Debating Games

Use these games to help students develop confidence before participating in debating or
public speaking activities.

I Disagree
This is a great game to get students comfortable with speaking aloud and voicing their
opinions on a topic. The statement ‘I disagree..’ is a pivotal statement that needs to be
used by each student when it is their turn.
Students sit in a circle and each take turns to say a statement. They can either read a
statement card or think of their own statement to say aloud. Once the statement has been
shared, the person next to them says, ‘I disagree..’ and needs to think of one reason why
they disagree with the topic.

Student 1 Every family should have a pet

I disagree. Every family shouldn’t have

Student 2 a pet because some people don’t like pets
or are allergic.

Student 2 Schools shouldn’t have any holidays

I disagree. We need to have holidays

from school because if we didn’t
Student 3 everyone would go crazy, especially the
teachers!

Student 3 All cars should be electric

Student 4 I disagree….

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Debating Games
Topic Tennis
Students sit opposite each other and need to rebut each other’s ideas related to the
original topic. The idea is to see how long the students can keep disagreeing with each
other.

The Harry Potter movies are better than

Student 1 the books

I disagree. Hagrid is much better in the

Student 2 books than in the movies

I disagree. The way Hagrid was shown in the

Student 1 movies was exactly the way I visualised him when
I was reading the book

I disagree. The creatures that were

Student 2 described as living in Hagrids house
looked unrealistic in the movie

Student 1 I disagree...

Um It Up Stand Up Strong
This is a fun game to play in the classroom
The classroom gets divided into two
and helps to build students' fluency.
sides, ‘strongly agree’ and ‘strongly
Students receive a topic at random and
disagree’. The teacher reads a statement
have a certain amount of time to talk
aloud, e.g. Cats are better than dogs.
about the topic. Begin with 30 seconds
Students need to choose a side. They need
and move to 60 seconds when students'
to be prepared to be called on to give
confidence has been built. If speaking for
a reason for their opinion. This can be
30 seconds, students start with 30 points.
repeated with as many different topics as
Every time they say um, ahh or something
needed.
similar, students lose a point.

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