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Year 4

An informal debate

I can take part in an informal debate.

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New
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Year 4

An informal debate

I can take part in an informal debate.

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Share activities with pupils
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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. A debate often involves speakers disagreeing with each other.
  2. The motion is the name for the belief or proposal that is being debated.
  3. The PEPS structure stands for: point, explanation, proof, summary.
  4. In a debate, a speaker will make a point and then explain it.
  5. Adding proof gives credibility to an argument.

Keywords

  • Point - an idea or reason to support your opinion

  • Explanation - giving reasons to help someone understand an opinion

  • Proof - refers to the evidence used to support an opinion

  • Summary - a brief recap of the main parts of a speech

Common misconception

Pupils may feel unprepared for the debate as the tasks leading up to Task C are verbal discussions.

Plan an additional lesson where pupils prepare their speech using the PEPS structure and give them time to rehearse and write down their ideas. Then, conduct the debate in a separate lesson.


To help you plan your year 4 english lesson on: An informal debate, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

As this is an informal debate, you can choose to structure your debate in a way that works best for your class or group. The Year 5 unit 'Introduction to debate', introduces a more formal structure, which includes the official terminology and roles.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is a debate?
a performance on a stage
a group of people reading speeches
Correct answer: a structured argument between two teams
Q2.
What is an opinion?
explaining why a person thinks something
Correct answer: a view or belief that a person has
something that is true
Q3.
What is reasoning?
a structured argument between two teams
a view or belief that a person has
Correct answer: explaining why a person has a certain opinion
Q4.
An opinion must be justified in a debate with which of these?
Correct answer: reasoning
another opinion
a counter-argument
Q5.
Which of the following is a suitable counter-argument to this opinion? 'Maths is more fun than writing because it involves numbers.'
I love working with numbers.
I agree that writing is less fun than maths.
Correct answer: Writing is more fun than maths because you can be creative.
Q6.
It is important to speak clearly and loudly in a debate so ...
Correct answer: ... the audience can hear every word the speaker says.
... the other team feel scared.
... you can gain extra points by being the loudest speaker.

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is structure?
the process of writing a list
Correct answer: the way that something is organised
a list of instructions
Q2.
Which of these are reasons why is it important to follow a structure when making a speech in a debate?
Correct answer: Using a structure helps an argument flow.
Correct answer: Using a structure makes it easier for an audience to follow.
Using a structure helps an audience to hear the speaker.
Correct answer: Using a structure helps the speaker to manage their time.
Using a structure helps a speaker to make eye contact with the audience.
Q3.
Starting with the first, order these parts of the PEPS structure.
1 - point
2 - explanation
3 - proof
4 - summary
Q4.
What is the purpose of the explanation part of the PEPS structure?
It tells the audience what the speaker thinks or believes.
It summarises the speaker's argument.
Correct answer: It gives reasons to help the audience understand a point.
Q5.
Finish this sentence: Proof can be defined as ...
telling people how to think.
something that can be argued with.
Correct answer: something that is real, factual and cannot be argued with.
Q6.
What is the purpose of the 'summary' part in the PEPS structure?
to make a new point
Correct answer: to briefly recap the main points of the argument
to repeat the entire argument