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🏛️ C1 Advanced Debate • Cultural Policy & Public Budgeting

Gallery Walk: Fund It or Not

Evaluate 6 competing community arts proposals, write high-stakes concession critique notes, and distribute your team's public funding votes.

Total Duration 30 MIN ⚡ 5 Fast-Paced Steps

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1. Rules of the Game

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Teacher Directives (Setup & Moderation)

1 Tape the 6 posters at spaced stations around the classroom perimeter before class.
2 Organize students into teams of 4 and hand out pads of yellow sticky notes.
3 Signal rotations every 2 minutes using a clear timer or bell to keep momentum high.
4 Award 1 point per valid comment that correctly uses concession or inverted conditional grammar.
5 Tally the 3 team votes on the main board to crown the funded public initiative.

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Student Mission (Deliberate & Vote)

1 Walk with your team to each designated project station when the timer starts.
2 Critique the budget and impact: Does this art piece merit taxpayer subsidy or private patronage?
3 Write one formal sticky note per station strictly utilizing the specified sentence starters.
4 Earn 1 point for every grammatically accurate structure stuck directly onto the poster board.
5 Cast your 3 team votes via funding stickers on the projects with the greatest civic payoff.

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2. Timed Plan (30 Minutes Total)

Step 1

Team Setup & Role Assigning

Assign Scribe, Timekeeper, Debater & Vote Envoy.

12m

Step 2

Gallery Walk Rotations

2 mins sharp per poster. Rotate immediately on signal.

Step 3

Team Deliberation & Voting

Reconvene at home base to allocate 3 funding votes.

Step 4

Score Verification & Tally

Validate sticky notes for language points & count votes.

Step 5

Awards & Plenary Debrief

Announce winning arts grant & reflect on civic spending.

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3. Project Posters (Stations 1 – 6)

STATION 01 🎨

Inner-City Mural Project

💰 $15,000 👥 80,000 locals

Transform grey concrete underpasses into vibrant open-air exhibits to enrich the district and combat local urban decay.

Target Focus: Public accessibility vs. Long-term maintenance

STATION 02 🎭

Youth Experimental Theatre

💰 $45,000 👥 4,000 attendees

Subsidise avant-garde productions to make high theatre accessible to working-class teens who are typically alienated by elitist venues.

Target Focus: High per-capita subsidy vs. Deep youth empowerment

STATION 03 🎻

Symphony in the Park

💰 $30,000 👥 25,000 listeners

Deliver free classical concerts to break down the elitist stigma surrounding orchestral music and foster civic unity in public parks.

Target Focus: Mass civic appeal vs. Fleeting one-weekend event

STATION 04 🖼️

Maritime Heritage Restoration

💰 $90,000 👥 12,000 visitors

Preserve century-old fishing trawlers and curate historical maritime artifacts to safeguard the harbor's fading working-class history.

Target Focus: High capital expenditure vs. Long-term heritage preservation

STATION 05 🎬

Docu-Film Commission

💰 $25,000 👥 150,000 online

Commission regional independent filmmakers to capture disappearing indigenous oral traditions and stream them openly worldwide.

Target Focus: Global online digital reach vs. Physical local presence

STATION 06 🪘

Community Afro-Beat Guild

💰 $18,000 👥 9,500 participants

Provide free communal drum kits and weekly rhythm workshops funded through civic philanthropy to bridge immigrant neighborhood divides.

Target Focus: Hands-on community bonding vs. Niche musical genre

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4. Comment Cards (Sticky Notes)

Every team must write their live critique on yellow sticky notes using one of the three mandatory sentence stems below. Stick one note onto each poster board during rotations!

Stem Option A 📌

"Admittedly [cost/criticism], but [civic benefit]..."

Concession stem: Acknowledge the high price or niche appeal first, then defend the community value.

Stem Option B 📌

"Granted that [concession], nevertheless [counter-argument]..."

Formal rebuttal: Concede an undeniable limitation before asserting why funding remains vital.

Stem Option C 📌

"Should funding stop, [predicted consequence]..."

Inverted conditional: Forecast the grave social or cultural cost if the municipal council cuts support.

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5. Scoring & Voting System

1 Point Per Valid Sticky Note

Every sticky note stuck to a poster that correctly utilizes a concession clause or inverted conditional structure earns your team 1 official language point.

Max potential: 6 points per team (1 per station).

3🎟️

3 Funding Allocation Votes

Each team receives exactly 3 voting stickers. During Step 3, debate internally and allocate your votes. You may spread them across 3 projects or stake all 3 on one top favorite!

Rules: You cannot vote for projects without posting a sticky note first.

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Winning Project & Champions

The art initiative with the highest tally of public voting stickers secures the simulated $100,000 Municipal Arts Grant. The student team with the highest grammar score wins the Civic Critic Trophy.

Tie-breaker: Most creative use of C1 vocabulary.

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6. Sentence Starters (Unit Grammar & Vocabulary)

💡 Key C1 Vocabulary Bank: curate, exhibit, commission, preserve, subsidy, patron, philanthropy, accessible, elitist, enrich.

Pattern 1 • Concession

"Admittedly [project] costs [amount], but it enriches [community sector]."

Target words: enrich, subsidy

Pattern 2 • Concession

"Granted that admission is free, nevertheless [counter-concern regarding sustainability]."

Target words: accessible, patron

Pattern 3 • Inversion (Type 1)

"Should funding cease, the community will [negative outcome / cultural loss]."

Target words: exhibit, preserve

Pattern 4 • Inversion (Type 2)

"Were it not for municipal subsidies, this would remain an elitist [type of art form]."

Target words: elitist, subsidy

Pattern 5 • Concession

"Even though patrons support the museum, public access [depends upon civic aid]."

Target words: patron, philanthropy

Pattern 6 • Inversion (Type 2)

"Were the council to commission this work, it would preserve [heritage / tradition]."

Target words: commission, curate

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7. Teacher Key & Common Student Errors

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Model High-Scoring Sticky Notes

Station 1 (Mural Project):

"Should funding cease, these public underpasses will remain neglected and blighted."

Station 2 (Youth Theatre):

"Granted that ticket prices are low, nevertheless the company must prove its programming is not elitist."

Station 4 (Maritime Restoration):

"Were it not for municipal philanthropy, we could never preserve this irreplaceable working-class artifact."

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Errors to Listen for & Penalize

❌ "Should funding stops..."

✅ Fix: "Should funding stop..."

The modal auxiliary 'Should' in inverted conditional 1 requires a bare infinitive verb.

❌ "Admittedly the project is good because it enriches kids..."

✅ Fix: "Admittedly it is expensive, but it enriches kids..."

'Admittedly' signals a concession and requires a contrasting connector ('but', 'yet'), not a causal one ('because').

❌ "Were funding is cut..."

✅ Fix: "Were funding cut..." OR "Were funding to be cut..."

Inverted conditional 2 uses subjunctive 'Were' with passive participle or infinitive.

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8. Activity Variations & Fast Finishers

Tier 1: Supported

Scaffolded Cue Cards

Allow students to carry printed Sentence Starter strips in their hands as they tour the posters, simply filling in the bracketed project facts.

Tier 2: Standard

Dual Vocabulary Rule

Teams must integrate at least two C1 vocabulary words from the unit word bank into each sticky note comment to earn the point.

Tier 3: Advanced

The Counter-Strike

Ban generic words ("money", "cheap"). Students must read the previous team's sticky note and write a direct grammatical counter-argument.

Fast Finishers

City Council Veto Memo

Teams done early draft a 2-sentence formal memorandum to the Mayor justifying why one rival project must be completely defunded.

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9. Closing Discussion Questions (Plenary Debrief)

"Which arts projects rely most urgently on public subsidy rather than private patrons, and why?"

Debate prompt: Can grassroots community initiatives survive purely on corporate philanthropy?

"How can municipal councils ensure public art remains genuinely accessible without becoming elitist or gatekept?"

Debate prompt: Examine ticket prices, venue geography, and outreach to working-class demographics.

"Were municipal funding slashed by half next year, which single project would you preserve at all costs?"

Debate prompt: Force students to utilize inverted conditional structures in their final oral verdict.

Class activity: Gallery Walk (Fund It or Not)