English Literature

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Annual English Literature Balloon Debate
Guide for Participating Teams
Event details, Discussion points, Presentation
ideas
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(No Transcript)
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Introduction

• This guide aims to help you and your team prepare
  for the University of Surreys Annual English
  Literature Balloon Debate.
• Some of the questions, ideas and suggestions will
  already be familiar to you, some you will need to
  consider carefully, and we hope there are one or
  two ideas to take you in new directions.
• We hope you will find this information useful as
  you prepare for this years Debate.

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Choosing your author (1)

• Which literary figure most deserves to keep
  his/her place in the balloon? Whose case will you
  choose to defend?
• A childhood favourite?
• A bestselling author?
• A GCSE/AS Level author, poet, playwright?
• A new discovery?
• What are the advantages/disadvantages of each?

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Choosing your author (2)

• How will your team agree on which author to
  defend?
• Mini class presentations?
• Formal debate?
• Secret ballot?
• or will it be your teachers favourite?
• You can use this selection process as a rehearsal
  for your teams presentation at the Annual
  Balloon Debate and for supporters to practice
  asking questions.
• Keep notes of the most persuasive arguments put
  forward for each author. They will help you to
  persuade the judges too!

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Choosing your author (3)

• What is your teams criteria for judging the
  greatest author of all time?
• A spellbinding storyteller?
• A stylistic innovator?
• A moral educator?
• A political agitator?
• An intellectual giant?
• A national treasure?
• or all of the above, perhaps.

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Audience

• Your team will defend its chosen author in front
  of a panel of judges made up of English
  Department academics and undergraduate students
  from the university and in front of your
  competitors and their supporters!
• How will you convince each of these groups that
  your author is the most deserving of a place in
  the balloon?
• Think carefully about the strategies you might
  need to use to win as much support as possible
  from these different groups

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Making an impact (1)

• In the first round of the competition, your team
  will need to work together to present the best
  possible defence of your chosen author.
• Which style of presentation will sway the judging
  panel and secure your teams place in round two
  of the Debate?
• A detailed literary analysis?
• A humorous re-telling?
• Your author on the psychiatrists couch?
• A fantasy dinner party?
• ... There are many more ideas. Be creative!

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Making an impact (2)

• What are the key elements that you will choose to
  include in the defence of your author?
• Biographical detail key events/experiences that
  impact on the writing and/or our experience of
  reading
• Context historical, social, cultural, political
  factors that help us to gain a deeper
  understanding of the authors work
• Criticism Theory what are the wider ideas,
  questions, ideologies, concepts that your author
  is engaging with?
• Close Reading how will you illustrate your
  presentation with examples from the text? Do your
  references draw attention to issues of language,
  narrative, character, imagery, voice, style,
  form?

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Making an impact (3)

• Presentation Hints Tips
• - Will your team read from a script, from notes,
  or speak directly to the audience?
• Body language and eye contact being confident
• Using humour when is it safe to risk a joke?
• Braving technology (powerpoint/film clips/images)
• Will you use props?
• Are you going to produce a handout? What should
  you include?
• Volume control can you be heard in the back row,
  without deafening the judges in front of you?
• Animation Is it best to stand still and command
  the audience, or to move about to engage them?
• How will you arrange yourselves as a team? How
  will you interact to structure the presentation?

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Team working

• The winning school will not just offer the most
  persuasive defence of their author - they will be
  the team that works together most effectively.
• How will team work win the day?
• Identify each team members key strengths and
  play to them
• Allocate the right role to the right person
• Will you choose a team leader, or work
  cooperatively?
• Offer constructive feedback to each other
• Generate lots of team spirit! And ask your
  supporters to do the same!

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Thinking on your feet

• If your team makes it through to the second
  round, you will face a short Question Answer
  panel on your author. Questions will be chosen by
  the judges AND members of the audience!
• To impress the judges at this stage, you and your
  team mates will need to work together, stay
  focused, use your knowledge and think on your
  feet
• Stay ahead of the game Can you predict the kind
  of questions you might be asked (and the kind of
  responses you might need to give)?
• Refocusing Are there ways of rephrasing or
  adapting difficult questions so that you can
  answer in a different way? Look at how people
  answer difficult questions on the news. Why not
  try practising this before the day?
• Team play Think about how each member of the
  team can contribute. Who is better at remembering
  names/plots under pressure? Which of you can
  think creatively to make links to other writers?

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Active listeners

• Taking part in the Balloon Debate isnt just
  about presenting the best case for your author.
  Your team and supporters will also need to take
  an active role as members of the audience.
• So what does it mean to be an active listener?
• How do other teams ideas relate to the arguments
  you are putting forward in your presentation?
• Can you make links between and across different
  authors, texts, contexts, historical periods? Try
  not to think about your chosen author in
  isolation.
• Do you need to respond to issues raised in other
  teams presentations in the QA round?
• What kinds of questions might you ask other
  teams?

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And Finally

• Now its over to you. Which author, poet or
  playwright most deserves your support this year?
  How will you and your team mates ensure that your
  author isnt thrown out of the balloon?
• Up, up and away!