Video Debate Questions

1. Roles? Who is on the Bilingual Education side? English Only?

a. English Only Side: Khadiga, Jack

b. Bilingual Side: Steph, David

2. Research Bilingual Education and English Only. Identify 3 pros for each, and 3 cons for

each.

a. English Only Education Pros:

i. Pro 1: It provides a maximum exposure to English and provides an

English-speaking environment

ii. Pro 2: It enhances social interactions among peers when they use real-

life English during conversations

iii. Pro 3: It builds stronger speaking, listening and problem-solving skills

while raising students’ confidence

iv. Pro 4: It leads to better class management as there will be no disruptions

caused by utilizing another language

b. English Only Education Cons:

i. Con 1: Beginners face challenges when learning the simple language

points and might have difficulty understanding the teacher’s instructions

ii. Con 2: It slows down the educational process because learners will find it

difficult to get an in-depth analysis of the content area

iii. Con 3: Class management might be affected when it comes to time

efficiency

c. Bilingual Education Pros

i. Pro 1: Teaching students in more than one language can increase the

cultural awareness and appreciation of diversity in students

 ii. Pro 2: Students who receive bilingual education may be better prepared

to travel/work/study abroad in the future

iii. Pro 3: Bringing up students to speak a language other than their native

language may increase their chances at better career opportunities in the

future

iv. Pro 4: Teaching students in a bilingual education setting can help

students can help them learn a second language later on

d. Bilingual Education Cons

i. Con 1: Bilingual education may lessen students time for other important

activities

ii. Con 2: Bilingual education may make it harder for students to focus on

the content being taught as they have to spend time learning the new

language instead

iii. Con 3: Not all schools offer bilingual education and the ones that do may

be expensive for parents to send their children to

3. Identify 3 key points you will discuss in your opening for Bilingual Education. Briefly

describe why you believe the key points are relevant/appropriate for the debate. Do the

same for English only.

a. 3 key points for Bilingual Education

i. Key point 1: Creates an opportunity for early diversity in the classroom.

ii. Key point 2: Bilingual education improves the working memory of the

students.

iii. Key point 3: Can mean higher cognitive function, increased language

proficiency and can help to close the achievement gap facing ELL/ESL

students.

b. 3 key points for English Only Education

 i. Key point 1: The benefits of utilizing this strategy in contrast to the

bilingual strategy

ii. Key point 2: The advantages outnumber the disadvantages

iii. Key point 3: The sustainability of utilizing this strategy leads to better

outcomes for student achievement

These key points summarize almost everything that is needed to lay the foundation for a solid

debate in favor of English Only Education.

4. Create 3 questions the English Only side will ask the Bilingual Education side during the

cross examination. Also vice versa.

a. English only questions to Bilingual

i. Question 1- How could you teach all of the required course content and

achieve all common core standards if you have to teach in two

languages? You would be wasting too much time.

ii. Question 2- What would you do for all of those English students who lose

focus and become disengaged once you start teaching again in Spanish?

iii. Question 3- What are you gonna do for the ELL students whose primary

language is not even Spanish? They would severely struggle to learn

English.

b. Bilingual questions to English only

i. Question 1: what are you doing to increase the cultural awareness of

students and help them appreciate human diversity?

ii. Question 2: what are you doing to help prepare students to

travel/work/study abroad in the future?

iii. Question 3: How well are your students doing in their foreign language

classes with no exposure to the second language outside of that class?

5. Identify 3 key points you will address in your closing statements for both English Only

and Bilingual Education.

a. English only closing statement

i. Using other languages would make it too difficult for English students to

learn and understand the material they need to in a reasonable amount of

time.

ii. It is far too difficult for schools to locate and pay teachers enough to teach

in two languages.

iii. The best way for ELL students to learn English is by using English as

much as possible. Most of them will go back to homes where English is

not spoken.

b. Bilingual closing statement

i. Bilingual education increases school engagement and academic success

in students. It also improves cognitive skills and sharpens social and

emotional skills.

ii. Provides students with an economic advantage for the future, since they

have already been exposed to more than one language in school.

iii. Creates an integrated, inclusive and diverse classroom.