Les­son one: a dis­cus­sion

1.1. A dis­cus­sion , e.g. "co-edu­ca­ti­on / sin­gle-sex schools", "cats ver­sus dogs" or "the death pe­nal­ty."

1.2. Pre­fe­r­a­b­ly sit­ting in a ring wi­thout desks, first collect on one half of the black­board all the ideas

or ar­gu­ments that speak for it, then, on the other half, all the ar­gu­ments against it. En­cou­ra­ge

"se­rious" and "non-se­rious" ar­gu­ments. Not­hing is "wrong" or "ir­re­le­vant". Any­thing goes.

1.3. For­mu­la­te a MO­TI­ON ("This House Be­lie­ves...") e.g."THB in co-edu­ca­ti­on" or "TH pre­fers cats to dogs." Each stu­dent must come down on one side or the other.

1.4. Still in a ring of chairs in front of the ta­bles. Each stands up and gives his/her opi­ni­on in at least one sen­tence, no mat­ter how short, and each fi­nis­hes by say­ing:

"I SUP­PORT the mo­ti­on" or "I OP­PO­SE the mo­ti­on"  OR:: " This mo­ti­on MUST STAND or FALL"

1.5. Vote by ac­cla­ma­ti­on; read the mo­ti­on again, then say,

"All those in fa­vour say 'AYE!''' (...). All those against say 'NO!'" (...) 

If de­si­red, the vote can be re­pea­ted "by show of hands":

     "All in fa­vour raise your hands" (...) "Those against the mo­ti­on raise your hands"   (...)

1.6. The re­sult is de­cla­red: "The Ayes / Noes have it."