Welcome to Debating 2008

 Introduction  2008 changes  Speaker roles  Types of debates  Coaching tips  Draw announcement for the Senior Competition

Debating 2008 some changes  Junior, Intermediate and Senior Grades.  All teams must register speakers for the year  All participants registered at beginning of the year will receive a certificate  Intermediate & Senior run on single night  Junior run over a week. Host will be affirmative school. Adjudicator from list or Senior student.  All grades will have a limited preparation round as well prepared

 Seniors will have Points of Information in all debates  Senior and Intermediate have semi- finals followed by Grand Final  Junior straight to Grand Final  New competition for West Coast and Timaru schools

Speaker Times  Senior: Substantive 7-8mins Leaders reply 3-4 mins  Intermediate: Substantive 6-7 mins Leaders reply 3-4 mins  Junior: Substantive 4-5mins Leaders reply 2-3 mins

Basics of Debating  2 teams- the Affirmative builds a case and the negative tries to destroy it.  3 speakers on each team each with different roles.  Marks for Style, Content and Strategy.

All Speeches  Must contain an introduction of what they will be saying, substantive material in the middle and a conclusion.  A lot of adjudicators will refer to “signposting”. Effectively this is stating clearly what you will be saying.  Try to have 3 key points  No need to introduce yourself “my name is Rose and I’m the 2 nd speaker for the Affirmative”. The chairperson does that for you.

Speakers 1st 1 st Aff  Defines the topic- the context of the debate and why we are debating it.  Sets out a model or criteria- Team Case  Tells us who will say what- the Team Split  Substantive Material 1 st Neg  Sets out the reason why the negative disagrees with the Aff (the Team Case)  Tells us who will say what –Team Split  Rebuttal  Substantive Material

2 nd Speakers 2 nd Aff  Introduction  Rebuttal  Substantive points  Conclusion  2 nd Neg  Introduction  Rebuttal  Substantive points  Conclusion

3 rd Speakers 3 rd Aff  Introduction  Rebuttal  May have some substantive shouldn’t be the important stuff.  Case studies or cost benefit analysis are good  Conclusions 3 rd Neg  Introduction  Rebuttal- best to theme this  No new substantive  Cost benefit analysis or case studies are ok.  Conclusions

Leaders Reply  A summary of the debate.  Needs an introduction, middle and conclusion.  Best to look at it as what have been the 3 major issues of the debate, or 3 major points of clash.  Make your team look the best, it’s your last chance to impress the adjudicators with your arguments  No new material or points of rebuttal

Types of Debates  Model or Change debates “This house would give Japan a seat on the Security Council”  Criteria or Judgment debates “This house believes that UN has failed”

Model or Change Debates  Need to show that the status quo is not working.  Suggest a solution “your model”.  Show how your model will work and solve the problem you outlined.  Negative can show that this no problem and even if there was it would do more harm or that the model is the wrong one will cause harm.

Criteria Debates  The affirmative must outline what is being debated so a criteria to judge the statement.  Usually think about what is the subject of the debate ie media or the UN and what is its purpose. Then think of about 3 different criteria to judge its success in meeting those goals.  The criteria must not be self-fulfilling ie “the UN has failed because it was supposed to stop wars but we still have wars”.

Criteria Debates cont  When you are given a criteria topic identify the key words in the motion ie “That the UN has failed” what is the key term?  How do we measure this?  Whenever you get a topic make sure you use the most reasonable definition. This will be the one that will get the most engagement and will be a better debate

Points of Information  Will be used in all senior rounds and at The Press.  A speaker may offer a “Point of Information” (POI) between the bell at 1 minute and the bell at 7 minutes.  No POIs in leaders reply  A member of the opposition team may stand and say “Point of information” or “On that point”. The speaker who has the floor can accept or decline.  If it is declined the person who offered the POI sits down  If it is accepted then the opposite member may say their point. It should be around 15 seconds long. It should be a short point that you would use as rebuttal or a question.

POIs cont  Each speaker should aim to offer at least 2 POIs during each of the speeches.  A speaker should accept two.  POIs are really fun and get easier with practice  They also encourage all the speakers to listen carefully to what is going on and stay involved in the debate after they have given their speeches.

Achieving deeper analysis

Tips and Games to Play

Games  Lots of different games you can play to improve style, analysis and ability to think on your feet.  We will introduce more throughout the year but these might get you going.

I couldn’t disagree more  Stand in a circle.  First person says a statement and gives their reasons. “Rugby should be banned because of the number of injuries resulting from the game each year are costing the tax payer too much money”  Next person says “I couldn’t disagree more because… ” and gives their reason. ie “because Rugby is a safe game that encourages team work and hand-eye coordination”  They then get to say something new with reasons and the game continues along.

1 minute Analysis Game  Chose a topic and tell the group.  Randomly point to a person- they must speak for one minute on one reason for the topic.  Point to another person who must argue in the opposition on one point for 1 minute  The next person must then do the same in the affirmative for 1 minute and so on.  The same point must not be repeated.

Tips  Don’t use rhetorical questions. While they are excellent in public speaking, in debating they allow the opposite team to answer them for you and undermine your case.  Don’t write out an entire speech- write short points on cue cards, it will improve your ability to think on the spot and makes you a more persuasive speaker.

Tips  Listen to what adjudicators say.  We understand that everybody is at different levels and are here to help you improve so don’t be afraid to ask what you can do better etc.  We have videos you can borrow and have a good look at Have fun

Senior Grade Round 1  5 th March  St Thomas of Canterbury College  Debates will start at 6pm.  Due to large number of teams will be held over 2 rounds, I would suggest everybody be there at 6pm and watch the first rounds

Senior Round 1 Topic That parents should be liable for their children's crimes.