Lesson video

Hi everybody, welcome to Citizenship.

My name is Mrs. White, and I'd like to teach you today, I hope.

Before we get started, grab a pencil and paper, there will be some writing in this, lots of note taking, get colours as well if you need that, and let's get started.

The introduction today is all about Deliberative Debate.

Now Deliberative Debate is you being able to discuss an issue with materials that your teacher gives you.

So today I've got lots of materials for you and hopefully you can use that.

Let's move on.

So today's lesson, we're going to look at Deliberative Debate.

We're going to recap the age of criminal responsibility.

And if you remember, we did that in a lesson a little while ago.

And if you haven't done that, we're going to introduce it to you.

We're going to critically analyse source material.

So material that's available for you to look up.

I'm going to provide all that you don't have to research it.

You need to prepare an argument through a mindmap, or a flow diagram, or however you want to do this.

And I'm going to get you at the end of this lesson to create your own persuasive speech.

Now let's recap the age of criminal responsibility.

The current age of criminal responsibility is 10 years old.

Since 1963, the age of criminal responsibility has been 10 years old.

And until 1998, there was a degree of protection for children.

For those aged 10 to 14 years, prosecution had to prove the child knew the behaviour was wrong rather than just naughty or mischievous.

A Latin term for this is doli incapax.

In 1998 the law change and this protection was then taken away.

This followed the conviction of two 10 year old boys, who had abducted and killed a toddler called James Bulger.

Today, you are going to consider whether the age of criminal responsibility should be reviewed and make a speech about it.

So the key thing here is the citizenship action which is making a speech.

You're putting your point across, you're advocating a particular view, and you are going to be telling other people about it.

So it's quite an important skill that you're going to be developing here, but you have to critically analyse material as well.

So that's important too.

Now the first thing I'd like you to do is look at speech.

We're going to watch a speech and think about what makes this speech great.

It was filmed in December in 2019, and it's available on Parliament TV if you want to see all of it.

I want you to watch this because I saw it and thought it was a really good example of a young person giving a really moving and powerful speech.

When you watch it, have a look at things that make the speech effective.

So I want you to consider the content of the speech, what he's talking about, the tone of his language, how his voice is, his body language, is he using his hands a lot, How does he look at his audience, and eye contact as well.

So, we're going to watch this speech, and then I'd like you to make notes as we go.

Now, the person that's speaking is Isaac Codjoe, from Ipswich.

And he's speaking to the House of Commons on the issue of knife crime.

This is the 16th, December, 2019.

So it's very recent.

Last year, there were over 40,000 incidents of knife crime nationwide.

This must stop.

This year, just under 300,000 young people voted for us to debate this topic.

We, as the young people of this nation are calling out, and it's about time that the voices of the voiceless are heard.

Our young people shouldn't leave their houses in fear, armed with knives in preparation to respond to violence with violence.

Instead, our young people should leave their homes armed with the knowledge that they can become the doctors, the lawyers, the politicians, the community leaders of our futures.

Armed with the knowledge that the state cares for them and for their safety.

More must be done to assist those in affected areas, for charities such as the Town's Life Organisation.

More must be done to nurture young people for equal opportunity, more must be done to help families cope with poor education, and poverty.

And so too, more must be done to help understand why young people choose this dangerous lifestyle rather than demonising them.

But, it cannot stop here.

This plague of violence, terror, and abuse in our streets, cannot be cured solely by the work of schools and philanthropists.

For no man is an island.

It is down to us, the community, in addition to the government, to support in the eradication of knife crime.

Every man is a piece of the continent.

We must oppose violence and aggression with peace and a sense of belonging to those who are marginalised.

Therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.

I urge you all, MYPs, community leaders, parents, anyone in position of power, and all you gathered here today, to encourage our young people to drop their weapons of destruction and alternatively hand them the tools of construction, education, opportunity, and a future.

Thank you.

So what did you see? The good thing about being able to watch other people is that you can take the good things that they do and model it yourself.

You don't have to go through all the process of learning how to do that thing if you just copy what they're doing.

And it's a really good thing to build new habits and develop your skills.

So what do we see? So confident and persuasive speaking time.

His voice was excellent and it was really controlled, and it was really good.

There's a sound analysis of evidence using statistics.

That makes your speech more persuasive if you've got statistics there.

You can actually refer people back to things that then they can look up, and fact check if you like, and you can see that it's real.

He takes a steady pace through his speech all the way through.

It's got a massive audience in the House of Commons.

It's all the UK Youth Parliament members speaking, and he is moving and making eye contact to everybody else he goes.

It also offers hope.

If you make people want the alternative you're suggesting, and that's what he's doing there, that's what Isaac is doing, then people buy into your speech and they care about it.

They think, "I'd like that, yes, I can work with this." So it's really important.

And what he's doing is offering hope for the future.

Thank you, Isaac.

So, in the worksheet, I've put quite a lot of material for you to look at.

I want you to read and analyse the source material, and make notes on the age of criminal responsibility.

So you can use bullet points if you like, you could do it as a mindmap so you've got different areas.

You can just make notes and highlight.

This is where I like to use colour pens because I can underline things and stuff like that.

But it's entirely up to you the way you like to work.

But you're pulling out the key information.

You're analysing the information, deciding which is important for your speech.

So this is what I've started with using a mindmap, a notes mindmap.

And this is what I've done.

So I'm going to ask you to pause the video right now so you can go make your notes.

Okay.

Let's have a look at my mindmap.

I've got different areas.

I like to think about the different areas that are involved, and what I'd like to put in my speech.

So I've talked about the impact on the child, for example.

About maybe it's quite negative, the actually incriminating a 10 year old, it could change their mindset.

It makes them think "I'm a criminal now, I'll carry on being a criminal." And they carry on with that activity.

There might be relief for the victim.

There might be positives.

They might not understand the impact on the offenders though.

We don't, you know, a 10 year old is still in primary school.

Have a look at the United Nations, I've talked about that in what the United Nations think.

And they say that 10 is too young.

And actually we're an outlier.

Other countries choose 12 plus, and other European countries do.

It's not many that have got an age of criminal responsibility as low as ours.

Think about the impact on the community.

Trouble is reduced.

They're actually highlighting young people who are causing trouble from a young age, and there might be benefits dealing with young offenders quickly.

But then we found out that actually it can be up to two years for a young offender to be dealt with.

So all of these notes are going to help you.

If you need to pause again, go back and add to your notes.

Please do.

So when you're writing your speech, I want you to think about how you can follow a format that can help you build strong and persuasive arguments.

Isaac did this quite well in his speech.

So the first thing, we're going to call these REAL arguments, and it's in mnemonics.

So we've got the Reasons, Examples, Analysis and Link.

REAL.

So let's have a look at Reasons first of all.

That's a short statement or headline that's important claim in your speech or argument.

So this is like a section of your speech, and each new point has got a new REAL argument.

And you're going to put in examples, a statistic, a case study, or an illustration that supports the reasons for your argument, for the point that you're making.

An Analysis.

So you're explaining the relevance of the examples.

So why this fits into my whole argument, and the reason for that.

And then you add context and clarification, you know, explain things a bit more detail.

And the last section is Linking it.

And you connect that back to the Reason, and where it's relevant to the broader topic.

So it links it all together.

As you write a speech, each little mini section, each REAL argument is in there to help build the whole persuasive argument.

So when you're planning this speech, "Should we review the age of criminal responsibility?" What do we do? Well, the first section is an introduction.

So here you are, and the key reason why you're making this speech.

So please introduce yourself, say why it is important.

Then I wouldn't go on for hours.

The speech only needs to be a few minutes.

Make your first REAL point.

Okay? So the first thing that's going to be in there, the Reasons, the Examples, the Analysis, and the Link.

Make your second REAL point.

And then your third REAL point.

And then at the end of your speech, a summary, and a reminder to the audience about the key reasons.

Also remember you're trying to suck them in and make them feel like they want to be part of that.

So let's have a look at what we can do with that too.

So which persuasive techniques could you use in your speech? Well, this is something that.

It's all about getting everybody involved.

It makes people active listeners rather than passive.

So ask the listeners a question.

"Would you do if you were arrested at 10 years old and had had a criminal record for the rest of your life?" For example.

You need to emphasise key points.

"If this happens, thousands will be saved.

Think about that." You need to involve facts or numbers to support your ideas.

Here's an example here.

"In 2016, 87,535 under 18s were arrested.

Only 703 of those were aged 10 to 11." That's data that you can refer back to as well.

It means that you can fact check your speech, make sure that it isn't misinformation.

Use your language skills, use the English skills that you've developed over your time in school.

Think about adjectives.

So for example, here, if you use three adjectives together, it actually makes it more persuasive.

So we've got, "Rehabilitation is sensible, reassuring, and beneficial." Those, those adjectives kind of make people go, "Oh yes, you're right.

I understand." They can kind of empathise with it.

And with the empathy as well, we want words that involve emotions or feelings.

Let's have a look at this example, "Both victims and child criminals find the criminal justice system frightening and confusing," Frightening and confusing.

Now you can imagine what it's like to be frightened and confused yourself.

So it makes you engaged.

It makes the speech more persuasive to the audience.

And then repeat phrases using pronouns.

"We have listened.

We have learned.

We will work to make things better." So it's not about you the speaker, it's about us.

You and your audience, all of us together, and this makes it more persuasive.

So think about some top tips here.

Build your language skills.

That's really important.

You've learned lots of skills in English, let's use those.

Use a dictionary or online search to find the meanings of words if you don't know what to use.

And also, use synonyms to extend your vocabulary.

It actually makes it far more interesting if there's more interesting words.

The English language is full of lots of different synonyms for the same thing.

And it's fantastic.

We can just pull lots of things in, and it makes your speech a bit more exciting.

Don't get too mad though because otherwise it will sound fake and it won't sound like you.

But have a look and see what's out there.

Now after you've written your speech, you need to present that to a member of your household.

That's the key task today.

That's what I'd like you to do.

You might not finish it today, but that's what I'd like you to do.

So let's have a look what we've done today.

We've thought about the key question.

"Should we review the age of criminal responsibility?" That's what your speech should be about.

We've recapped the age of criminal responsibility.

We've critically analysed source material.

So we've looked and pulled out the key bits of information that are going to be important in our speech.

We've prepared our, sorry, prepared your arguments through a mindmap.

So you've looked and thought, "How can I make this fit together? What are my REAL arguments through this? Which are the three points." And then I've created, we've created your persuasive speech.

So you've got this whole package using the information that you've found.

That's deliberative part.

You're pulling out the key bits that are important to you.

So, the end of the lesson here, here's an extension task for you.

I call it Take-away Task.

I'd like you to make your speech to someone who can give you feedback, and edit if necessary.

Always be open to criticism and constructive criticism that can help you get better.

Take your speech into school when you get back, perhaps you can share this with your Citizenship class or your tutor group.

And if your speech is about change, record it, film yourself doing it like I'm filming the lesson now, and email the film to your Member of Parliament.

If you look on TheyWorkForYou or you look on the government website, www.

gov.

uk, you can find your Member of Parliament by putting in your postcode.

And ask your parent or carer for their support in this.

They might actually use their email address instead of yours if that's how you'd prefer it and be a bit safer.

So, have a go with this, extend your citizenship skills, and see where you go.

I have to just move this a bit, sorry about this.

So that's the end of the lesson.

I hope that you feel more confident in making speeches.

Have a look at Isaac's stuff.

And if you look on the government website, Parliament TV, you can look at more UK Youth Parliament speeches as well.

And I hope you enjoy yourself.

I hope you enjoyed the lesson, and I'll see you again soon.

Bye.