St Mary's Calne
On Tuesday 11th October, the LIV were joined by Scott Ralston, a trainer for the English Speaking Union (ESU). He is also actively involved in politics in the London borough where he lives. We learnt about the importance of listening and response, as well as how to structure points and signpost arguments.
Emy really enjoyed all of the debating activities, and the fun way in which we learnt about these different debating techniques. She also really enjoyed playing the warm-up games with Dr Wickson. After the training, we welcomed the challenge of putting the techniques into practice at the end. Beatrice really enjoyed the fun but formal debate on the motion: 'This House believes that Santa exists'. Like some of us, she had experienced a formal debate before, for not for a while, so it was good to have the chance to build on techniques learnt previously. For others, this was an entirely new experience, and it was interesting to discover that we call a debating space a ‘House’ after the Houses of Parliament.
Ava was impressed by how well each team learnt how to recap on what other teammates had said and really worked together as a group. She enjoyed how we wrote secret tips for each to our teammates to help develop our arguments as the competition developed. It was really fun. She also liked how Miss Grant tapped her mug with a ruler – as her ‘gavel’ - to let us know important timings while speaking.
Like many of us, Hero found the offering of ‘points of information’ most exciting: interjecting with a rebuttal to challenge a point in the opposing team’s speech. It was interesting to learn that the strange custom of putting on hand on your head (to hold your wig on) while stretching out your sword arm (to show you are unarmed!) stetches back to political debates centuries ago. Overall, Hero most enjoyed doing the workshop because now she feels like she is ready for an unexpected question and more able to think on her feet. She also learnt how to be a bit more patient, 'It was the longest I had listened to my classmates, ever!'
Hero, Ava, Emy and Beatrice (LIV)