This Blog has now moved to idebate.org/worlddebating - all future posts will be made there!

14 May 2011

DLSU Worlds Reminder‏

Dear World Debate Community,

There are less than 7 days left for you to make your down payments for DLSU Worlds! You may view the google doc https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AtxsFl-mzfcYdE83RDhvYnI3Sk5rb2FudVFiWWpNUWc&hl=en&authkey=CKPxs5EB&pli=1#gid=5 to see whether or not we have received your payments.

For those who have yet to make their payments, please indicate in the comments section of the wiring slip (if applicable) the word "Debate" so that the bank and the university's accounting office would know where to forward such payment.

Also, we have received a number of questions regarding payment so we decided to address the common ones here:

1) My bank does not make transactions in Philippine Pesos (PHP), how can I send over my payment?
Our bank generally accepts all currencies and will convert them to Philippine Pesos before depositing it into our account. Transactions made in USD and EUR tend to clear faster than others.

2) If I don't wire over my money in PHP what should I use as basis for the exchange rate?
There are a number of sites online that can provide you with a currency converter. We have also placed one on the homepage of our website (http://www.dlsuworlds.com/) for easy access. You can use any of these converters to get a ROUGH ESTIMATE of the amount you will have to send over. Once the payment has been cleared by our accounting office, we will inform you of the exact amount received.

3) What if the amount received by your Accounting Office is not enough to cover the 50% balance?
If the amount received covers at least 90% of your expected down payment then the remaining balance may be sent with the second payment. If the payment is less than 90% of the expected amount then we will request for you to make a follow up payment in order to reach the minimum requirement.

4) Can my institution pay in full during the Second Phase?
Yes, you may pay in full at this stage.

For any questions or clarifications, please send an email to registration@dlsuworlds.com or james.sy@dlsuworlds.com.

We look forward to seeing you all in Manila!

Best,
Gabriel Romeo Ferriols Pavico
Project Coordinator
De La Salle Worlds

Problems with Blogger.

Hi All,
The Blogger service seems to have had a serious system issue in the last few days.  They deleted tens of thousands of posts across all blogs using the blogger system and in restoring them they seem to have pushed a number of older posts up the list.  At the same time I have been editing the labels on old posts as part of a wider project that is currently ongoing.  As a result anything I edited in the last few days got deleted and then restored with yesterday's date.  Therefore you may have seen posts from 2006 suddenly popping up again.  I have fixed these and hopefully blogger have fixed their system.

Thanks
Colm

Live Debate from the Cambridge Union

Have you ever wanted to attend a debate at the Cambridge Union?  Well now you can avail of the next best thing.  A live stream from their debate tonight. 

The motion: Is classical music still important? You can watch it live on their revamped website http://www.cus.org/ from 7pm.  Hopefully in the coming months there will be many more livestreams from Cambridge and other major debating societies.

SA Nationals Reg and Training Site Issues‏

Dear Debating Community
We understand that many institutions have been having problems registering and acquiring training material for Nationals 2011 on http://www.sa-debating.co.za/. We would sincerely like to apologise if you have experienced problems with the site.

As part of our sponsorship agreement, the registration and training site was contracted out to a web development company who were tasked with setting up the reg system and training portal. They assured us that the site would be functional when registration opened, however a number if unexpected errors have appeared as institutions have tried to register, and the training portal is not yet functional.

We are doing our best to highlight the urgency and importance of getting the site working as we intended, and are communicating problems to the web development team as soon as we receive them. Unfortunately, as we are not directly involved in the web development, we can only relay information on to you as we receive it from the developers, and we have been forced to wait for them to fix the errors and get back to us.

We are doing our best to ensure that the site becomes fully functional as soon as possible, and were today again assured by the developers that they were working on the last of the bugs, and that they should be sorted out very soon.

This has obviously impacted the availability of training material as we promised to provide. We have quite a bit of material ready to upload, but no site to upload to yet. This should also be rectified very soon. As we plan for the site to availible for access beyond Nationals 2011, these are are problems we should only have to deal with once.

We will do our best to keep you informed of the progress, and we are hoping that all will be fully functional soon.

Thanks again for your patience.

Stephen Thompson, Katherine Harding and Debby Nixon

Nationals 2011

11 May 2011

Zimbabwe PAUDC 2011: DCA applications now open!

Applications are now open for the three Deputy Chief Adjudicator posts at this year’s Pan-African Universities Debating Championship (PAUDC). The tournament will take place in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe from 4th – 11th December 2011. The PAUDC 2011 organizing committee will work in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Debating Network and Contemporary Affairs Foundation in hosting the Tournament.


PAUDC is the largest debating tournament in Africa, attracting participants from several countries across the continent. It functions both as a regional tournament and a development project aimed at promoting all levels of university debating in Africa. DCA applicants should therefore keep in mind that, in addition to the usual organisational and judging duties of an adjudication team, they will be expected to be part of developing and running a comprehensive training programme.

We are looking for 3 DCAs for PAUDC 2011. In keeping with the regional nature of the tournament we are committed to regional diversity in our selection. We are also committed to expanding PAUDC as a tournament of international standards and quality. Non-African applicants are therefore welcome. There is also a strong possibility of travel grants for DCAs.

The following commitments and criteria will guide the selection of our DCAs:

A commitment to quality adjudication at PAUDC, with a focus on developing debating in Africa.

A commitment to introducing and maintaining international judging standards in regional debating (WUDC experience would be an advantage).

A solid background in BP debating and/or speaking (WUDC experience would be an advantage).

Organisational experience is a must, but it need not be related to debating.

Applicants should plan to be in Zimbabwe up to a week before the tournament (i.e. from the 27th November 2011). In the months leading up to PAUDC, each DCA will work on a specific aspect of the training programme. It is therefore a requirement that applicants will be easily contactable and ready to work on planning the training programme in this period.

The application process:
Application Phase: 10th May - 15th June
Each application should send a debating CV and a completed DCA application form to the Chief Adjudicator via e-mail (cweley@gmail.com). Applicants will receive e-mail notification upon receipt of their completed application.

Review Phase: 16th June - 29th June
Applications will be reviewed by the CA. If necessary, applicants may be contacted to provide additional information. If candidates are particularly closely matched, the CA may ask for feedback from the wider debating community on two or more applicants (to aid the decision making process).

Announcement: 30th June
Successful applicants will be notified and their names announced on the tournament facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=201169549917040&ref=ts) as well as other online debating forums.

Please feel free to contact me (cweley@gmail.com) with any questions about your application.

Kind regards

Clive Eley
Chief Adjudicator
2011 Pan-African Universities Debating Championships

Results of the 13th Turkish National Debating Results

Galatasaray C (Mehmet Fatih Özmısırcı- Mert Kejanlıoğlu) have won the 2011 Turkish National Debating Championships. 

In the final they defeated Galatasaray B (Nilsun Gürsoy - Umur Türkay Korkmaz), Bilkent B (Önercan Kılıç - Gökhan Yalçın) and Yeditepe C (Meriç Menekşeli - Çiğdem Gül Koluaçık)

The best speaker of the tournament was: Akın Egemen (Galatasaray A)

CA: Umut Eryılmaz (METU)
DCA: Can Talaz (Koç)
DCA: Berk Cin (Galatasaray)
DCA: Emre Demirel (Ege)
DCA: Gökçe Görgeç (Hacettepe)

NUS win SMU Hammers

NUS 1 (Imran Rahim, Robin Teo and Sadhana Rai) have won SMU Hammers, Singapore's largest Asians Parliamentary tournament of 2011.

In the final they beat NUS Dino (Alvin Tan, Mark Cordiner, Alex Yeo)


*Semi Finalists*: Tokyo (Shuvam Dutta, Neha Prakash, Ang Wee Jian), Whateverla (Robin Lucas, Clarissa Tio, Adrian Rabe)

*Quarter Finalists*: NUS 2 (Aji Abu, Marvin Loh, Ashok Rai), NUS 3 (Leejing Tan, Sanjiv Nair, Jun Sheng), Commodities (Alfred Goh, Hong Yu, Shih Yi An), SMU 2 (Ang Ziqing, Vikram Lakhotia, Urmila Mandapaka)

*Octo Finalists*: SMU 1 (Andrea Soriano, Syed Arafat, Siraj Aziz), House of Zosa (Patrick Cocabo, Liane Aquino, Stephanie Tan), HCI JC 2 (Miverna Lim, Chelsea Chia, Joyan Tan), RI 3 (Eugene Phua, Gloria Cheung, Tan Zixiang), SP 1(Dennis, Zhengkun, Andrew), SP 2(Jose, Amanda, Felicia), Tel Aviv (Shaq, Lee Ming Yuen, Omer Iqbal)

*Top 5 Adjudicators: *Raymund Vitorio, Anna Arcellana, Tim Andrew, Reuben Lopez, Ray Singh

For more information visit http://groups.google.com/group/debateasia/topics

10 May 2011

Message from the Pan African Debate Championship Executive Council

E-mail from the president of the Pan African Debate Championship Executive Council:



Dear Debating Community



The Pan African Universities Debate Championship (Pan) Executive Council would to report to all that are interested in the affairs of Debating in Africa.


There is a steady stream of activity in the African Continent as we try to turn the tide against youth activism in sponsored violence and being hired guns of dictators. We need now more than ever to foster the culture of debate within this Continent. It is by no means an easy task and requires all hands on deck for this momentous task. Our forefathers have resorted to violence to solve their disputes and today as the youth of Africa we need to change a culture that will destroy this great Continent.


That is why as the Pan Executive Council we are happy that the youth of Africa have come together across Africa to demonstrate that the solutions of this Continent lie in Education and Debate. We therefore announce that the Africa will be a hive of activity with South Africa conducting its 17th National Debating Competition, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Nigeria will also be conducting their respective National Competitions. All this activity will lead us to the Prestigious Pan African Universities Debating Championships which will be hosted by Zimbabwe in December 2011.


We invite the world to join us in these respective activities and we can learn from each other.


Africa more that ever needs the culture of Debate as our Continent faces testing times, the Youth need to play a role in its political shape and instead of being weapons, we need to be ideas and intellectual voices of our Continent.


Regards
Sipho D Kilani
President of Pan African Debate Championship Executive Council
Email: kilanisipho@gmail.com

9 May 2011

Expert Debate & English Teachers Wanted in Seoul

ABOUT OUR PROGRAM
Leaders Academy manages English and debate programs.

DEBATE
Our debate program is very competitive, having coached many middle school and high school students to success in national and international tournaments. The debate program extends to speech, Model United Nations and mock trial. We make students better critical thinkers and more active in their engagement. The main objective is to have students do well in competition.

HONORS
Our Honors program offers gifted students a chance to advance their English even further through thematic instruction. The reading/speaking teacher examines reading skills, written assessments, discussion, and public speaking. The writing teacher examines essay structure, grammar, sentence structure, and creative writing. This is NOT an ESL job, but an after-school program to keep advanced English speakers ahead in English.

BRIDGES
Because our programs are popular, but highly selective, we began offering a Bridges program at the start of 2011. For students that just barely miss our selection criteria, they go through a 3-6 month Bridges program to prepare them for Debate or Honors.

ALL TEACHERS
Leaders Academy Teachers must have:
* a degree in English, English instruction, or related field
* an ample teaching experience
* good collaboration skills to work with team
* good references from your recent job(s)
* provide constructive feedback to students
* provide interactive lectures and lessons

Ideal Leaders Academy Teachers would:
* be able to communicate in Korean for conferencing with parents (not needed, but beneficial)
* have graduated with a high GPA and/or earned a high SAT or TOEFL score
* social studies expertise (helps with APs and Honors themes)

DEBATE TEACHER
Debate Teacher must have:
* coached at debate tournaments
* be able to provide in-depth feedback to students
* be offer extra time to help prepare students for tournaments

Ideal Debate Teacher would:
* have experience with simulations such as Model Congress, Mock Trial, or Model United Nations
* have experience with forensics events such as acting and speaking
* have impressive record as coach and/or competitor in debate

READING TEACHER
Reading Teacher must have:
* a deep understanding of close reading
* a love of literature—be well-read
* an excellent vocabulary

Ideal Reading Teacher would:
* have International Baccalaureate (IB) experience with outstanding results
* have Advanced Placement (AP) English experience with outstanding results

WRITING TEACHER
Writing Teacher must have:
* experience with 6+1 Writing Traits
* a love of writing—have samples to share
* editing professionalism

Ideal Writing Teacher would:
* have International Baccalaureate (IB) experience with outstanding results
* have Advanced Placement (AP) English experience with outstanding results

WORKING CONDITIONS
* Evening and weekend work hours during school terms
* Two salary options: Monthly or hourly wages (rate depends on experience)
* Over-time available during winter and summer breaks
* Contract length one year
* Starting month: As soon as possible
* Located in Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

CONTACT
If you are interested, please send your CV, cover letter and contact information to leadershonors@gmail.com. Be sure to include references.

Results of the Sciences PO IV

Texas A&M (Syed Taha & Alya Al-Harthy) have won the Sciences PO IV in Paris.  Tomas Beerthuis from Utrecht was the best speaker.

The Final was:
OG Stuttgart
OO Texas A&M
CG Berlin
CO Utrecht

The Semi line up was:
Semi 1.
OG Paris M&M
OO Stuttgart
CG: Belgrade
CO: Utrecht

Semi 2.
OG Texas
OO Aachen
CG Assas
CO Berlin

The Tab can be found at: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AojBXQpiwpsqdGk5SGVpRjZndDJKZnRpWHhBZVhoOGc&hl=en#gid=1

Motions:
Rd1: This house would invalidate any election result with a turnout below 70%
Rd2: This house would children should be excluded from any religion until adulthood
Rd3: This house would allow animated child pornography
Rd4: This house would pay developing countries to host western prisoners
Rd5: This house would abolish state pensions and instead only award benefits based on disability.
Semis: This house would the US government should publish all visual material relating to Osama Bin Laden's death
Final: This house would offer immediate EU candidate status to North African states on the precondition of democratic transition