"I couldn't disagree more"

2. "I couldn't disagree more"

Introduction

This is great little activity to get students into the debating mood at the start of a training session or a fun way to wrap up a session at the end. It is intended to get them to work on their rebuttal skills and also gets them up and thinking on their feet, which is important for them which they are offered points of information during debates.

Objectives

1.       Students will be able to respond to or rebut arguments given by other speakers

2.       Students will be able to engage with the debate going on around them

3.       Students will work on their listening skills

4.       Students will learn to develop new and different arguments during a debate

Method

·         This is a game for everyone in the group.

·         The students all stand in a circle.

·         The first speaker speaks for one minute in favour of a particular idea or motion.

·         The next speaker has to immediately respond by saying "I couldn't disagree more....." and explaining why they disagree with what the speaker before them has just said and, if necessary, giving a new argument for their side.

·         Each speakers goes in turn around the circle. They all must speak for a minute and they cannot repeat an argument that has been made before them. If they break either of these rules, they have to sit down.

·         The game continues until there is only one student left standing.

Expansions

After you've done the above exercise with students, there are a number of ways that you expand it to use it in the future as students become more confident and skilled.

·         Rather than going around the circle to each student in turn, get the students to pass a ball around the circle, which means that they won't be able to predict when their turn will come so they have remain engaged throughout the whole exercise. 

Written by Gregg O'Neill