Teachers of English may hesitate to teach debate because they think it is beyond their students' language ability, or proficiency.
英语教师可能会犹豫教不教辩论，因为他们认为辩论超出了他们学生的语言能力或熟练度。
But debate can be a powerful tool.
但是辩论可以是个强有力的工具。
It can help students learn to speak naturally and to listen carefully.
辩论可以帮助学生学会流利地讲话和专注地倾听。
Professor Charles Lebeau teaches English and debate in Japan.
教授查尔斯·勒博在日本教英语和辩论
He wrote "Discover Debate" with Michael Lubetsky.
他同迈克尔·鲁伯斯基一起撰写了“探索辩论”一书。
The book helps English teachers and learners understand how to carry on a simple debate.
这本书帮助英语老师和学习者明白如何进行一场简单的辩论。
The "Discover Debate" approach has three stages: creating a visual aid to communicate an argument, presenting the argument and answering the other team's argument.
“探索辩论”方法有3个阶段：利用视觉工具表达论点，立论和反驳对方论点。
Each stage puts increasing demands on language ability.
每个阶段对语言能力的要求有所提高。
It begins with a pre-debate experience.
首先是辩论前练习。
Good topics for debate
好的辩题
When teaching debate to English learners, Mr. Lebeau recommends beginning with "controlled practice."
向英语学习者教授辩论时，勒博推荐先从“控制性练习”开始。
Students work in pairs to practice saying opinions and giving reasons in short conversations.
学生们两人一组以短对话的形式练习表达观点和陈述理由。
They learn to identify opinions and arguments about everyday topics, such as sports stars, foods, weather and habits.
他们学习辨认各个话题的观点和论点，比如运动明显，食物，天气和习惯。
This controlled practice gives students the basic language skills they need to carry on a debate.
这种控制性练习能让学生掌握辩论所需的基本语言技能。
Teachers may be tempted to give students serious topics, such as "People should stop using nuclear power."
老师也可以尝试给学生一些严肃的话题，比如“人们应该停止使用核能”
However, Mr. Lebeau cautions that English learners may not have the necessary language ability to handle such topics.
但是，勒博告诫说英语学习者可能不具备讨论这类话题的语言能力。
More serious topics often require special vocabulary and research.
更严肃的话题经常要求专门的词汇和调查。
"When I'm introducing specific skills, step-by-step, I want to use a really simple, fun topic, so they already can understand the content.
当我逐步介绍特殊技能时，我会用一个真的很简单又有趣的话题，这样他们就能理解其内容。
The content is not part of the challenge; the vocabulary is not part of the challenge, it's something they are very, very familiar with, so we can focus on the skills.
内容不具有挑战性，词汇也不具有挑战性，都是一些他们非常熟悉的东西，这样我们就能专注于技能了。
So the topics for introducing the skills can be simple and fun – like, for example, cats make better pets than dogs."
因此介绍技能的话题可以简单有趣，比如，猫比狗是更好的宠物。
Organizing debate in large classes
在大班组织辩论
Mr. Lebeau's classes in Japan are like many in universities; they have 40 to 50 students.
勒博在日本的班级同大学许多班级相像，班上有40-50人。
He has students form debate teams of three or six, depending on the total number of students.
他的学生可以组成3到6个辩论队，这要取决于学生的总数。
Each team creates a visual aid to show their thinking on the topic.
各个队利用视觉教具展示他们对某个话题的思考。
In last week's article, we explained the visual aid.
上周的文章中，我们解释了视觉教具。
The visual is a house: a roof represents an opinion, pillars are the reasons supporting the opinion and the foundation is the evidence.
视觉教具是个房子：屋顶代表一个观点，柱子是支持该观点的理由，地基是证据。
Mr. Lebeau says creating the visual aid is not a verbal skill.
勒博表示创造视觉教具并非一项语言技能。
It is a thinking skill.
它是一门思考技能。
Language proficiency, he says, is not really required.
他说，真的不要求语言能力。
In the next stage, students present their argument.
在下一阶段，学生提出了他们的论点。
They have to do some talking, but not too much.
他们必须做些阐述，但不要太多。
"They point to the visual, to the house, ‘this is our opinion' - the opinion is on the house. 'These are our reasons.' And the reasons are on the house. 'Let me explain each reason.' The visual can do a lot of the talking for the team; for the student."
他们指向视觉教具，指向房子，“这是我们的观点，观点要在房子上，这是我们的理由，理由也在房子上，让我解释下每个理由吧，视觉教具可以为团队，为学生做许多讲话。
The third stage is answering the opposing team's argument.
第三个阶段是反驳对方的论点。
Here, debaters need a higher level of language ability.
这一阶段要求更高水平的语言能力。
Mr. Lebeau recommends pausing for the opposing team to develop their answers, or refutations.
勒博建议停下里让反方构思他们的答案或者驳论。
Each team might go to a different area and discuss the weak points in the opposing argument.
每个队伍都可能变换角色，讨论反面论点的弱项。
Students must first think about the arguments carefully.
学生最初必须认真思考论点。
In "Discover Debate," Michael Lubetsky and Charles Lebeau include a guide to help students evaluate arguments.
迈克尔·鲁伯斯基和查尔斯·勒博在“探索辩论”中囊括了一则指导，来帮助学生评价论点。
The evaluation also takes advantage of the visual aid of a house.
评价也可以利用房子视觉教具。
Students are asked to look for building flaws, or problems.
学生被要求寻找建筑物的裂缝或问题。
They identify things that are either "not true" or "not important."
他们鉴别出一些要么是“不准确”，要么是“不重要”的地方。
Students can write easily remembered abbreviations and simple statements on their opponents' houses: "NT" for not true, "NAT" for not always true, or "NNT" for not necessarily true.
学生可以在对手的房子上写容易记住的缩写和简单语句：“NT”表示“不正确”,“NAT”表示“不总是正确”，“NNT”表示“未必正确”
For true statements they feel are not important, they can also write "It's not relevant," "It's not significant" or "It's easy to solve."
对他们感觉不重要的真命题，他们亦可以写上“无关”、“不重要”、“容易解决”。
These simple expressions make it easier for students to refute their opponents' arguments.
这些简单的表达式方便学生反驳对手论点。
"Cats are cheaper than dogs - maybe they're a couple dollars cheaper so it's not really significant.
猫比狗便宜--也许它们是几美元，因此这真的不重要。
And it's easy to solve: Cats are cleaner than dogs, yes, in general, that's true, but it's easy to solve, give your dog a bath.
这容易解决：猫比狗干净，是的，一般来说，是这样，但是这很容易解决，只要给你的狗洗澡就好了。
They can draw these on the house, and what it does is, it takes away some of the pressure on the speaking."
他们可以在房子上画这些，而这些能消除说话的一些压力。
After the break, the teams return to debating.
休息后，各队又回到辩论。
Each side takes a turn answering the other side's arguments.
各方轮流回应对方论点。
Mr. Lebeau says teams can be divided so three students present the case and a different three students present the refutations.
勒博说队伍可以分成3个学生立论，3个学生驳论。
"With a large class I'll have several debates running at the same time.
大班上课的话，我可以同时安排几场辩论。
I'll direct traffic with a stopwatch and say, 'Okay, time's up, so next, it's the other team's turn.'
我用计时器指挥交通然后说，“好了，时间到，接下来轮到另一个队。”
We can manage a large class that way."
我们用这种方式管理大班。
A briefer debate structure
精简辩论环节
Traditional debate, as we described in our previous article, includes several cycles of presentation and refutation.
传统的辩论，正如先前文章中阐述的那样，包括7轮立论和驳论。
For English learners, one cycle of presentation and refutation is usually enough practice.
对英语学习者来说，一轮立论和驳论通常就足够了
"Just having the team present their case, and present their refutations, is sufficient, and usually a lot of fun, and everyone feels that they have accomplished something.
有团队立论和驳论就够了，通常也富有趣味，每个人都会觉得他们有所成就。
I always tell them, ‘Everyone's a winner, we've all done a good job.'"
我总是告诉他们‘每个人都是赢家，我们都做得不错。’
Mr. Lebeau says sometimes he asks the rest of the class to vote on which side won.
勒博说有时候他会让班上其他同学投票选出胜利的一方。
Asking for audience feedback gives the lesson a good ending.
寻求听众回馈给这堂课一个好的结尾。
But, he says, additional discussion depends on the situation and the level of the students.
但是，他说，是否加入讨论要情况和学生的水平而定。
Next week, in Part Three of "Successful Debate," we will explain the reasons for learning to debate in business as well as in the academic world.
下周，在“成功的辩论”的第三环节，我们将阐释在商界和学界中学习辩论的原因。
We learn how debating gives students a better understanding of Western culture and lets students practice critical thinking.
我们了解辩论如何让学生更好地了解西方文化和练习辩证思考。
I'm Kelly Jean.
我是凯莉·珍
I'm Jonathan Evans.
我是乔纳森·埃文斯

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