2026年度第5回即興型英語ディベート

On Monday June 15th, the students took part in the fifth debate meeting of the year.

First, they practice more debate skills. This time, they focused on analyzing the motion. Most debates are either model debates or criteria debates. In model debates, the government is saying that there is a problem, and there needs to be a change to fix that problem. In criteria debates, the government is saying that something is better than something else, and they must explain how it is better. Depending on the type of debate, the teams will need to do different things, so they practiced analyzing the motion and planning appropriately.

Connected to the analysis above, the students also practiced defining the motion. In model debates, this is the government's responsibility, but the opposition can challenge the definition if they feel it is unfair. In criteria debates, both teams can define "better" in different ways and compare those definitions, or they might both agree on the definition but debate over the which position is superior from that definition.

After practicing, the students had a debate with online judges. The motion was Decentralization of the population of Tokyo will do more good than harm. (東京への一極集中の緩和は、害よりも利益をもたらす。) The topic was a little difficult compared to the previous ones, but it gave them a chance to practice defining "better" thinking about in what ways more harm than good might be done. The students debated well and did an especially good job of time management as the chief PDA judge noted that students had generally given longer speeches.

After the practice had finished, we briefly looked at ways for students to practice delivering their speeches with louder voices and recommended they consider joining the PDA online summer debate camp.

The next meeting will be on August 31st, so "Have a great summer, everyone!"

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