Topic: Pros and cons – how to solve conflicts?

Author: Anna Rabiega

Addressee:

8th grade primary school student

Core curriculum:

I. The social nature of man.

The student:

6) justifies that the conflict in a group may result from various reasons (conflicting interests, different goals); presents ways to solve conflicts and analyzes their advantages and disadvantages.

The general aim of education:

The student uses information to create his own statement.

Learning outcomes:

The student:

• understands that carrying out a discussion may help him make up his mind about important social and political issues.

• presents the history of Oxford debates.

• explains the rules of an Oxford debate.

• expresses his mind objectively, and justifies his point of view building arguments in accordance with the rules of an Oxford debate.

Key competences:

• communicating in a foreign language,

• digital competence,

• learning to learn,

• social and civic competences,

• sense of initiative and entrepreneurship,

• cultural awareness and expression.

Teaching methods:

• discussion,

• Oxford debate,

• teaching conversation using movie, interactive exercises,

• trash and suitcase method.

Forms of work:

• self‑learning,

• group work,

• whole‑class activity.

Material & equipment needed:

• computers with loudspeakers/headphones and internet access,

• multimedia resources from the e‑textbook,

• small pieces of paper in two different colours (e.g. green and yellow) for each student,

• interactive whiteboard/blackboard, felt‑tip pen/a piece of chalk.

Lesson plan overview (Process):

Introduction:

1. The teacher presents the goal of the lesson: You will learn the rules of an Oxford debate as a method of conflict resolution.

2. The teacher presents the students with a photograph from the abstract „Pros and cons – how to solve conflicts?” depicting demonstrators in Copenhagen, who are in favor of accepting the refugees. He asks willing students for a brief explanation of what this conflict is all about. The students present the main theses of both sides - the proposition and opposition to accepting refugees and the reasons of the migration situation.

Implementation:

1. The teacher asks the students what conflict resolution methods they know and what these methods consist in. The students give their suggestions justifying them, and one of the students writes them on the board. If the Oxford debate is not one of the students’ ideas, the teacher brings it up. He informs the students, that they will watch an animation movie “Oxford debate” presenting the rules of the debate and asks the students to pay attention to who takes part in such a debate, as well as what its stages are.

2. After screening the animation the students discuss the stages of the debate and do exercise 1, in which they indicate, who runs the Oxford debate.

3. The teacher invites the students to the debate. At the beginning he asks the students to prepare the room, i.e. put the chairs and table in an appropriate way. By drawing, he assigns roles to them – one Marshal, one Secretary, four Speakers of the Proposition, four of Opposition, and the Audience. He sets up the time to prepare arguments. Then a debate takes place on the topic „Poland should accept refugees from war‑torn countries or from areas where people are persecuted, like the Middle East or Africa.” The topic of the debate can be changed and adapted to more current political events in Poland and in the world. However, it should be remembered to formulate it precisely and in the form of an affirmative sentence.

4. The students debate, and the teacher monitors the course of the debate and assists the Marshal and the Secretary if necessary.

5. The teacher discusses the results of the debate with the students. He asks the students what impressions they have, to assess the debate as a conflict resolution method, and to compare the debate to other methods they know.

Summary:

1. The teacher carries out a summary part of the lesson using the trash and suitcase method. The teacher hands out small pieces of paper in two different colours (e.g. green and yellow). On the green pieces of paper the students write down the useful knowledge and skills they acquired during the class – these go into “the suitcase” (students stick it to a board under that category). The yellow pieces of paper are used to write down things the students did not find useful or interesting – these go into “the trash” (under the sign that reads “trash” on the board). The teacher explains, that their reflection may concern both the acquired knowledge, and the new skills they have learned. The teacher reads students’ reflections on the experience – first the “trash” contents, then the “suitcase”.

2. Homework proposal:

a. Compare two conflict resolution methods you know - write, what the differences between the methods are, and how they are similar to each other. Analyze the method both in terms of the process of conflict resolution, and the result it brings. Give examples of social conflicts in which the methods you describe are often used.

b. Listen to the abstract recording to review the material and new vocabulary. Then do the vocabulary exercise at the end of the chapter.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Pros and cons – how to solve conflicts?

The migration crisis in Europe in 2015 triggered a great discussion in Poland concerning the admission of refugees fleeing their own countries escaping persecution or war. Some Polish citizens think that Poland should not accept refugees from the Middle East and Africa since we were not able to help our own countrymen deported to the East (Siberia and Kazakhstan) return to their homeland. Additionally, many people are afraid, that terrorists are going to come to our country with the refugees, and we would not be able to tell them apart. There are also strong fears that religious and cultural differences will lead to social conflicts. Others believe that humanitarian reasons require us to shelter the needy. And what do you think about this?

Now you will prepare and run an Oxford debate on the subject:

Should Poland accept refugees from countries at war or where people are being persecuted, like the Middle East or Africa?

But before you do that – a short history of the Oxford debates, and some rules to follow. The Oxford Union Society was founded at Oxford University in Great Britain in 1823. Its main purpose was (and still is to this day) to discuss various political and social problems. This is how the idea of Oxford debates was created. The most important assumptions of those debates were to prepare speakers to express their arguments objectively. Oxford debates are supposed to teach a culture of discussion and respect for the opponents.

It is worth remembering that conflicts are natural and cannot be avoided. They occur in every society because there are always groups of people with conflicting interests. Therefore, we must learn to solve various disputes and mitigate antagonisms.