Zoo Debate-Y6 English lesson

This week our classroom became the Houses of Parliament! We organised the room so that there were two sides of the house and dispatch boxes in the middle of the room. After, Mr Redmond, who was acting as the Speaker, called members from both sides of the House to give speeches about the motion of our debate: this house believes that all zoos should be closed. The opening speech was given by the Right Honourable Patrick, who spoke on behalf of the KTZ party (Keep The Zoos). His main point was that many animals in the wild are on the brink of extinction and are saved by zoos. Then the Speaker asked the leader of the Born Wild party, the Right Honourable Ronnie, to answer this speech, who speedily turned this point on its head by saying that conservation could happen in the wild.

After this, many more rousing speeches, which, one party member said, almost made him vote for the other party, were made by the Born Wild and KTZ parties. The Speaker was particularly impressed by one speech which was made without any preparation.

At the end of the debate, the House divided and voted. The motion was carried by 16 votes to 8. We are looking forward to using our experiences from this debate when writing balanced arguments next week.

By Imogen (Y6) and Mr Redmond