After-school academies and workload: a middle school discussion lesson

This lesson works because your students are not theorising. They are sitting in your hagwon classroom at 7pm on a Wednesday after a full day of regular school, and half of them have another class after yours. They know exactly how tired they are, and they have thought about whether it is worth it.

The topic has been in Korean news consistently since the government announced measures in late 2024 to reduce private education spending, which hit a record high. Students this age have watched their parents argue about hagwon fees, and many have friends who quit academies or added more. The debate is real to them in a way that "should homework be banned" is not.

What you need

Print one copy of the handout per student. You need a board and about ten minutes of prep to write the structure. No special materials.

The lesson runs for 45 minutes. It works with 8-20 students and scales badly outside that range.

How to run it

Minutes 1-5: Set the question

Write the motion on the board: "Students should be allowed to attend private academies after regular school." Ask for a show of hands. Do not discuss yet. You are checking how the room splits and whether anyone is genuinely unsure.

Minutes 6-15: Pair brainstorm

Put students in pairs. One pair works on "yes" arguments, the next works on "no", alternating. Give them the handout. Their job is to add at least two more points to their assigned side, in English, using the sentence frames if they need them. Walk the room and push them to be specific. "Hagwons are expensive" is too vague. Push them to give a concrete reason or example instead. That specificity is what makes an argument real. (Never ask students about their own family's fees.)

Minutes 16-35: Structured debate

Each side presents two arguments. Students vote on the strongest argument from each side (not the side they agree with, but the argument that was best explained). Then open the floor for rebuttals. Your job here is only to enforce English and stop interruptions. Let them get heated if they want to, as long as it stays in the target language.

Minutes 36-45: Flip and write

This is the part that makes it work. Tell students to argue the opposite side from the one they believe. Write two paragraphs: one supporting the other position, one explaining which argument from today changed your thinking or surprised you, even slightly. Collect these. They are your evidence that the lesson did something.

What actually happens

Students often split in unexpected ways: some argue freedom to choose, others focus on rest and balance. You will have at least one student whose parent is a hagwon teacher, and they will defend the system sharply. You will have at least one student who says they want to quit all academies and their parents will not let them.

The pair who draws the "no" side and actually attends four hagwons will struggle with cognitive dissonance. Let them. That discomfort is the lesson.

Why this works now

The Korean government's December 2024 announcement of a task force to monitor excessive private education spending put this back in the news, and students noticed. The debate is not abstract. These kids have been to hagwons since elementary school, and the question of how it helps them and how to balance it with rest is one they think about in the gap between your class and the next one.

It works because students can speak from their own experience. You are not introducing a controversy. You are giving them structured English time to argue about something they already argue about in Korean at home.