Lesson video

Hello everyone.

It's Mr. Brown back here with your next English lesson in this unit on debating, and we are going to be continuing our work on debating by learning how to make points and explanations in today's lesson.

These are really important parts of debating that you must know.

So let's get started.

Our outcome for today's lesson is I can follow a structure to make a point and explanation in a debate.

I can follow a structure to make a point and explanation in a debate.

Our key words that are going to help us with our learning today are structure, point, explanation.

Let's try those one more time, and this time, after I say them, you repeat them back.

Structure, point, explanation.

Very good.

Let's look at some definitions for these words because they might be new to some of you.

A structure is the way something is organised.

A structure is the way something is organised.

A point is an idea or reason to support your opinion.

An explanation means giving reasons to help someone understand an opinion.

These all seem like really important things in debating, and you are going to see these words come up throughout our lesson.

And here is our lesson outline for today.

We're going to first look at making a point, a crucial part of debating.

Then, we'll be moving on to explaining a point, how we make a point, and then explain that to the audience.

But let's start with making a point.

Structure, there's one of our key words already.

Structure is the way that something is organised.

I'm sure you do lots of organising at home or in your classrooms at school.

You might organise your clothes in your wardrobe or your toys.

Structure is the way that something is organised.

That might be in colours, that might be in sizes.

Now, lots of things use structures to help them work better.

For example, a building has a structure to keep it standing.

A story often follows a structure.

We use structures in our writing.

We think about beginning, middle, and end with our stories when we're younger.

And then move on to the opening and the buildup, the climax, the resolution.

These are structures that we follow.

A day at school even follows a structure.

We have a set structure at school where we know what time we need to be there, when our breaks will be, lunches.

These are structures.

In debating, a structure should be used to help a speaker organise their argument.

Structures are essential in debating.

Now, there are several benefits of doing this, helping an argument flow and be easier for an audience to follow.

That's a really important benefit of using a structure.

Ensuring that key parts aren't missed.

How annoying would it be if you planned out to make your speech, then you perhaps didn't use your structure and you missed one of the key parts that you wanted to say? Helping to manage time, of course.

Debates are a timed thing to do.

We will talk about that later in this unit, but they are timed, so managing time is important.

And reducing nervousness.

Standing up in front of an audience and speaking, well, that's a nerve-racking thing to do.

Some people might find that easier than others, but reducing nervousness will be an amazing benefit to have.

And you can get this by following a structure.

And the last thing I wanted to say was appearing prepared and professional.

It is so important when you are debating that you are appearing prepared and professional.

You know what you are talking about, and you are delivering that for the audience to hear and to see, and following a structure will help you to do that.

Let's have a quick check for understanding.

Which two of these are benefits of following a structure when making a speech in a debate? So we're looking for two of these.

Is it A, ensuring victory in the debate? Is it B, ensuring that key parts aren't missed? How about C? Eliminating the need for preparation.

So no need to prepare if you have a structure.

Or D, appearing prepared and professional.

Pause the video now and have a go at this check for understanding.

And welcome back.

Okay, let's see if you were right.

We were looking for two answers here.

The first correct answer was B, ensuring that key parts aren't missed.

And the second correct answer was D.

Appearing prepared and professional, both key benefits of following a structure when making a speech in a debate.

There are four parts to the structure to follow when making a speech in a debate.

Four important parts, and they are, one, you will make your point.

Two, explanation.

You'll explain that point.

Three, you will give proof or evidence to back up your explanation and your point.

And four, and finally, you'll finish your speech by summarising, by making a summary of everything that you've said so far.

The acronym PEPS can help us to remember this structure and its order.

So you can see we've taken the first letter of point, explanation, proof, summary, and when they make a word themselves, that's called an acronym, and the word is PEPS.

PEPS will help us to remember the order of the structure that we will follow when making a speech in a debate.

And the focus for today's lesson is just on number one and two, point and explanation.

The next lesson, we'll move on to proof and summary, but today it's point and explanation.

True or false.

The four parts to the structure are point, explanation, proof, summary.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now and decide.

Okay, welcome back, and let's see if you are right.

Of course, the answer is true.

Point, explanation, proof, summary.

Let's say it together.

Point, explanation, proof, summary.

PEPS is how we're gonna remember this exactly.

Point, explanation, proof, summary.

It's true.

They are the four parts to the structure that we will follow when debating, but let's justify our answers.

This structure will help an argument to flow or this structure will make a speech difficult to deliver.

Pause the lesson and decide how you will justify your answer.

Okay, welcome back, and well done to everybody who said A, this structure will help an argument to flow.

Another benefit to following the PEPS structure when debating.

The first part of this structure involves making the main point of an argument.

One of our key words again, point.

Here is an example.

I believe the best school trip ever would be to the zoo because you can learn so much about a wide variety of animals.

This would be the speaker's point.

The speaker gives one reason to justify their opinion using the word because.

The word because tells the audience that we are now giving one clear reason why we think or believe something, a reason for our opinion.

The speaker does not begin explaining the full reasoning behind their opinion yet.

And the point should be just one sentence long.

A mistake that lots of people make when debating is blending their point and their explanation together.

The point needs to be short, sharp, clear.

I believe the best school trip ever would be to the zoo.

That's not your point yet, that's just your opinion.

Because, here comes your point, you can learn so much about a wide variety of animals.

Let's quickly check our understanding.

Which word is used to justify your point? Is it A, and, B, but, C, so, or D, because? Pause the lesson and decide.

And welcome back.

Everybody, I hope, fingers crossed, got the right answer.

It is D, because.

Because is that magic word we will use when we are making our point.

Let's move on to practise and task A.

Finish these points off by giving one reason to justify each opinion.

Finish these points off by giving one reason to justify each opinion.

I believe that schools should increase play playtime because, and then, your job is to finish that point by adding one reason to justify your opinion.

So you will go and give a reason why you believe that schools should increase playtime, or you can decide to have a go at the second example, which is cats are better pets than dogs because.

And if you have time, you could even have a go at both of these.

So pause the video and finish off these points.

Over to you.

Welcome back.

Let's see how you got on by looking at some examples.

I believe that schools should increase playtime because it will give children more time to be active.

An excellent point.

I really believe that if you can include health or safety into your point, it's very, very difficult for the opposition to argue against.

How can you argue against children being more active, which would lead to them being fitter and healthier? Really good point.

Let's look at the second example.

Cats are better pets than dogs because they do not need to be taken for walks every day.

Really interesting example.

Great point, because there might be a lot of time pressure on people's lives, people that are working or that have children they need to take to school.

Taking a dog for a walk every day could prove quite difficult for some families.

So I think this is a really clever point.

Well done.

And congratulations if you were able to come up with a point as well.

Let's move on to our second learning cycle, which is all about explaining a point.

After making a point, the speaker must now explain that point by adding reasoning to convince the audience.

This is not a new point, and the reasoning given should support the point already made.

So in your explanation, you are not making new points, you are supporting the points you've already made.

Let's check your understanding.

Following the PEPS structure, what comes after point? Is it explanation, proof, or summary? Pause the lesson and decide A, B, or C.

Over to you.

And welcome back.

So we know we are following the PEPS structure.

It stands for point, explanation, then proof, then summary.

Well done to everyone who said A.

When explaining the reasoning for an opinion, a speaker may use persuasive techniques to convince the audience to agree with them.

Some of these techniques might include flattery, which is where you are complimenting someone.

Rhetorical questions, these would be questions that do not require an answer.

Repetition, which is where you might repeat a word, or a key phrase, or a sentence starter over and over for emphasis.

Provoking an emotional reaction, so trying to make the audience feel a certain way.

This might be feeling happy, sad, guilty, angry, depending on what speech you're making.

I believe the best school trip ever would be to the zoo because you can learn so much about a wide variety of animals.

This would be a point, an example of a point.

It's got that word because in it so we know that it's likely to be a point.

I've got my opinion, I believe the best school trip ever will be to the zoo.

And then I have used one reason as my point, because you can learn about a wide variety of animals.

And here is an example of an explanation.

I am sure that you are all curious people who enjoy learning, but have you ever wanted to learn more about an animal by observing it yourself? A zoo is the perfect place for this.

A zoo is the perfect place to ask questions to knowledgeable staff.

A zoo is also the perfect place to learn about endangered species, such as gorillas, who are sadly at serious risk of extinction.

So that was my example, but can you find the sentence that contains examples of flattery and a rhetorical question in this explanation? So you are looking for flattery and a rhetorical question.

It's one sentence that contains both.

Pause the video and see if you can find it.

Over to you.

And welcome back.

Were you able to find a sentence that had flattery and a rhetorical question in it? Well, well done if you said it was this sentence, the first sentence.

Let's have a look.

Where's the flattery? I am sure that you're all curious people who enjoy learning.

Of course, you are complimenting the audience by saying they are curious people, being curious is a really good thing, who enjoy learning.

Again, another positive.

And then there rhetorical question, but have you ever wanted to learn more about an animal by observing it yourself? And there's the question mark.

That's a really big clue to help us know where a rhetorical question might be.

Well done if you spotted that first sentence.

The explanation also contains examples of repetition being used to emphasise how positive the zoo is.

You can see the phrase, a zoo is the perfect place.

A zoo is the perfect place for this.

It's the perfect place to ask questions to knowledgeable staff.

A zoo is also the perfect place to learn about endangered species.

The perfect place is used again, and again, and again.

A really good example of repetition.

The explanation is trying to provoke an emotional reaction from the audience when it talks about the animals being endangered.

We said how important this might be, this strategy, this persuasive technique, and you can see it used here.

A zoo is the perfect place to learn about endangered species, such as gorillas, who are sadly at serious risk of extinction.

How does that make you feel when you hear that an animal is at serious risk of extinction, which means that they would not exist anymore? There would not be any more gorillas.

Now that makes me feel very sad, and I have even used the word sadly in there to just prompt the audience to feel sad.

It's a really good example of how you can provoke an emotional reaction from the audience.

Let's check our understanding.

Provoking an emotional reaction from an audience can help to convince them.

True or false? Pause the lesson and have a go.

Welcome back.

Of course it is true.

Provoking an emotional reaction can help an audience to be convinced to agree with you.

Let's justify our answer.

Would you choose A? The emotions of an audience cannot be affected during a debate.

Or B, the audience will connect to the speaker more if they experience an emotional reaction during a speech.

Pause the lesson, have a think, and decide for yourself, A or B.

Welcome back.

So the correct answer is, of course, B.

The audience will connect to the speaker more if they experience an emotional reaction during a speech.

Let's move on to your practise task.

I would like you to add an explanation to this point, to the point I'm going to show you in one moment.

Include at least one persuasive technique to convince the audience.

So we talked about the persuasive techniques throughout this lesson.

Flattery, provoking an emotional response, rhetorical questions, repetition.

I would like you to use at least one of those to convince the audience.

Here's the point.

I believe that schools should increase playtime because it would give children more time to be active.

I believe that schools should increase playtime because it would give children more time to be active.

That's the point.

Your job is to write an explanation.

You are not adding a new point, you are just explaining this one.

Explaining why it's important for children to be active, why that might be difficult to do in their lives.

Pause the lesson and write an explanation for this point.

Over to you.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's have a look at an example.

I'm gonna read the point one more time.

I believe that schools should increase playtime because it would give children more time to be active.

And here's my explanation.

Do you ever wish you could spend more time improving your fitness? Increasing playtime would be an excellent way to do this.

Sadly, lots of children do not have parks nearby that they can use to run around after school.

So schools must increase playtime to give them the chance during the day.

Okay, so there was an example of a rhetorical question in this speech.

Did you spot it? I also tried to evoke an emotional reaction.

So here is the rhetorical question.

Do you ever wish you could spend more time improving your fitness? I think rhetorical questions work really well at the start of your explanation as well.

And then provoking an emotional reaction.

Well, there's that word again, sadly.

Sadly, lots of children do not have parks nearby that they can use to run around after school.

A really good way to provoke an emotional reaction to get the audience to feel sorry for those children who perhaps are not lucky enough to have a park near their house.

So therefore, all moving towards my idea that school should increase playtime.

Everything I'm saying is pushing the audience to believe the same as me.

And that's how we write an explanation.

Well done.

Brilliant, brilliant work today.

Let's summarise our learning.

The structure to follow in debating is PEPS.

And remember, PEPS stands for point, explanation, proof, summary.

A point is where the speaker gives one reason to justify their opinion.

And a point should be followed by an explanation that adds reasoning to convince the audience.

Very impressive work today.

I look forward to seeing you for our next lesson.

Well done.