Being able to explain both pros and cons is vital for discussing most serious points, including in many language exams. This article gives some intensive practice for the different language that can be used to look at both good and bad points.
For all of the activities below, you can encourage students to use a wider range of language to talk about advantages and disadvantages by giving them useful phrases or useful key words (“bad”, “additional”, etc), and asking them to cross those things off the list as they use them. Alternatively, you could simply tell them that they must use a different phrase each time.
Looking at both sides guessing game
One student chooses a topic like “Banning electric scooters”, without telling anyone what topic they chose. Without saying any of the words in the description of the topic, they explain both good points and bad points of that thing until someone guesses what they are talking about. This can be done with topics on cards that are dealt out, or with topics chosen from a worksheet. It’s obviously easier if the other person can see what the different options for topics were and more challenging if they can’t see the list, so you could start with students guessing without any help, then let them see a list of options if they can’t guess. Some classes might then be ready to do the same with their own ideas for topics.
This is good preparation for IELTS Listening Part Three, as that also includes opinions language and rephrasing of words related to the topic.
Looking at the other side challenges
Students try to come up with things that they think only have advantages (like “more real communication in high school English classes”) or think of things which only have disadvantages (like “old age pensions ending at age 80”). After explaining that side, their partner tries to come up with at least one thing on the other side.
More advantages and disadvantages challenge
Students compete to come up with more and more good aspects of something and more and more bad aspects of something until someone can’t think of any more relevant pros or cons, or someone repeats something that was said before. This can be done with students:
- alternating between adding one more good point and adding one more bad point
- adding more good points for as long as they can, then doing the same for bad points
- being free to add one their own choice of more good point or one more bad point each time
Extra pros and cons challenge
This is similar to the game above, but one student gives as many pros and cons of one thing as they can, then their partners try to add any more once they have finished. If you want to score, points can be given for the original points on both sides, for the other students not being able to add any more once the first speaker has finished, and/ or for the extra points that the others add.
Conclusions guessing
One student chooses a topic like “Flying cars” and tries to give a totally balanced list of positive and negative consequences, without giving their own position away. The other students then try to guess which side the speaker would come down on if they had to choose. For example, one student could say “One positive aspect is that there would be no need to construct roads. On the other, they would probably use more energy than land-based vehicles. Another drawback is that a crash could happen anywhere, not just on a road…” and the other students could then guess “I think you are against flying cars (on balance)”.
Both sides bluffing
One student chooses a topic like “Raising the minimum smoking age so young people can never start”, then secretly flips a coin to see if they should defend their own real opinion (heads) or if they should take the other side of the argument and argue against their own genuine opinion (tails). For example, a student could decide that is a good idea but get tails and so have to give as many disadvantages to that thing as they can. After they finish, the other students guess if they were giving their own real opinion or not.
To practise giving both sides of the argument at the same time, you could ask the other students to argue the opposite point of view before they guess if the original speaker was lying or not.
Looking at both sides chain writing
Students choose a different topic each, write the first advantage or first disadvantage of that thing at the top of some paper, pass the paper to the next person to add one more argument and add the next argument to the paper they have received, etc. Do the same steps for at least six steps or until the paper reaches the person who wrote the top line. Students then read everything that is written on the one they have just received and try to write a conclusion that makes sense based on those arguments. They pass the paper one final time, then each student gives feedback on if the whole thing makes sense and if they really agree with the conclusion or not and why.
To make this more fun, you can also get them to fold the paper so the next person can only see the previous entry, not anything above that.