What does a SKILLS (powered by Mathanja) workshop look like?
The basic workshop takes three hours and consists of 3 parts:
- Warming up
- Game time
- Reflection
In the warming up (1) I hide different kinds of skills, like critical thinking or creativity. The activities help participants to warm up their English and it helps me to see how the participants work and what their level of English is.
The game (2) is an adaptation of competitive debates. This can actually be done on an international level. For more information: www.debatovani.cz.
The reflection (3) is important for people to realize how much there is to gain by playing this game, helping participants to build a growth-mindset.
The difference between the basic workshop and other workshops is that we don’t need to explain the rules of the game anymore and therefore have more time to develop SKILLS that are helpful to get better at the competitive debate. Mind you: all of the activities are ACTIVITIES, so all participants are asked to work and engage. Power-point presentations are my enemy 😉
The workshops makes participants:
- speak, listen, and work in English
- work in teams
- practice communication skills like:
- exploring the difference between stronger and weaker arguments
- learning the importance of respectful speech
- how to explain ideas/situations more thoroughly
- try a competitive debate for themselves (either as a speaker or a judge)
What do the participants say about the basic workshop?
ZŠ Truhlářská – class 9C
• “I liked the debating game. It was really fun!”
• “It was chill, and I didn’t feel pressured. It was easy to understand.”
• “I didn’t like that the two-circle game was too short.”
ZŠ Truhlářská – class 8A
• “I liked everything and also the lady was very fine.”
• “It was super great”.
Gymnázium Karlovy vary – kvinta
• “A lot of conversation face to face.”
• “I surprised myself, because I have a problem to talk in front of a group of people, but in this workshop, I felt very nice and relaxed and wasn’t nervous at all. (almost).”
Skills – level up
For school year 2024/2025 we have prepared a brand new and fiery program where a selected group of pupils will get the chance to explore all six 21st century skills while training their debate skills too. Of course the whole program will be in English and as a cherry on the cake we will be organizing a final debate amongst all participating schools. Will your school be there? Contact us before the end of the August 2024!
Skills workshops for teachers
Want to keep your English in shape AND get new inspiration for your teaching too? This year we will organize monthly workshops in which teachers debate each other in English about different topics. Why? Because as teachers we need to make sure our English stays fresh and polished! Register for the first Teacher’s debate workshop in September 2024 now to ensure your seat at the table.