A selection of English ESL debate printables

Two adapted articles along with a role-play/debate on the pros and cons of e-readers and how to improve the image of e-readers. Should be good for business English students involved in marketing or PR. Key also included. 

E-readers Vrs Paper Books: Reading and debate 

SOME TOPICS TO USE AT A SPEAKING PRACTICE IN CLASS  
 SOME TOPICS MIGHT BE CONTROVERSIAL, SOME OTHERS ARE RELATED TO EDUCATION, ENVIRONMENT, POLITICS, ETC.  
 NO SOLUTIONS NEEDED, AS IT'S FOR SPEAKING PRACTICE PORPOUSE.

Debate Topics For A Speaking Class B2/C1

Students work in pairs, ask the questions and debate, then they present their conclusions to the class. It may be used after or before the reading comprehension worksheet on the topic. Hope your students enjoy. Happy teaching!

What impact will automation have on work? (Debate)

This ESL worksheet, designed for intermediate learners, engages students in critical thinking and debate by exploring the topic of alien existence. It includes a reading passage titled "Are We Alone? The Debate on Alien Life," which presents both sides of the argument—those who believe in the existence of extraterrestrial beings and those who are skeptical. The worksheet features comprehension questions to ensure understanding of the text, along with a section on useful phrases for debating, such as "I agree, however." and "In my opinion" These phrases are explained with examples to help students use them effectively in discussions. The worksheet also includes a debate practice activity where students can use these phrases in a structured argument, followed by a homework assignment encouraging further research on the topic. This resource not only enhances reading comprehension but also develops students’ debate and communication skills in a fun and engaging way.

Are We Alone? The Debate on Alien Life

Engage Your Advanced English Learners with Thought-Provoking Debates and Discussions!

Unlock the full potential of your advanced English learners with this oroginal debate and discussion guide. This resource is designed to stimulate critical thinking, enhance communication skills, and encourage lively discussions on a variety of contemporary and controversial topics.

Debates and Discussion Topics for Advanced English Learners

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS USING THE  EXCERPTS FROM THE DEBATE.
READ THE QUOTATIONS, ANALYSE THEM ND FIND THE ANSWER OR GIVE YOUR OPINION AS TO THE QUESTION. USE INTERNET MATERIALS FOR SUPPORT.

DEBATE OF PRESIDENT TRUMP AND VICEPRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS.

This worksheet will be useful in guiding and encouraging young learners. Debating is an skill that should be taught and given more emphasis. Public speaking needs more space and time!

DEBATING! TIPS AND RULES FOR YOUNG LEARNERS

An adapted newspaper article from mid-2022 about a chatbot engineer claiming that software had become sentient. The reading has been adapted to resemble a CAE reading and use of English part 1 test. I have also included a short debate section. The answers are on the back.

AI chatbot becomes sentient - Reading with vocab plus debate

First students fill in with the present perfect of the verbs, then they ask their classmates the questions and take notes, after that there's a writing exercise and a debate.

Have you ever... (present perfect) grammar, conversation and debate

A worksheet for looking at different adjectives used to describe ideas and projects. There are also six marketing ideas for the food industry which need to be debated. There are opinion cards for the debate and a short dice game on the last page to give the students an idea of some fixed expressions used for arguing and debating. There is also a short gap-fill exercise with answers, just in case.

Adjectives for Food Marketing Ideas: Debating Role Play

An article adapted from Gallop with a standard word transformation practice exercise included. This is followed by a controlled debate. Answer key is included.The text is slightly above B2 level but it´ll keep them on their toes and the debate/role-play should be fun. 

FCE reading and Debate - Who do you Trust? _ Mass Media

A question sheet to be used with episode 1 of series 3 of Black Mirror. There are also two adapted readings in the style of CAE Reading and Use of English part 1 and part 3. If you work in China, delete or change the part about China as it is not very complementary about the country´s government (an article from The Sun). There is also a debate about introducing a social credit system into a British town, complete with debating cards. The episode lasts 1 hour and with pausing for questions, it should take you about 1 and a half hours to do. The readings and debate would take a further hour. Basically, you have enough here for two classes.

Black Mirror - Video listening and CAE practice/debate - complete class

Culture, intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication

Adjectives to describe feelings, emotions

Adjectives to describe personality and character

Adjectives: Gradable / Non-gradable adjectives

Articles: Definite or indefinite article (a, an or the)

BE + infinitive structures (e.g. he was to become famous)

Clauses of contrast (e.g.  although, while)

Clauses of purpose (e.g. in order to, so that, so as to)

Clauses of reason (e.g. because, because of, due to, as, since)

Cleft sentences (e.g. It's Joey we're looking for)

Comparison: Comparative adjectives and structures

Comparison: Superlative adjectives and structures

Conditional 2 (second conditional) - would

Conditionals: Conditional phrases (e.g. unless, provided that, as long as)

Conjunctions (aka connectives, e.g. and, but, or, so, then)

Contractions (shortened forms, e.g. don't, aren't, etc.)

Determiners (words that can come before nouns)

Formal and informal English (politeness or colloquial language)

Future perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Future perfect simple and continuous (progressive) tense

Future phrases (e.g. be about to, bound to, likely to, due to, set to + INF)

Homonyms (two words with the same pronunciation - homophones and homographs)

It as preparatory subject (e.g. it's raining, it's nice of you to)

Linking verbs (aka copulas, e.g. I am a student)

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how to accuse somebody of something in English

how to apologize, say sorry, forgive and express regret in English

how to ask for information and make inquiries in English

how to ask for something, make requests in English

how to blame somebody for something in English

how to defend yourself from criticism in English

how to deny or admit something in English

how to describe things or people in English

how to emphasize important things in English

how to encourage or discourage people in English

how to evaluate people or progress in English

how to express agreement /disagreement in English

how to express approval and disapproval  in English

how to express cause and effect in English

how to express interest in something in English

how to express likelihood, probability in English

how to express likes and dislikes in English

how to express sequence and chronology in English

how to express shock and disbelief in English

how to express sympathy and condolences in English

how to give permission, authorization in English

how to inform somebody about some news in English

how to interpret what was said in English

how to keep a conversation going in English

how to make guesses about something in English

how to make, accept and refuse offers in English

how to order or make a booking in English

how to persuade, convince people in English

how to praise people and express appreciation in English

how to reassure somebody of something in English

how to refuse and object to something in English

how to remind people of something in English

how to rephrase, paraphrase what was said in English

how to say thank you, express gratitude in English

Nouns: Collective nouns (team, class, family, committee)

Nouns: Proper nouns (names of people, cities, companies)

Oxymorons (phrases with words of contradictory meaning, e.g. living dead)

Participles: Past participle (e.g. HAVING DONE)

Participles: Present participle (e.g. DOING)

Parts of Speech (aka word classes, e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs)

Past perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Phonetics (pronunciation, IPA, phonetic symbols)

Plural nouns: regular plurals with S ending

Prefixes (e.g. A, UN, IM, DIS, MIS, EN, etc. )

Prepositions vs adverbs (e.g. before me, saw him before.)

Prepositions: Double prepositions (e.g. out of)

Prepositions: Participle prepositions (e.g. pending, concerning)

Prepositions: Phrase prepositions (e.g. by means of)

Present perfect continuous (progressive) tense

Present perfect simple or present continuous tense

Present simple tense: S for third person singular verbs

Present simple vs continuous (progressive) tense

Pronouns: EACH OTHER, ONE ANOTHER (reciprocal pronouns)

Pronouns: Possessive pronouns (e.g. my, mine)

Pronouns: Reflexive pronouns (e.g. myself, yourself))

Pronouns: SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, EVERYBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING, etc.

Pronouns: THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE (demonstratives)

Pronouns: YOU and THEY to talk about people in general

Quantifiers (e.g. some, many, much, any, few, little)

Questions: WH questions (open-ended questions)

Reported speech: reported questions (indirect questions)

There is / there are / there was / there were / there will be, etc.

Verbs: Transitive or intransitive verbs (words that can or cannot stand with objects)

Working with Paragraphs: ordering, titling

Role play, miming, drama activity or improv game

Pictionary (picture dictionary) or picture matching

Writing an opinion essay (persuasive essay)

Learners who are Pre-A1 have just begun learning English and will first learn how to:<ul><li>Say the letters in the alphabet and numbers</li><li>Say hello, talk about names and age</li><li>Name the colors and dates, express likes and dislikes</li></ul>

Absolute beginners who have begun to learn the letters and numbers

Learners taking the A1 Elementary exam should be able to:<ul><li>Introduce themselves and ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, things he/she has, people he/she knows.</li><li>Communicate using very basic phrases as long as the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: common adjectives & adverbs of frequency, going to, how much/how many, imperatives, I'd like, 's – possessive, common prepositions of place and time, present simple & continuous, there is/are</li></ul>

A very basic tourist level, which is enough for buying food and a bus ticket

Learners taking the A2 Pre-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand sentences and frequently used expressions (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).</li><li>Complete tasks that are routine and exchange information about familiar matters.</li><li>Describe matters of immediate need in simple terms.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: countable/uncountable nouns, adverbs of frequency, future will/going to, much/many, present perfect, past simple, past continuous, common phrasal verbs, common modals: can/should</li></ul>

A tourist who can do basic conversations about the past, present and future

Learners taking the B1 Intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand points regarding family, work, school or leisure-related topics.</li><li>Deal with most travel situations in areas where the language is spoken.</li><li>Create simple texts on topics of personal interest.</li><li>Describe experiences, events, dreams, and ambitions, as well as opinions or plans in brief.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: question tags, intensifiers: too/enough, future tenses, past tenses, modals, conditionals, wh-questions in the past</li></ul>

Learners who can deal with both familiar and routine situations, in friendly and work contexts

Learners taking the B2 Upper-intermediate exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization.</li><li>Interact with fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without difficulty for either party.</li><li>Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain an opinion on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.</li><li>Main grammar points to know: perfect tenses, mixed conditionals, modals in the present, phrasal verbs, reported speech, wish, relative clauses</li></ul>

The level where you can be a tour guide for your foreign friends and talk about a lot of topics, even abstract ones, with ease and fluency

Learners taking the C1 Advanced exam should be able to: Express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. Use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts. Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, using linking phrases (=words that connect ideas between sentences). Main grammar points to know: inversion, mixed conditionals, modals in the past, all passive forms, phrasal verbs (all patterns), wish/if only for regrets

Learners who can smoothly communicate in every walk of life, read long texts and write well

Learners taking the C2 Proficient exam should be able to:<ul><li>Understand almost everything read or heard with ease.</li><li>Summarize information from a variety of sources into a coherent presentation.</li><li>Express themselves using precise meaning in complex scenarios.</li><li>Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations</li></ul>

Get here and you are ready to study in English at university

660 Debate English ESL worksheets pdf & doc