In December 2017, Passerelles numériques Vietnam successfully organized the first Debating Contest with advice from professional trainers. This competition was an opportunity for PNV students to learn new skills which would be extremely useful during both their studies and their subsequent careers.
Special training course with a debating expert
This year, PNV students received 6 hours of training over 3 weeks, in November 2017, from the debating expert Mr. Nguyen Viet Dzung, who was the champion of the first St. Gabriel’s Cup – Assumption University of Thailand and a Debater at the 10th All Asian Debate Championship – Johor Bahru Malaysia.
1st week: learning debating rules with a lecture entitled The Australia – Asia Debating Guide by Ray D’Cruz.
2nd week: how to think critically when considering an issue, with the first motion being: Should we abolish the Lunar New Year?
3rd week: mock debate between two teams on the motion: Should tests be carried out on animals?
After the training course, PNV19 students fully understood debating and were ready for the official contest.
How PNV conducted the Debating Contest
The official debating contest was held from 5th December 2017 to 4th January 2018. 42 PNV students were divided into 14 teams. The first round lasted 3 weeks. The best speakers were chosen in equal numbers from affirmative and rebuttal teams. Each debate consisted of 4 speeches per team: presentation, rebuttal, counter-rebuttal and conclusions.
Best speakers and the motion debated during the first 3 weeks
The semi-finals took place during the fourth week, then the 6 best speakers were selected for the final round to take place during the first week of January.
On 6th January, debating expert Mr. Dzung and PNV staff successfully organized the final round of the Debating Contest and proudly announced the winners: Xuyen, Tham and Hoang.
Winners of Debate Contest
An excellent example of a student’s progress after the debating contest
We had an interview with a Professional Life Skills Trainer – Huynh Thi Kim Oanh. She explained that the reason for creating this debating contest for PNV was to improve students’ public speaking skills and help them know how to express their ideas clearly and convincingly, as well as to respect others’ opinions.
She was very pleased to be able to share Tam’s experience. In the first semester, he was quite shy and could not complete a simple sentence in front of his class. After the debating contest his positive improvement was clearly recognized as he was voted the best speaker of the first round.
Tam is on the right in this picture.
We also spoke with some of the PNV students who had attended the debating contest. Nguyen Van Cu, a PNV19 student, said that he had learned a lot of new things during the month-long practice debates, especially team-work and public speaking skills. He also said that most of the participants were really happy because they had an opportunity to speak and share their opinions as well as critically listen to different ideas from their classmates.
Reinforcement of holistic approach of PNV
Debating is a new holistic approach way for PNV students to choose words wisely and think critically, speak fluently and take on whatever life chooses to throw at them, which will be very useful in their future careers.