By Ourouba Hussein
Members of the first Qatari team to take part in the World School Debating Championship have expressed hope of doing well in the event scheduled to be held in Washington DC next month.
Prior to their departure on Friday, the five-member team and their coach spoke about their training, their debating team to represent Qatar on the world stage.
The programme director Alex Just said that the national team would be the second Arab team after Kuwait to participate in the 20-year history of the competition. The team was trained in London and its members were selected following a debating competition among Qatar schools.
Just said the team would attend a pre-competition training in New York, and workshops with American students. Later, they will take off to Washington DC where the contests will be held from September 5-15.
He said that the team had a month to practise for the first round of the competition. Each of the members is required to carry out researches about a certain topic.
“If they get through the first round to the second, they will be given two hours of practice for the topic which could be political, social or economical.
“They will have to be prepared to argue about anything,” he added.
The five members of the Qatar national debating team said they were looking forward to visiting the ‘Dream Land’, and meeting people from 40 different countries participating in the competition. They also expressed how proud they were to be the first to represent Qatar in the competition.
Talal Burshaid, a 17-year-old Qatari , explained that the training was helpful since he has got political aspirations and interests in international relations.
Vartan Shadarevian said debating encourages the expression of point of views, teaches leadership skills and the ability to argue both sides before taking a side, and increases one’s understanding of the other side.
Tina Niaki, a 17-year-old Iranian, said debating teaches objective thinking and the desire to know more about the world.
Aysha Batley, a 17-year-old Pakistani, stressed debating opens up the mind and structures the way one thinks, speaks and discusses.
‘Participating in the debating competition is like going on a world tour,” she said. |
