C1SpeakingWriting~11 min

Debating ideas

Defend a position, concede points, build arguments.

1Learn the essentials

Debating in English is structured disagreement: state a claim, support it, and respond to the other side.

Signal your move: “My main argument is… / On the other hand…”
Concede gracefully: “That's a fair point, but…”
Back claims with reasons or examples, not just stronger words.

2Warm up & speak

Phrase 1 / 6

I take your point, but it only holds in the short term.

Acepto tu argumento, pero solo se sostiene a corto plazo.

💡 'I take your point' concede de verdad; 'I hear you' suena a que no piensas moverte.

Speak it, or skip ahead anytime.

3Lock it in

Debating ideas1 / 14

Acepto tu argumento, pero solo se sostiene a corto plazo.

Say it in English, then check yourself.

4Practise speaking

C1say it out loud

Open for the motion in ninety seconds

A seminar debate on whether the school an applicant attended may count in university admissions. You open.

State your position in one sentence the other side would call fair.
Give their best argument before they do, concede what is true in it, then show what survives.
Close on the sentence you want repeated. Add no new claim after it.

You did it if

Your concession was one the other side would recognise, and your last line argued nothing new.

0 of 3 moves rehearsed

Nothing here is listening or marking you — this is your own rehearsal, and you tick a move when you have said it out loud. For live correction, take the same situation to Rumi, your AI Tutor, in the role-play step below.

5Practise writing

C1150–240 words

Concede the strongest point against you

Argue one side of this: should a city be allowed to close its centre to cars without putting it to a public vote? Then state the strongest argument against you — the version its best advocate would recognise, not a weak one you can knock down — concede what is genuinely true in it, and show why your position survives anyway.

0 words (target 150–240)

Self-check

Tick each point once your draft covers it.

Your claim in the first two sentences, worded so that someone could disagree with it
Two reasons, each resting on something concrete rather than on a stronger adjective
The counter-argument put in words its own supporters would accept
A real concession: name what you have given up, never “of course there are downsides”
A close that says why the claim holds after the concession, and introduces no new claim

✍️ Want detailed feedback on your own text? Paste it to Rumi, your AI Tutor, for line-by-line corrections.

6Role-play the conversation

Rehearse the full conversation with Rumi, your AI Tutor — live, in-character role-play with gentle grammar & word-choice corrections as you go.

Open the AI Tutor