Debate training – Active listening
Students learn and practise active listening skills in order to engage in constructive and respectful debate. They reflect on the importance of this skill for exchanging arguments and promoting mutual understanding.
Contents and methods:
The worksheet introduces the basics of active listening and illustrates its importance in debates and everyday life. Using a mini-debate on a selected topic, pupils practise listening attentively to arguments, summarising them and building on them. They use predefined sentence starters to create a flowing dialogue.
Skills:
- Active listening and empathy
- Ability to argue and change perspectives
- Reflection and self-awareness
- Structured documentation of arguments
Target group and level:
from Year 7 onwards
Future Workshop
The pupils develop creative solutions to current problems or design visions for the future. They learn to discuss their ideas in a participatory manner, to reflect on them and to plan concrete steps for action.
Contents and methods:
The Future Workshop consists of three phases:
Criticism phase:
The participants collect and analyse problems or challenges relating to a specific topic. They discuss what bothers them or what should be improved.
Utopia phase:
In this creative phase, the pupils develop visions and ideas of what an ideal future could look like. There are no limits – the aim is to think creatively and boldly.
Realisation phase:
The collected ideas are reviewed for feasibility. The pupils develop concrete steps for action and plan how they can turn their visions into reality.
Skills:
- Critical thinking and problem analysis
- Creativity and visionary thinking
- Teamwork and communication
- Planning and implementation skills
- Self-efficacy
- Development of democratic education skills
Target group and level:
Middle and High school
Memes
The overarching learning objective of this worksheet is to develop critical thinking and analytical skills by interpreting the social commentary embedded within internet memes.
Content and Methods: The worksheet presents a popular internet meme you can choose. The method involves open-ended questions that prompt learners to describe what is happening in the meme and what message it conveys about school experiences.
Competencies:
- Visual literacy (interpreting images and their implied meanings)
- Critical thinking (analyzing social commentary and humor)
- Expressive writing (articulating observations and interpretations in English)
- Understanding of cultural references (memes as a form of communication)
Target Audience and Level:
B1, B2, C1, C2, A2