Were you at the Debate Mate Launch in London? Did you see the debate on banning violent video games?
What did you think? What side did you agree with? Were any speakers particularly good? Did anyone say anything that you disagreed with?
Let us know what you think… Post a comment on the blog. Tell us who you are and what school you’re from and then let us know your opinion.
The Debate Mate programme starts now!
Young people from 70 schools across the UK are taking part, working with student debaters from the top universities in the country to set up their own debate clubs.
Pretty soon your club will have the opportunity to debate against other schools in the Urban Debate League and in April 2010 you will take part in the one of the biggest debating competitions in Britain, the Richard Koch Cup.
Are you taking part in a Debate Mate club? Are you looking forward to it? Is your school going to win? Tell us what you think by commenting on the blog.
If you want to write an article about anything that interests you or you have debated in your Debate Mate club email blogging@debatemate.com.
We hope you enjoy debating!
Were you at the Debate Mate Launch in London, Birmingham or Manchester? Did you see the debate on punishing parents for the crimes of their children?
What did you think? What side did you agree with? Were any speakers particularly good? Did anyone say anything that was not?
Let us know what you think… Post a comment on the blog. Tell us who you are and what school you’re from and then let us know your opinion.
Boo Ya! The first ever Richard Koch Cup took place last Friday at the LSE and was an amazing success. Congratulations to everyone who took part, you did an amazing job. Special mentions to the following:
Cator Park – winners
Robert Clack Lower Red – runners-up
Tizhoze from St. Saviour’s – funniest speech and best floor spech in the final
Sam from Robert Clack Upper – best speaker
Hannah from the Lammas School – best female speaker
Fran, Natalie and Callum – Debate Mate’s three ‘most improved’ students across the Programme
Anyway, we’re currently working on putting together all of the filming from the day and we’ll upload it – and the photographs – to the website soon, keep an eye out for it.
What’s really important now is that you keep debating. In the last sixteen weeks most of you have gone from never having done it before to being able to stand up and speak confidently and articulately on any topic with very little preparation. That’s an amazing skill, one you’ll never forget! Debate Mate will hopefully be back in your school next year and before then we’ll be running training days during the summer term and a summer workshop in the holidays – if you’re interested then e-mail ian[at]debatemate.com.
We’ll also be continuing the debates here on the blog – posting weekly topics and asking you for your views – just to make sure that you stay engaged and practicing!
Congratulations to all again….
The Debate Mate Team
So we’re in the final straight and the first round of the Richard Koch Cup is now just 88 hours or 5,280 minutes away. As you know the first debate will be ‘This House would invade Zimbabwe’. If you’re keen on doing a little last minute preparation Radio 4 had an interesting interview today with an author who has written a number of short stories set in the country which tell a little bit about the effect of the political crisis on the people. Have a look here and start the piece at 22.50 seconds.
We’ve also got some more news about prizes – they’ll be signed film posters (but we can’t tell you which film yet!) and we’ve got some amazing new trainers which have been kindly donated. It’s going to be a great day, remember if you’ve got any questions or suggestions for music just comment on the blog or e-mail feedback[at]debatemate.com.
Hi Guys,
So we’re working on getting all of the stuff ready for the Richard Koch Cup – we hope that you’re excited about it! One of the things that we’re going to try and do is give people who haven’t been involved in the Programme an idea of what it’s been like. We’d really love to hear from you about how you’ve found the Programme, what you’ve learned, whether it was any fun and some of your highlights and funniest stories. If you’ve got a moment do feel to write something either in the Comments section below or – if you’d prefer – just e-mail feedback[at]debatemate.com.
Thanks!
So we’re getting ready for the Richard Koch Cup here at Debate Mate HQ but we need your help. On the day we’ll be playing music before announcing the different motions and we want to know what you want to hear. Leave you’re suggestions in the comments section below and we’ll make sure it gets played.
Congratulations to everyone who’s been taking part in the Debate Mate Clubs since November. You guys are amazing and in just sixteen weeks have become phenomenal debaters!
Enjoy the break but remember on Friday April 24th it’s the final of the Competition – the Richard Koch Cup. If you want to make sure that you don’t forget the basics during the holidays and want to keep practising then head to the Debate Mate website, log in and head to the spin vox section where you’ll be able to continue the debate online. Spin vox allows you to call up a freephone number and give a speech either for or against the motion This House Supports the use child labour in the developing world. That then gets put up on the website (this can take 24 hours) and other people have the chance to rebut your argument and make their own….Take a look!
Child labour may appear at first to be a pretty straight forward issue – it just seems wrong. Thoughts spring to mind of small children working night and day for almost no money in horrible conditions. However, perhaps we’re being too critical. Britain grew rich fast during the industrial revolution on the back of cheap child labour. Furthermore, as horrific as it may be to us, could the alternatives for these children actually be worse – if they didn’t work, perhaps then they wouldn’t be able to afford to eat or help their families? On whose standards should we be judging how good or bad, right or wrong, a situation is? Campaigners say that children should be in school, but for families who are struggling to put food on the table, perhaps school is actually a luxury that people just can’t afford.
We’ve put together a mini case study and factsheet to try and help you think about the issues which may be important in this debate…
Keep reading →
Like all the other Debate Mate Clubs Wembley High Technology School have been preparing the motion This House Would invade Zimbabwe over the last week. They’ve been reading through the fact sheet on the Debate Mate blog as well as having a look at the video clips on the website. Read on to hear about some of the arguments that came up:
