45-minute skeleton: Um Game, 8 min; tone exercise, 7 min; model speech, 5 min; Pop-Up Debate, 15 min; comment sheets and rotation jobs run alongside the speeches, supported by learners during the debate itself.
First action: pick your three random topics and one short model speech tonight, so nothing stalls at the door.
Ordered steps for the session
Open with the Um Game: a volunteer speaks for 60 seconds on a random topic with no filler words, and the class applauds slip-ups. Some learners stay quiet, so add a written reflection everyone completes.
Run a tone exercise next. Groups deliver a plain sentence with an assigned emotion while classmates guess the tone, then discuss how delivery changes meaning.
Model a speech before debate practice. Deliver a two-minute speech yourself, pointing out two or three observable features, such as eye contact, pausing, and a clear ending, then ask learners to listen for those features when they speak.
Move to Pop-Up Debate style practice: all learners write prep first, then everyone speaks at least once from their seat while you track participation on your roster. Some students freeze, so offer encouraging prompts, retry chances, or permission to use notes.
Offer a comment sheet during speeches so peer feedback stays useful. Provide example comment lists, since learners need concrete models for feedback wording in English, and keep large classes active by rotating listening jobs, such as timing, tone, or clarity.
A finished one-session plan
You open with the Um Game. Amir volunteers and speaks for sixty seconds on why dogs make better pets than cats. He says um twice, the class applauds, he grins, and afterwards everyone writes one sentence on what made his speech easy to follow. Then you stand up yourself and give a two-minute model speech on the board topic, naming three things to listen for: eye contact, pausing before key points, and a strong last line.
The tone exercise follows in groups, each delivering I can't believe you did that with an assigned emotion while classmates guess. When group three delivers it angrily after group one said it playfully, learners call out their own examples, like Sana noting the angry version sounded like an accusation. Groups perform, classmates guess, and the discussion lands on one named observation per group about how delivery changed meaning.
Pop-Up Debate closes the session. Everyone writes prep notes for two minutes on whether homework should be banned. You call learners by name from your roster so each person speaks at least once from their seat, while listeners rotate jobs, one timing, one tracking tone, one checking clarity. During speeches, learners use comment sheets with phrases like Your ending was strong because..., and one comment may be written in the home language.
Completion check
Your session is complete when every learner has spoken at least once from their seat during the debate, since the writing step means all students come prepared.
You tracked participation on your roster, so glance at it now: any name with no speech recorded needs a prompt, a retry offer, or permission to use notes next time.
Peer feedback is in hand if each learner submitted a comment sheet with at least one concrete phrase, such as praise naming what worked or a wish naming what to add.
The tone exercise passed if listeners correctly named most assigned emotions and could say how one delivery changed meaning, like hearing the same sentence as praise or accusation.
The Um Game built confidence if, by its end, most learners volunteered or at least agreed to a retry after staying quiet, rather than refusing to speak at all.
One honest limit: some students may still freeze. Completion does not mean perfect delivery, only that each person contributed and you know who needs encouragement next session.