YWIES Beijing's Chinese Debate Team made its debut at the debating competition held in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA). The quick-witted and articulate students demonstrate their enthusiasm for logical thinking both in the classroom and in the debating competition of the ‘Zongheng’ Cup.

In order to provide a better platform for students to grow in their passion for debating, Yew Wah invited Mr. Wang Yanbo, Chairman of the Asian Society for Logical Thinking Education and founder of the Asian Cup Chinese Debate Competition, to give two exciting pre-tournament training sessions. To encourage more Yew Wah students to join the ranks of debate enthusiasts, the training sessions were not only open to the debate team members, but also to all Yew Wah Yizhuang Beijing students. We expect more students to become debaters, to move forward in the unknown and use their wisdom to solve real-life problems.

A total of 18 Yew Wah students formed two debate teams to compete in the Primary and Lower Secondary School categories on September 4 and September 9. The primary school team debated "Should students be forced to wear school uniforms every day?" and the junior high school team debated "Equal treatment or special treatment education is better for children with special needs?

Congratulations to the Yew Wah Beijing Debate Team for their excellent results!

Justin Jiao: Best Debater

Primary Team: Outstanding Debate Team

Lower Secondary Team: Third Prize

Members of YWIES Beijing’s Debate Team

Primary Team: Chanelle Zhang, Jerry Fang, Molly Zhang, Mia Liu, Daniel Zhang, Anne Liang, April Liu, Owen Ma, Ryan Li.

Secondary Team: Grace Zhao, Linda Li, Christina Zhao, Miumiu Niu, Khayden Lian, Justin Jiao, Coco Pu, Jessica Xu, Amy Liu.

To get a better understanding of the debate process and experience, we interviewed several students and teachers.

Student Representatives

Students interviewed: Justin Jiao, Chanelle Zhang, Jerry Fang

Chinese Teacher Team

Teachers: Ms Pan, Ms Shao, Ms Xu

1. How did the teachers choose the contestants?

We invited several students with debating experience to participate in the primary department. We also sent out targeted invitations in the secondary department and formed two teams. On the second day of school, the two teams had two debate try-outs, and the judges were all the students of the junior high school. In the end, the teachers and the students selected the members who would represent the school in the competition. In the future, we will open more opportunities for students who are interested in debating.

2. How do the teachers prepare the students?

The teachers worked with the students on weekends and after school to analyse how to break down the debate questions, how to write, and guide the students to revise them again and again. We also used fragments of time, such as lunch breaks, to discuss and simulate how to question and free-argue.

3. What was the teacher's overall evaluation of the students?

(1) Preparation stage: The debate tournament broadened the students' horizons and lifted their competitive spirit. For us as a team, the level of individual debaters is not the most important thing, but more important is the interaction and motivation among team members. During the preparation process, we also have different opinions, but everyone is learning how to express themselves better, learning how to persuade, and also learning how to compromise.

(2) Competition stage: Behind the stage, students need to collect a lot of information, read extensively, think carefully, and moreover, they need to organize their language and express their opinions in a short time. In the judges' comments, we could hear a lot of affirmation for the Yew Wah debaters; we all believe that with the maturity of debating skills and competition experience, the students will become mentally strong, determined and wise people.

4. What touched you most about the competition?

(1) Our contestants and alternates all put a lot of time and effort into preparing for the tournament, and were able to help and encourage each other throughout the preparation process. For example, MiuMiu, a seventh grader, helped her companion to time and practice; she took great pains to help her companion to revise her draft and find more information to improve her draft ...... which was very touching to us.

(2) This debate is more complex and requires students to analyse the issue from different perspectives. Based on the extensive data collection and thorough discussion in the early stage, each debater formed a more dialectical view of the issue. This experience provided a good foundation for them to better analyse more complex social issues in the future.

Yew Wah Beijing teachers believe that the content of the debates may fade with time, but the questioning spirit and critical thinking developed in the debates will benefit the students for life. During the debate, students may have different positions, different opinions, and different strategies, but they all share the same goal: "to feel the power of discernment and  the joy of thinking". Congratulations again to Yew Wah Beijing students for their growth in the debate competition, and we look forward to seeing more students join the debate team!