Section 4 — Your Voice
Session 14 of 16
Thursday, July 16, 2026
Debate and disagreement
Disagreeing effectively — in a way that is clear, firm, and respectful — is a skill most people never learn in their own language, let alone in English. This session teaches the specific phrases, structures, and strategies that allow you to push back, challenge, and disagree without damaging the conversation or losing your argument.
Vocabulary for this session
concederebutpush backnuancedevil's advocatesteel manpersuasionrhetoricdiplomatic disagreementchallenge
Grammar focus
Grammar focus: Diplomatic disagreement — "I take your point, but...", "That's one way of looking at it, however...", "I'd push back on that — the evidence suggests...", "I can see why you'd think that, though I'd argue...", "You raise a fair point, but it doesn't account for...". These phrases allow you to disagree firmly without being aggressive.
Come prepared to discuss
"Is it possible to change someone's mind? What does it actually take — evidence, emotion, trust, or something else?"
Before this session
Prepare: Find a news opinion piece you disagree with. Prepare to politely but firmly argue against it — in English — using the techniques from this session.
Task-Based Activity
The Steel Man Debate. Students take the homework from Session 13 (their structured arguments) and pair up with someone who argued the opposite position. Rule: before arguing against your opponent, you must accurately summarize their argument to their satisfaction ("steelmanning" — giving the strongest possible version of the other side). Then debate. Debrief: What happened when you had to genuinely understand the other side first? Did it change your own position at all?
Career-Oriented Take — How to Frame It
The ability to disagree diplomatically is one of the rarest and most valued professional skills. In international business, where cultures have very different norms around directness and disagreement, knowing how to push back in English — firmly but without giving offense — is a genuine competitive advantage. This session gives you the exact phrases to do it.
Big Picture
"Steelmanning" — the opposite of strawmanning — means engaging with the strongest version of an opposing argument rather than the weakest. It was popularized by philosopher Daniel Dennett's "Rapoport's Rules" for constructive disagreement. It is cognitively harder than strawmanning, but it produces better thinking, better arguments, and better outcomes. It is also, in practice, more persuasive — because audiences recognize intellectual honesty.
Current Events Take
Take a current political debate with two clear sides. Assign students to teams. Each team must (1) present the strongest version of the opposing team's argument, and (2) then argue against it. Debrief: Which team steelmanned most effectively? Did anyone change their view? What made the most persuasive arguments?
Homework (assign after session)
Watch or read a debate about a current events topic. Write 150 words: Who do you think won — and why? Use vocabulary from this session (steelman, concede, rebut, evidence, rhetorical, diplomatic).