During our project we are having six online debates on Twinspace.

The 1st online debate:

The 1st online debate took place on 13th March 2019 with the participation of Croatia, Greece and Hungary. The meeting was chaired by Hungary and the topic was Rubik’s Cube vs Fortnite. The Croatian team argued in favour of Rubik’s Cube while the Greek team tried to prove that online games such as Fortnite are better than traditional board games.

Prior to the meeting students brainstormed ideas on the topic on a Twinspace forum. A week before the debate the teams were assigned their roles and had some more time to collect ideas and arguments.

Both teams were well-prepared and used a variety of ideas to support their opinion. The Croatian team that argued in favour of Rubik’s Cube pointed out that traditional games such as Rubik’s cube or Monopoly or even Chess have many advantages and they actually develop our brain, skills and memory. Also these kinds of games are quite simple, interesting and through them we learn a lot about team work which is amazing for children in young age.

The Greek team argued however, that young people need some time for recreation after doing their homework, and online games provide a great opportunity for this as they can communicate and play together with their friends online. Rubik’s Cube is a visual game while Fortnite enhances team work as it can be played both individually and in a team, contributing to better communication skills. It also gives an opportunity for students to learn how to use various electrical devices contributing to the acquisition of digital competence.

On the other hand, Croatia pointed out that studies had shown that Fortnite and other video games have a negative effect on students’ behaviour and excessively lowers the quality of children’s performance at school. It is also an addictive game leading to anxiety and stress. In addition to this, online games can provide an opportunity for bullies to target victims. Also, children of the age 12 or 13 should not play video games since they cannot differentiate between virtual reality and the actual world. Players often end up spending much money on the games as well.

The Greek team argued that if students spend a limited amount of time online addiction can be prevented. Fortnite is a game with which you can socialise with your friends as opposed to Rubik’s Cube that is a solitary game.

All in all, both teams had prepared thoroughly for the debate and raised excellent points to support their ideas. Also, participants used a great variety of set phrases and reacted to their peers’ ideas.

After a short consideration the Croatian team was announced as the winner of the debate, because they provided more arguments and were also more efficient with time management.

Written by the Hungarian team

2nd online debate

C.H.A.N.C.E for online debates; more than an opportunity

The second online debate took place on the 23rd of May, between Croatia and Hungary and it truly was an experience that took us all a step further as to appreciating the potential of our project; the latter has surpassed our expectations concerning students’ ongoing progress as well as our own development as teachers. I could be writing volumes as to the benefits teachers of our school have obtained through the air of change C.H.A.N.C.E. has .brought along, but this is the topic of another article.

The Greek team were the moderators. The debate topic, “Should monuments be preserved in their natural environment or be exhibited in museums?” was suggested by Ms Smaro Zartaloudi, a teacher of the Greek group and it was expressed along the lines of the first online debate topic “Rubik’s cube or fortnight? “. The idea per se turned out to be truly engaging for both groups as well as for the Greek students who attended it.

Hungary was assigned the task to advocate the position of monuments being preserved in their natural environment whereas Croatia had to convince the jurors that museums were a better choice as to monuments being exhibited and preserved there for the generations to come. The debate topic was announced a week before the actual event, and it was decided via electronic messaging that the winner would be announced on the day of the event, following the procedure of the first online debate.

Half an hour before the event started, we made sure we had logged on the eTwinning platform, so that the system was properly set up. Following Agnes’s advice, we used two laptops to embed the stopwatch on our debate page, which was a prerequisite to facilitate the speakers who needed to have a clear idea as to the time left to defend their positions. Two and a half minutes were allotted for each argument; should a speaker finish before the time limit, their opponents were given the chance to pose questions.

All the participants exhibited great rhetorical skills, the latter being a sign of hard work both on the teachers’ and the students’ part. Sound arguments were put forward on both sides and that resulted in our wavering over who should the winner of the debate be. The final result had to do with the array of arguments the Hungarian team presented, who in our opinion, approached the topic in a more holistic way. That is not to say, however, that the Croatian team were ill prepared. Although the speakers were very young, they stood their ground and, what is more, they followed the procedure very closely. The “best speaker award” was given to Croatia’s first speaker.

Overall, this debate helped our students exhibit higher order thinking skills; rote memorization of arguments had no place there. Analysis and revision of the arguments along with applying new knowledge when a speaker had to present a counterargument were at the heart of the event. A hearty congratulations on the great results is in order here!

Unfortunately, the sound of the video was corrupted during the saving process and our other partners will not be able to enjoy the recorded event. A word of caution is in order here; maybe, we should make sure that that we save the video on two devices for the next online debates, so that problems of the sort will be avoided in the future.