use examples and evidence to support your point of view.
  5. Conclusion: sum up the main points of your essay and finish with your final thoughts.

For more help on how to write an essay go to Unit 9 Essay Writing to give you detailed instructions on how to write an introduction, body and conclusion.

Debate

A debate is an argument between two teams on one topic where each team supports one side of the argument. In other words one team will agree with the statement and the other team will disagree.

When looking at a topic you need to consider the pros and cons and make a list of both the positive and the negative points.

A class can hold a debate by having 2 teams debating the same topic. One team supports the statement and the other team opposes the statement. Students must listen carefully to the other teams arguments to be able to respond with a rebuttal or explanation that disagrees with their arguments.

Divide the class into groups of 6 students to debate this topic:

All countries should create a new national anthem every 50 years.

For each group have 3 students agree with the statement and come up with 3 main ideas or points to support the statement. The other 3 students must disagree with the statement and figure out 3 main points to oppose the statement. Each student must speak uninterrupted for a set time to explain their point (between 2 – 4 minutes). The rest of the class will be the audience and they will judge which team wins the debate with the stronger argument.

Follow this guide for each speaker:

  • Speaker 1 (PRO): introduce the topic and their team and what each speaker will discuss, argue the first point
  • Speaker 2 (CON): introduce the topic and their team and what each speaker will discuss, rebuttal, argue the first point
  • Speaker 3 (PRO): rebuttal, second point
  • Speaker 4 (CON): rebuttal, second point
  • Speaker 5 (PRO): rebuttal, third point, conclude argument
  • Speaker 6 (CON): rebuttal, third point, conclude argument

Debates are a great activity to practise speaking and listening and forming opinions, but most of all to have fun!!

For more speaking activities go to Unit 8 Biography.

A new national anthem

Listen to this interview by Mandia Sami discussing how Switzerland is holding a competition to find a new national anthem and take notes the first time you listen.

Hundreds enter Swiss competition to find a new national anthem

Listen for a second time and answer these questions.

  1. What are the common images of Switzerland?
  2. Do most Swiss people know the lyrics of their current national anthem?
  3. When was the current national anthem composed?
  4. What do they not like about the national anthem?
  5. What percentage of the Swiss population can sing the national anthem without reading the lyrics?
  6. How many people have sent in a tune for the competition?
  7. What are the 4 official languages of Switzerland?
  8. How many people are there in the jury?
  9. How many songs do the public get to vote for?
  10. What will they do with the winning anthem?
Answers:
1. mountains, chocolates, clocks, tradition 2. no 3. 1841 4. too hymn like and old 5. 4% 6. more than 200 7. German, French, Italian, Romansch 8. 30 9. 3 10. submit it as a suggestion to the government

For more activities on National Anthems go to Unit 2 of the Teachers Course.

Swiss anthem

Do you know the national anthem from Switzerland?

Read about it here, then answer these questions.

  1. What 3 jobs did Leonard Widmer do?
  2. What job did Alberik Zwyssig do?
  3. What did they do together?
  4. Why didn’t the Swiss government declare ‘Swiss Psalm’ a national anthem immediately?
  5. Why did the government allow ‘Swiss Psalm’ to be the anthem in 1961?
  6. When was it officially declared the Swiss national anthem?
  7. What are the 4 languages of Switzerland?
  8. Read through the English version of the lyrics.
Answers:
1. music publisher, journalist and lyricist 2. music director 3. create the Swiss national anthem 4. the government wanted the public to have an opinion 5. because their original anthem sounded the same as the British anthem, they wanted something Swiss 6. 1981 7. German, French, Italian, Romansch

For more activities on National Anthems go to Unit 2 of the Teachers Course.