I beg to differ!

Some time ago I came across this article which lists 401 prompts for argumentative writing. Since my students are not very keen on writing these days, I've decided to exploit the article in a slightly different way and turn it into a speaking activity for my teenage and adult students. 

The activity will encourage your students to discuss some controversial statements, share their points of view, and agree or disagree with each other in a polite manner. 

The task is most suitable for intermediate-advanced students who are mature enough to talk about serious issues. It can be used as a time-filler activity or it might useful for those of your students who are preparing for some language exams such as FCE, CAE, IELTS or TOEFL.

Divide your students into pairs. Give each pair of students two piles of cut out cards placed face down. One pile should contain the cards with controversial statements while the other one should contain a shuffled set of  opinion cards . 

Students work in pairs. One student takes a card from the pile with the controversial statements and reads it out loud. His partner takes the first card from the pile with the opinion cards and needs to respond to the statement according to the opinion card he/she gets (either agree or disagree). They need to discuss the statement for at least two minutes (or any time you give them) sticking to their roles. They should try to come up with reasonable arguments whether they personally agree with their role cards or not. 


In order to run this activity more smoothly, you might pre-teach them some useful expressions . 

• Downloadable material:

controversial statements

opinion cards

functional language: useful expressions


Feel free to comment with your feedback :) 

Teenage dilemma

It's been scorching hot for the last few days so keeping my students awake has been a challenge to say the least.


Fortunately, TeachingEnglish with its fantastic resources has saved my life again. This time I tried  the spending maze activity in which my students had to work in groups or pairs and decide how to spend one million euros.

They enjoyed this activity so much that I decided to create something similar but more appropriate for teenage students. 

Young adult's choices is a communicative activity in which students get to practice the language of agreement, disagreement, suggestion and negotiation in order to make some important life choices. This activity has been enjoyed most by my intermediate-advanced teenage students who are about to graduate from high school and are now in the process of figuring out what to do next. In the activity there aren't correct or incorrect answers and, even though students come across some obstacles, each scenario leads to a happy ending. This activity can be used in a lighthearted manner as a time filler, but it can also be a great way to practice for some speaking exams like FCE and CAE (parts 3 and 4).

The task should be conducted just like the spending maze activity and the procedure can be found here.

Depending on your students' level, it might be a good idea to pre-teach some vocabulary. I suggest reading the maze in advance in order to underline some expressions which you feel your students might find difficult.

You can also show them this list of useful expressions (collaborating) and revise using functional language. The list is long but I always encourage my students to memorise and use only a few expressions from each category. 

• Downloadable worksheets:

Young adult's choices

useful expressions (collaborating) 

Hope you and your students enjoy the mazes. Feel free to write to me if you have any comments or know of any similar activities.