Discussions and debates

For general discussions you will be able to find moderated, topic appropriate forums where students can register safely and contribute. The best is ePals - for example here is an ePals climate change forum where students of any age can log in and participate safely either from within school or from home. The advantage of using these forums is that there is sure to be a topic that matches your requirement, you can track the students' involvement and pick up responses to their posts in a subsequent lesson, the moderation is done for you, the platform is safe so there is no need to prepare any guidance or have any technical expertise. You can register on ePals and upload your students into registered accounts within a few days. There is no fee; ePals is free for schools to use.

There are many free online tools with which you can create a 'closed' message board or forum for your students and the students from your partner school to use. You will need the support of your ICT department and there are certain protocols to follow with regard to checking logs, moderation, uploading items and so on. We are happy to advise you - contact us.

A week by week exchange of emails is very well suited to a topic such as the French Revolution, or the Slave Trade, or to characters in book or play, as you can introduce roles and relate the debate to the teaching in each school. If you are debating using a target language you can ensure to include aspects of grammar that have been recently introduced in lessons. Students can work in groups to prepare 'speeches' on Word documents that can be attached to emails sent to the partner school. If you want to use a moderated email programme that allows students to email their text individually and safely, we suggest ePals, though you may prefer to do this through your VLE.

Using the target language in a debate can be too challenging. Use of native tongue is a way to provide an authentic resource each week from which you can identify points of grammar and vocabulary as well as gaining a better understanding of your partner school. The best way is to agree a topic with your partner school, and work in a lesson such as citizenship to write the proposing speeches in English. Take a show of hands on viewpoints (eg should school uniform be compulsory) and put the class into groups to work together to express their arguments, bearing in mind that their audience does not know British culture nor is English their first language. (See Developing Intercultural Competence in Practice, page 15)

Use of roles allows students to focus on the use of the language rather than trying to express personal opinions. It also allows for more humour and creativity - even an exploration of cultural stereotypes such as an exchange where the UK students write in French about fantastic French food and restaurants and the French students reply in English about preferring 'down to earth' meals from caffs and fish and chip shops. This could trigger follow-up class discussions about stereotypes and some attempts to debunk the stereotypes through written presentations or video diaries (in native tongue). A good relationship with your link teacher and your citizenship colleagues would be essential because this has a serious side in that cultural stereotypes can be harmful! But it is through this exercise that students will think twice before using a cultural stereotype about real people. A useful concept is that cultural stereotypes have developed over time and are now outdated - so without denying the stereotype reflects the viewpoints of some people, you can explain to your partner school that the viewpoint is not held by young people who are more likely to resist the cultural stereotypes created by the older generations.

Students will be accustomed to having discussions on MSN and Facebook - but how can this be re-created safely in a classroom environment? First some groundwork needs to take place. Discussion in an online forum needs to take place with your partner school before you try to run a live discussion as a forum is a much more controlled form of discussion and can be used to establish ground rules. Explain to both classes that the chat is recorded and that submitted text cannot be deleted. Consult your ICT department before running a live online discussion; you may be able to use your VLE. You are welcome to contact us for suggestions about creating a safe online discussion area that is private to your linked schools. The discussion area MUST be closed at the end of the session and sessions should only be run from on the school premises with teacher supervision. If you would like further advice, contact us.

An alternative to the live discussion where the students log in and participate is for the two teachers to connect and carry out the discussion via IWB or computer/projector, with students suggesting replies from their seats. Do not share your login with your class or leave the connection open when the lesson finishes.

This is as close to a live face-to-face experience as you can get with ICT. It can benefit from taking quite a structured form, with lessons for preparation and a shared plan. You can to to our Teachers ICT toolkit to find plenty of guidance on videoconferencing.

Excellent preparation for live debate is the podcast debate where students can work with a script if they are less confident. From scripted podcasts, move to interview style podcasts. There is ample scope for self and peer evaluation and improvement, making these an excellent learning tool. They are easily uploaded to a site such as Radiowaves where they can be shared with your partner school(s).

The VCC is a fantastic way to realise a goal at the end of a topic or term of study. It can collate all sorts of learning outputs under one 'roof' and make these available to be viewed by an invited audience such as a partner school and parents and carers. Pieces of work, podcasts, presentations, message boards and live discussions can all be incorporated into the conference. This could also be used in conjunction with a real event such as a inter-school debate or an international visit that was accessible to a small number of students in order to widen participation. The VC can take place over a number of days or weeks.