Mastering Languages through Global Debate – serie

Mastering English through Global Debate brings together rhetorical traditions and the best practices of ESL instruction to facilitate superior-level proficiency in the English language. Each chapter addresses a rich topic of debate, providing students with a set of prereading activities, texts covering both sides of a debate topic, and postreading comprehension and lexical development exercises-all of which foster the language and critical thinking skills needed for successful debates. A rhetorical methods section in each chapter integrates language and practice and prepares students for end-of-chapter debates. Using debate to develop advanced competency in a second language is a method that is finding increased interest among instructors and students alike, in both synchronous online teaching and the individual classroom. Students are prepared to participate fully in debates with their classmates-at home, abroad, or both.

Mastering Russian through Global Debate brings together the rhetorical traditions of the communications field and the best practices of adult second language instruction to facilitate superior-level proficiency in the Russian language. Each chapter addresses a rich topic of debate, providing students with a set of prereading activities, texts covering both sides of a debate topic, and continues with postreading comprehension and lexical development exercises-all of which foster the language and critical thinking skills needed for successful debates. A rhetorical methods section in each chapter integrates language and practice and prepares students for end-of-chapter debates. Using debate to develop advanced competency in a second language is a method that is finding increased interest among instructors and students alike, in both synchronous online teaching and the individual classroom. Students are prepared to participate fully in debates with their classmates-at home, abroad, or both.

While language instructors recognize the value of debate as a means of facilitating Advanced- and Superior-level skills, no single advanced Chinese textbook exists that provides level-specific scaffolded language exercises, rhetorical strategies, and topic-specific texts within the context of debate. Mastering Chinese through Global Debate, designed to meet the ACTFL proficiency guidelines and featuring content written by a professional Chinese journalist, offers learners the means to develop sophisticated language skills with the goal of achieving Superior-level proficiency. The textbook provides sets of readings and exercises that culminate in debates on key cultural topics with fellow students at home and/or with native speakers abroad via teleconference technology. Each of the six chapters includes detailed explanations, idea maps, word banks, writing and speaking samples, varied drills, and a rhetorical methods section -- all of which foster language and critical thinking skills and prepare students to analyze and debate on complex topics. The textbook's audio companion is available at press.georgetown.edu and includes MP3 files of the feature article and a mock debate in each chapter, as well as transcripts of the audio, encouraging students to both listen and read.Instructors can also access a free answer key on the Georgetown University Press website.

Using debate to develop advanced competency in a second language is a method that is finding increased interest among instructors and students alike, whether in synchronous online teaching or the individual classroom. Through debate, students learn how to make hypotheses, support their conclusions with evidence, and deploy the rhetoric of persuasion in the target language. Though this method provides an exciting pedagogy for moving students from the advanced to the superior level, there is a paucity of materials available for instructors who wish to plan a curriculum focused on debate. Teaching Advanced Language Skills through Global Debate: Theory and Practice provides teachers with both the theoretical underpinnings for using debate in the foreign language classroom as well as practical advice for developing reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills through debate. It discusses task-based language learning and helps instructors design debate-related tasks for the classroom. Teaching Advanced Language Skills through Global Debate will be useful for any instructor working at the advanced level, and particularly for those training future language instructors.One of the new digital short publications available through Georgetown University Press, it is an ideal complement to the press's new titles on mastering languages through global debate. Georgetown Digital Shorts-longer than an article, shorter than a book-deliver timely works of peer-reviewed scholarship in a fast-paced, agile environment. They present new ideas and original texts that are easily and widely available to students, scholars, libraries, and general readers.

Building superior Spanish language proficiency through critical engagement with global challengesMastering Spanish through Global Debate is a one-semester textbook designed for students with Advanced-level Spanish language skills, moving toward Superior. Over the course of each chapter, students gain linguistic and rhetorical skills as they prepare to debate on broad, timely topics, including environmental consciousness, immigration, wealth distribution, surveillance and privacy, cultural diversity, and education. Discussion of compelling issues promotes not only linguistic proficiency but social responsibility through critical engagement with complex global challenges. Each chapter includes topic-specific reading texts and position papers by writers from various Spanish-speaking countries. In addition to pre- and post-reading activities, students benefit from lexical development exercises, rhetorical methods sections, and listening exercises with audio available on the Press website. An online instructor’s manual provides pedagogical recommendations and an answer key.