SMIC Middle School Debate Team Blows Past the Competition
Posted: 30/10/2020
Did you know that we had a debate team here at Beijing SMIC Private School? Did you also know that this debate team has been destroying their competition for years, WITHOUT A COACH!? Our debate team has taken it upon themselves to practice every week and develop their presentation skills. They also enter and find transportation to all of their competitions all on their own!
On the weekend of October 17th our very own grade 6 superstars Monica Liu and Barbara Ouyang finished in 2nd place in the National High School Debate League of China! (see left) To find out the secret to our debate team’s success, we interviewed the Debate Team President, Eliah Yang. Eliah was first interested in debate last year when the previous president spoke at a weekly assembly. Since then he has enjoyed honing his research and logic skills and this year he has taken over as the student coach!
Eliah said that he feels proud when the debate team enters and places high in competitions. It makes the entire debate team feel successful in their practice. During their weekly meetings the team practices by taking part in mock-debates where Eliah watches and critiques their positions and ultimately decides the winner.
The team has specialized in the extemporaneous debate format which is a debate where teams are given a topic and they must prepare “for and against” speeches on the topic. With as little as 20 minutes to prepare their speeches, this debate format is fast-moving and challenging for any debate participant. But with practice and a supportive team, our debaters have found success in this format and look forward to getting better and better!
Congratulations to E-6 Monica and Barbara! We are excited to see you both in future debate competitions and we are all so proud of your accomplishments. To place so high in a high school competition is a HUGE success and we know those other debate teams will be shaking with fear when they hear that SMIC is up to the podium!
