The College Board has decided to change the name of one of it´s language AP exams free response sections from Persuasive Essay to Argumentative Essay.
Persuasive essays attempt to convince the readers to agree with the writer, by using emotions, personal ideas, etc. while argumentative essays attempt to convince the readers to accept the writer’s idea as true, by using statistics, facts and figures. In all honesty the new name for this section describes better what we were asking the kids to do during this section of the exam, therefore I consider this a very good move.
I Wanted to share an important oral activity I came up with prior to jumping into argumentative essay:
Oral group activity.
1- Groups of three students
2- One student defends the issue, other opposes and another is either neutral; or act as mediator.
3- Give a topic to each group (you can rotate the topics throughout the school year)
4- Find topics in Spanish HERE
5- Give them 10 to 15 min to prepare
6- Each group talks about the issue in front of the class.
7- Encourage class to ask questions.
8- Find here a list of argumentative words HERE
HAPPY TEACHING!
@Copyright Diego Ojeda, this material is intended only for educational purposes and it’s free. It is prohibited to profit from it in any way. For questions contact Diego Ojeda @ diego@srojeda.com
DIEGO OJEDA 