The Contrarian

Materials:
 * Debating topics prepared beforehand
 * Paper slips with the debating roles (see below for examples of debating 'roles')

Instructions:
 * Students gather in a circle. Each one draws randomly a debating 'role,' that they have to follow during that debate round (or through the whole game if you prefer). After each round students try to guess what the 'role' of each debater was. This is a nice game for speaking practice, especially if you have expressions you want them to use on the board. You can even create debating roles that force certain students to use certain expressions.
 * Examples of Debating Roles:
 * The Devil's Advocate (Always tries to defend the opposite point of view of the last speaker)
 * The Fanatic (A person who has very strong believes and makes very enthusiastic arguments)
 * The Fool (Has crazy or otherwise unreasonable points-of-view and makes insane arguments)
 * The one who constantly interrupts others
 * Negative Nancy (Always has pessimistic and negative points to make about issues)
 * Pollyanna (Always has positive and overly optimistic arguments)
 * The one whose arguments always come from terrible sources
 * The one who is totally formal and polite (This role is obliged to make use of complex expressions and extremely polite interjections)
 * The Comparer (Always uses comparative sentences to make arguments)
 * The Superlative (Always uses superlative constructions to make their arguments)
 * Examples of Debating Topics:
 * Vegetarianism
 * The role of people/governments in helping the environment
 * Do Aliens exist?
 * Is there ever a good reason to commit a crime?