What do you think about that?

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
after learning this unit, you should

• Able to understand how to ask opinion and gives opinions
• Able to create a poster

LEAR ABOUT IT
Welcome to study English. In this series, we are going to study ho to ask opinion and gives an opinion to others. By study this, we will practice speaking skills such as pronunciation, sentence rhythm and developing ideas.

Let's look someone talks about bullying

What do you think about a 13-year-old girl named Kiki who barely stopped schooling because her classmates used to make fun of her relentlessly? We believe that her classmates must not intimidate her even though her father is a street vendor. In another case, 15-year-old Dinda could not make such intimidation anymore. She becomes depressed, left school and stayed at home because she was constantly teased by her classmate for failing in junior high school.

In another case, many senior students of junior high school took seven junior students and subjected them to violent beatings. Sherry, one of the junior student, was rushed to hospital with bruises on his abdomen. He extremely scared to go to school. Julie, a 10-year student, fifth-grade student, states that her first two years of elementary school were a traumatic experience. She sadly remembers being cruelly bullied by her male classmates because she was overweighed. They used to call Sumatran elephant, baboon, gentong, and many other names. We all agree that they should not bully or intimidate their friends whoever he/she is.

These are few cases out of hundreds of similar cases and the number is increasing over some time. In Indonesia bullying exists in every form, from teasing to extreme abuse. Even though incidents of bullying are common, unfortunately, it is not seen as a major problem. A recent survey conducted by the National Child Protection Commission has shown that more than half of bullying incidents go unreported due to to the fact that it is considered normal in some societies. Also, people who get bullied are either unwilling to report it because they feel it will 'make a big deal'. Or worse, they are so scared that they didn't

Let's focus on this sentence
What do you think about a 13-year-old student girl named Kiki who barely stopped schooling because her classmates used to make fun of her relentlessly?
This sentence is used to ask someone opinion.

To state one's view we can use this sentence
We believe that her classmates must not intimidate her even though her father is a street vendor.
As far as I'm concerned, children should not be living in constant fear.

For academic writing we avoid in using words I. We can use expressing people's general opinion or view such as
It is thought that children are not living in constant fear.
Below will be listed some expression to ask for and state one's opinion/view.
ASKING FOR ONE'S OPINION/VIEW

• what do you think about ...?
• What is your opinion about...?
• What do you mean?
• What would you say about that?

STATING ONE'S POINT/VIEW

• In my experience, ...
• As far as I am concerned, ...
• Speaking for my self, ...
• In my opinion,...
• Personally, I think ...
• I'd say that ...
• I'd suggest that ...
• I'd like to point out that ...
• I believe that ...
• What I mean is ...

EXPRESSING PEOPLE'S GENERAL OPINION/VIEW

• It is thought that ...
• Some people say that ...
• It is believed that ...
• It is considered that ...
• It is generally accepted that ...

LET'S PLAY GAME 'CLICK HERE'

Class Project: English Debate

Objectives

Through this section you will learn the basic thing of parliamentary English debate and able to perform debating relate today's issue.

Learn about it!

Listen to the following recording:

In Indonesia, there are many debate competitions held for senior high school students. The debate is called parliamentary debate. There are three forms of parliamentary debate: Asian parliamentary, Australian parliamentary and British parliamentary debate. In this session, we are going to focus on the most commonly used form in Indonesia; Asian parliamentary debate. Unlike the debate that we have just listened, parliamentary debate has some rules.

1. The topic that’s going to be debated is called motion.
2. There will be two teams in a debate: government/affirmative team (supporting the motion) and opposition/negative team (opposing the motion).
3. Each team consists of three speakers. There are first, second, and third speakers. There is also a reply speaker whose roles can be taken by the first or second speaker.
4. The first/second/third speaker has seven minutes to deliver their speech, while a reply speaker has four minutes. Additional 20 seconds are given if speakers cannot finish their speech in the given time.
5. The turn in the debate is: First speaker of government team > first speaker of opposition team > second speaker of government team > second speaker of opposition team > third speaker of government team > third speaker of opposition team > reply speaker of opposition team > reply speaker of government team. Note that the one giving reply speech firstly is the opposition team.
6. Interruption or Point of Information (POI) can be asked to the speaker delivering speech in minute 01-06. The time to give POI is only 15 seconds.
7. Content of the arguments, structures (delivery and strategy), and manner are what counts to win the debate.

To get better understanding of how a parliamentary debate runs. Let’s listen to the example of a debate. The motion of the debate is “This House Would Criminalize Parents whose Children Commit Crime”. The phrase ‘this house’ means the government. Due to the limited time, only some speakers are selected and the speech is not delivered completely.

Listen to the following recording.

Supporting arguments

Opposing arguments

Adjudicator

If you listen carefully, you will find that each speaker has their own role. Now, let’s learn about the role of each speaker.

• The roles of the first speaker of the government team are setting the debate (in terms of scope, settings, stakeholders and definition), giving the background of the debate, and delivering the supporting argument.
• The roles of the first speaker of the opposition team are giving rebuttals (responses/negations) to the first speaker’s arguments and giving arguments from the negative views.
• The roles of the second speaker of the government/opposition team are similar to the roles of the first speaker of opposition team. They should give rebuttals toward the previous speaker’s arguments and extend the debate by bringing new arguments or supporting the arguments of their previous speakers.
• The roles of the third speaker of the government/opposition team are giving rebuttals toward all previous speakers’ arguments and sum-up the debate. The third speakers should wrap the main arguments, compare them, and then show adjudicators why they deserve the upper hand.
• The roles of the reply speakers of both teams generally are similar to the role of the third speaker. However, a reply speaker is not allowed to give new responses or rebuttals.

MOTION OF DEBATING
1. The house believes that technology would replace the conventional teacher.
2. The house believes that full-days school would improve the quality of education in Indonesia.
3. The house believes that UAE's economy would collapse without supported by Abu Dhabi oil reserves.

Let look with this example

The presence of technology in the classroom has become more and more apparent and offers students tremendous resources with which to supplement their education. Given time, technology will completely replace the conventional teachers in the classroom. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

THE SCHEME OF DEBATING

THE FIRST SPEAKER OF GOVERNMENT TEAM

Today, technology has become more and more apparent and offers the students tremendous resources in the teaching-learning process. We can find a lot of information by using technology such as computerize in education which supported by the internet. It is agreed that technology will replace conventional teachers. It is proven by students could study any kind of lesson without teachers. As an example, there some universities like XXXX University offer a long-distance class for their students. The qualities are as good as conventional ones. By this reason, It is clear that why we support this motion.

THE FIRST SPEAKER  OF OPPOSITION TEAM

I oppose the statement which said students could study any kind of lesson without teachers. It would be impossible for technology in accommodating all different learning style of students. Teachers accommodate this by some technique in teaching. They can replace their approaching or technique in teaching when the students feel difficulties in understanding the topic given. As an example, when students are having trouble in memorizing the irregular verb in English, the teacher can use the game strategy in teaching or the other fun technique. Computerize cannot paraphrase the topic given or changing the approach and the technique in learning the topic of the classroom. Technology cannot replace conventional teachers in teaching and learning.

THE SECOND SPEAKER OF GOVERNMENT TEAM
E-learning offers the students tremendous fun media for many of different style of learning whether auditory, visual, or kinesthetic. You can find this media through Youtube, Learning Management System, Searching engine . It is such a fascinating learning experience that encourage students to study more. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

SECOND SPEAKER  OF OPPOSITION TEAM

Learning not only for fun and transfer knowledge but also for teaching-learning process is for bold attitude and moral value. Teachers in teaching not only transfer knowledge and train the students' skill but also improve students’ attitude such as discipline and moral value. As an example, Teacher could give the reward or punishment to the students. When student made mistake like not making homework, she/he is given punishment to make her/him more discipline. Computerize in education cannot do the reward and punishment approaching in which believed that improve the students quality on their attitude.Technology cannot replace the conventional teachers.

THIRD SPEAKER OF GOVERNMENT TEAM
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THIRD SPEAKER  OF OPPOSITION TEAM

The presence of technology in education is very essential because it can be knowledge resources to fulfill the students need. However, Technology in the form of Computerize or others in education cannot replace the existence of the teachers in the classroom. Such the above explanation, teachers can cater the students need and give moral value and discipline but not for the technology. It is recommended that technology and teachers are two aspects that cannot be separated. Teachers use technology as media in teaching and learning to improve students’ quality in education.

REPLAY SPEAKER OF OPPOSITION TEAM
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REPLAY SPEAKER OF GOVERNMENT TEAM
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Expressing Stance (Formally and Informally)

Objectives

Responding to meaning of formal, sustained, transactional (to get things done) conversations and interpersonal (socializing) conversations in fluent and accurate manners, using varieties of simple oral texts in different daily life contexts, involving expression of stance.

Learn about it!

        You spend a lot of time at school. Do you ever have arguments with your friends? Have you ever discussed about your school with your friends? What are the good things about your school? And what are the things that need improvement? When thinking about your school and its facilities, you have opinions. You want others know your opinion.

       Sharing opinions in daily life can be about many things. When you watch television, listen to radio broadcast, read newspaper, or reading profile status on social media, etc. Expressing opinion involves a thinking process.

       A way of thinking about something is called stance. Expressing stance means you give an opinion or letting other people know your position about specific issues, by saying what you think, feel or believe. Take for an example, sharing opinions about the condition in your city. It can be about the traffic jam, a new open wi-fi facility in town, events at public libraries, etc. Your position can be supporting something, critical about something, or neutral.

       In this topic, you will learn how to express stance or how to show where you stand (your opinion) on some issues, whether you are for (support) it, against it or do not take sides. Before you start, please read the following conversation.

Do you understand?

Conversation 1

Danang : Day by day the traffic jam is getting worse.
Dimas : I believe it is because there are too many private vehicles on the main street.
Danang : Do you think people should stop using private vehicles and start taking public transportation?
Dimas : In my point of view, if people move to public transportation, the traffic will not be this bad.
Danang : Well, it seems to me that people use private vehicles because the public transportation is not comfortable.
Dimas : In my experience not all of public transporations are uncomfortable. Besides, it is cheaper.
Danang : Yes. You are right about that.

The conversation above shows how to express stance formally. When discussing a serious matter in formal settings, we tend to use formal phrase, such as in a debate, presentation or speech. The formal phrases you can use in this situation are:

I (personally) think ….
I feel that ….
I (strongly) believe (that) ….
In my opinion ….
In my experience ….
As far as I'm concerned ….
It seems to me that ….
In my (point of) view ….
To my mind ….
To be honest with you ….

Conversation 2

Alia : What did you think of the Twilight movie?
Petra: I hated it.
Alia : Really? I loved it.
Petra: I think the movie is boring. The love story is just too much.
Alia : I guess it’s because you are a boy, and boys don’t like romantic movies.
Petra: Maybe. I like the music, though. In my opinion, the only good thing about the movie is the music.
Alia : Yeah. I feel that the music is really good.

The second conversation shows more casual way of expressing stance. Casual style is usually used when you discuss light issue between friends. For example, when your friend asks for your opinion about movies, music, sports, or fashion; the informal phrases you can use in these situations are:

I think ….
I feel that ….
If you ask me ….
I guess ….
You know what I think? (I think) ….

Keypoints

• You don’t always have to use casual phrases in informal conversations.
• Sometimes you can use formal phrases in your conversation between friends, to show you are very serious with what you say.
• The most important thing is to express what you have in mind without offending others.
• You can be strong in the position of your opinions but remain polite and not offensive