Polarities is a 15-minute pre-writing speaking activity for groups of learners from B1 upwards. It is designed to help them generate ideas for for and against essays though it can be adapted to other types of writing. Here’s an overview of the procedure:
Put the topic for the writing on the board e.g. Is social media good or bad for society?
Divide the class into two groups: one half is for and the other is against. The for side should generate the benefits of social media, and against brainstorm its downsides. The first time you do this, elicit one example for and one against and board these. Tell them they will be debating the topic with someone who has the opposing viewpoint.
Give them a 5-minute time limit, asking them to pool ideas with their teammates. They should remember or make brief notes about the best arguments and reasons, as they will use these in the upcoming debate.
Once they have finished the brainstorm, pair them up, with one for and one against in each pair. Give them 5 minutes to debate the topic: the goal is to convince the other person!
Feedback on the debate asking questions such as: who won the debate? Be honest! What was the best argument you heard? Did they give good reasons? You can finish by eliciting the best for and against arguments onto the whiteboard. Ask students to make a note of these...and then set the writing itself for homework.
Reflection: if you do this kind of brainstorm often enough, the skill becomes habitual for learners, and they will find themselves better able to efficiently generate ideas when writing. Of course, the above procedure doesn’t address other issues such as paragraphing, style and so on...for more on these, check out our Teaching Writing Effectively course!