College Admissions Debate

 Level: Primero Bachillerato, Bilingual section

For my bilingual Bachillerato classes, the English level is so high that the teachers and I are basically free to lesson plan as we would teaching a high school English language arts class in the United States. One of the activities we have done is organize a "debate": present the class with two options and have them come up with arguments in support of and against each, then deciding which they prefer. This is a great way to encourage critical thinking skills, and to prepare them to engage in high level abstract discussion in the English language. The topic I chose for the class was college admissions in the U.S. vs. in Spain. First I wrote notes on each on a white board to provide a visual aid. The class helped me fill in notes on the Spanish process and I taught them about the American process, which is very different. Then I had them silently write the pros and cons of each for a while. After they had written, we came back and discussed pros and cons of each, and I took notes on the board as we went. Finally, I encouraged them to present arguments for which system they would prefer, and we had a vote at the end of class. All in all, even though students had some critiques of the Spanish system's emphasis on testing, they all agreed they preferred it to the American system, which forces students to commodify every detail of their lives and puts pressure on things like athletic performance, artistic skill, "leadership skills", etc. Also they were very disturbed when I told them how much college costs in the U.S., and how consequently many students are forced on a high stakes hunt for scholarships and funding opportunities. It was very interesting to hear this perspective and I now think about my own country's system very differently.