Teaching Debate

Saturday, September 22nd, 2001, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Speaker: Dominic Marini, Fukuoka International University

This presentation is on teaching debating to Japanese college students. Participants will be asked to reflect and share opinions on various aspects of teaching with special attention given to students' needs. The presenter will offer theoretical and practical approaches that have been successful in his own classes. The audience will be invited to reflect on their assumptions about debating, and how to teach debate in an EFL context. Some of the questions addressed include:

• What is debate?
• What are your students' needs?
• How can you teach argumentation?
• How are writing, reading and listening related to debating?
• What is the "best" debate format?

The presenter who has been teaching debating in Japan for eight years will share his failures and successes as well as results of recent in-class action research. The presentation itself will be a mixture of EFL theory, recounting classroom practice and practical suggestions for successful teaching and curriculum design. It is hoped that participants will come away with some questions that will help them teach debating regardless of their students' level.

Organization: Fukuoka Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (Fukuoka JALT)

Cost: JALT Members: free
Non-members: 1000 yen

Venue: Aso Foreign Language & Travel College, Building 5, 1-14-17 Hakataekiminami, Hakata-ku Fukuoka-shi (10 minutes from Hakata Station; map on web site

Location: Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan

Contact Fukuoka JALT

Trevor Holster