🫵ASL Level 6, Activity 09-Debate (Face-to-Face)

ASL interpreter interpreting a debatePicture by Sign1News included under fair use as described in the CBPFUOER.

Description:

Students will begin with reviewing and learning some new vocabulary words, they will then take part in a group debate on different controversial topics.

Semantic Topics: Review, Debate, Topics, Controversial, Challenge
Grammatical Structures: Vocabulary, Questions, Sentence Structure

Products: Debate, Questions

Practices: Debate controversial topics and craft questions

Perspectives: Why is it easier to get directly to a point in ASL than it is in English?

Standards

NCSSFL-ACTFL World-Readiness Standards:

  • Standard 1.3 Students present information, concepts, and ideas in American Sign Language to an audience of viewers on a variety of topics.
  • Standard 3.1 Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through American Sign Language.

Idaho Content Standards for World Languages:

  • Objective: COMM 3.1 Present information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of
    topics using appropriate media in the target language.
  • Objective: CLTR 2.3 Justify the underlying beliefs or values of the target culture that resulted in the creation of the product.
  • Objective: CONN 1.2 Relate information studied in other subjects to the target language and culture.
  • Objective: COMP 1.1 Observe formal and informal forms of language.

Can-Do Statements

NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:

  • I can apply my knowledge and intuition to a wide range of controversial topics in a debate setting.
  • I can participate in a debate on topics that are atypical in standard discourse.

Materials Needed

Warm-up

Materials Needed for Warm-up

  1. Attendance
  2. Begin with 5-7 minutes of conversation
    • “START 5-7 MIN CONVERSATION.” 
  3. Vocabulary/FS Practice
    1. MARS – “PLANET FS: Mars”
    2. BAN- “ILLEGAL”
    3. TRUST
    4. ENCOURAGE- “TO MOTIVATE”
    5. HOROSCOPE – “STAR SEE-FUTURE”
      1. ARIES – horns with ‘R’ handshape
      2. TAURUS – Y on the forehead
      3. GEMINI – FS
      4. CANCER – CRAB
      5. LEO – FS
      6. VIRGO –  WOMAN
      7. LIBRA – FS
      8. SCORPIO – SCORPION
      9. SAGITTARIUS – FS: SAG or ARROW
      10. CAPRICORN – GOAT
      11. AQUARIUS – FS: AQ
      12. PISCES – FS or FISH

Main Activity

Materials Needed for Main Activity

Debate

Note: The lab assistant should model the Moderator role before choosing a student to lead the discussion.

  1. The lab assistant will separate the class into two groups.
    • “NOW DEBATE 2 GROUPS”
  2. From there, the lab assistant will randomly choose one student to be the Moderator and hand them the “I am the Moderator”, “I am team yes!”, “I am team no!” and “Controversial topics” cards.
    • “ONE PERSON fs-MODERATOR GROUP ONE YES GROUP 2 NO”
  3. The Moderator will pick a topic from the sheet and then lead the debate with students.
    • “fs-MODERATOR TOPIC PICK DEBATE LEAD”
  4. The Yes and No teams will work together to support their side of the debate, providing at least three points to contribute.
    • “TEAM WORK TOGETHER SUPPORT YES NO. BOTH TEAMS 3 POINTS NEED”
  5. Once the group is done with their debate, the Moderator will hand over all the cards to another student who will serve as the Moderator and the yes and no teams will switch.
    • “FINISH fs-MODERATOR SWITCH NEW TOPIC PICK YES NO TEAMS SWITCH DEBATE CONTINUE”

Wrap-up

  1. How do you feel about your signing ability when it comes to having a debate?
    • “YOUR SIGNING SKILLS DURING DEBATE, YOU FEEL GOOD/BAD? WHAT?” 
  2. Do you feel that the simplicity of sign language limits in-depth conversation?
    • “YOU FEEL SIMPLE SIGN LANGUAGE LIMITS CONVERSATION DEPTH? WHY/WHY NOT?” 

Deaf Culture

Native signers tend to make points a lot quicker when it comes to explaining and discussing different topics. This is because there are not several words with the same meaning as there are in English. In a way, this simplifies the language overall but it also makes for efficient debates!

End of Lab:

  • Sign or show Can-Do statements once more and have students evaluate their confidence
    • (Use thumbs up/ thumbs down or have them rate 1-5 on how they feel after the activity)
  • Encourage students to be honest in their self-evaluation
  • Pay attention, and try to use feedback for future labs!

Can-Do Statements

NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:

  • I can apply my knowledge and intuition to a wide range of controversial topics in a debate setting.
  • I can participate in a debate on topics that are atypical in standard discourse.

License

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Let's Chat! American Sign Language (ASL) Copyright © 2023 by Armilene Cabreros; Audra Dooley; Claire Oberg; Collin Dauenhauer; Delaney Obaldia; Emily Harrison; Amber Hoye; Emma Wilkinson; Gabi Jones; Izabelle Finner; Jacob Steele; Kate Maryon; Madison Mackey; Megan McAllister; Monica Potts; Rebecca Mulgrew; Robyn Holland; Samantha Showers; Sarra Foerster; Serena Krause; Sophia Orm; Tiana Gratiot; and Tori Fisher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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