DEBATES

TERM 1


Assessment Task

The political role of trade unions

Discuss the political role of trade unions. Study the information on debating skills below. Hold a class debate about the statement: ‘Trade unions should play a political role in South Africa today’.

Assess your own performance.

Debating skills:

·         Debating takes place between two teams. One team defends the statement and the other team opposes it.

·         The statement for this debate is: ‘Trade unions should play a political role in South Africa today’.

·         Each team should choose a team captain, who will lead the team.

·         Each team should choose two or three additional speakers per team.

·         Choose a secretary, who will keep minutes of the proceedings and note down the main points each team makes in defense of or opposition to the statement.

·         Choose a time-keeper, who will be responsible for keeping every person from exceeding the time allocated for their speech.

·         The team captain of the defending team will speak first.

·         The length of the team captains’ speeches should be limited to two minutes.

·         The team captain from the opposing team will speak second.

·         The rest of the speakers will then follow: one from the defending team and one from the opposing team, until all the speakers have spoken.

·         The additional speakers each have one minute of speaking time.

Self-assessment checklist

Criteria	Yes	No
I have a good grasp of the role trade unions play in the economy.
I am able to critically assess the actions of trade unions.
I can sequence arguments in a logical format.
I am a good team player.
I can express my views with confidence.
I respect the view of others even though they might differ from my views.
I made a valuable contribution to the debate. CLICK ON THE VIDEO TO GET TIPS ON HOW TO HOLD A DEBATE