Sixth International Conference on Immersion and Dual Language Education: Connecting Research and Practice Across Contexts

Discussion Session (1 hour)

Spanish, multiple

One-Way Second/Foreign Language Immersion

Elementary (K-5)

Students immerse themselves in a four week unit on debates. We begin the unit with an introductory hook topic (motorized hoverboards) to engage and excite the students and teach the basics of persuasive writing: position statement, reasons, evidence, counterargument, rebuttal and concluding statement. Then the students are divided into debate teams where they are assigned a topic; either technology or vegetarianism. The students spend several days researching their topic with their team by reading articles and watching videos, collecting evidence for both pro and con. They determine whether their evidence is a quote, fact, statistic or example and learn how to elaborate on their evidence to prove their reason. After that, students organize their research into a table and continue to elaborate on each reason. Finally they write an opening and a closing, decide who will read which parts of the debate and create simple visuals to aid their presentation. We end the unit with the oral debate in front of the rest of the school. This unit beautifully compliments the English writing unit of persuasive letters.