Finnish Championships in Debating Competition 2018

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The Finnish Championships for Lower Secondary School Students 2018 will be held at Espoonlahti School on Thursday April 19th, 2018. The event will be held in two languages, Finnish and English. All 7th-9th grade students in Finland can enroll with teams of five students. Students of same school need to have one or two teachers with them.

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For many years, the top-level school debates have been a good opportunity for students to get a debating experience, to discuss interesting topics, and to have fun with other young people. For teachers the Debating Competition provide a working tool for developing young people's thinking and knowledge acquisition skills.

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The contest will be held in teams, four students debating, and the fifth one being a substitute. The debates are first held in the blocks, the best teams will continue to the semi-finals, and finally for the final. The role of the teachers is to work as coaches of their own team and also judges of the debates.

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Participants should sign up for the competition by March 9th, 2018. Schools can enroll with 1-2 teams / series, but if there are a lot of teams enrolled, the number of teams may be limited. More detailed instructions can be found on the web site of the competition.

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Enrolment

Enrolment to the debate Finnish Championships for Lower Secondary School Students 2018 is open until 9th of March 2018. Enrol to the competition using the following link:

 

Schools can enrol with 1-2 teams per division, but in case of a large amount of enrolments, the number of teams may be limited.
 

When enrolling you need the following information:

Contact information of the team, which divisions the team will be competing in, names of team members, grade levels, special diets and permission to be photographed, teachers’ and judges’ information and school’s information.
 

Confirming participation and participation fee

We will confirm your participation when the enrolment period has passed, after which we will send the account number to which the participation fee (25 euros/team) will be paid. The receipt must be shown on the date of the event.

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Debate procedure

A) 5 minutes prior to the start of the debate:

• Teams report to their positions and prepare to begin. Teams appoint a team captain and four participants. Substitute member will be chosen.

• The teacher is the main judge. The main judge can ask a member of the audience to assist with the judging. The audience member should not be from a school whose team is competing in that debate.

B) The debate begins (approx. 5 min.):

• Main judge introduces the teams to the audience.

• The main judge reminds everyone briefly about the criteria for the debates and the specifics the judges will pay attention to.

• The judge announces the debate topic and flips a coin to determine which team is affirmative and which team is the opposition.

C) Preparing for the debate (15 min):

• Each team has 15 minutes to prepare an argument. The substitute member can help team with preparations.

• Teams may use electronic devices while preparing for the debate. Notes must be made to paper.

• During this preparation time, the assisting student projects on the screen the respective positions of the teams. This makes it easier for the audience to follow the argument.

D) The debate (about 15 min)

• The substitute member joins the audience.

• Electronic devices are not allowed during debate.

• Team Captains give a short opening statement. (approx. 1 min.)

• Free debate unless the type of argument requires shared speeches (tot. 10 minutes).

• Judge warns teams two minutes before the end of the debate. The debate time may be reduced if arguments are finished, but the time must not under any circumstances be exceeded.

• Teams will choose one person to make a concise and appropriate concluding statement. (Typically, this is the team captain.)

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ATTENTION: You cannot read your opening statement or your concluding statement straight from paper.

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E) The judging (approx. 10 min.)

• The judges will consider the results for a maximum of 5 minutes.

• The judges can move to a quiet location for a moment to discuss their decision.

• Feedback explanations to the teams may take up to 5 minutes.

• Reporting the debate result

• The results of the debate are given to the assistant immediately after each debate. The assistant records the results and reports them to the coordinator.

 

 

Judging

For each debate, three points are awarded and the points can be divided into 2-1 or 3-0. The judges will pay special attention to the debates evaluated on the following considerations:

1. Clarity, consistency and versatility of argumentation (1 point)

   1. Clear definition of concepts

   2. The main idea of the team will be demonstrated clearly and consistently by the entire team throughout the debate.

   3. The team must present various examples that support and prove the team’s main idea.

   4. A team’s rebuttals to the opposing team must support the rebutting team’s main idea clearly and show understanding of the debate subject.

   5. Presentation of points of view and theories must show the debaters’ understanding of the issue clearly and support the audience’s understanding.

   6. There should be very few logical errors or fallacies.

   7. Arguments must be credible

2. Teamwork (1 point)

   1. Even distribution of speaking among team members

   2. All team members show an equal understanding of the main idea and they argue the same position with consistency

   3. No interrupting, good timing

   4. The role and actions of each team member supports other team members.

   5. respectful and friendly behavior toward team members

   6. Supporting team members when needed.

3. Speaking skill and awareness of the audience (1 point)

   1. Strong presence in general

   2. Politeness

   3. Delivery and clarity

   4. Present their own arguments convincingly

   5. Smooth flow of arguments and delivery and attention to the arguments of others

   6. Appropriate use of humor to make points effectively, not to poke fun at others

   7. Effective use of eye contact and notes

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Aikataulu / Schedule

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8.30 - 8.50       Ilmoittautuminen A-yläaulassa (20 min.) / Registration

8.50 - 9.30       Tuomarointi-info opehuoneessa (40 min.) / Judging-info

8.50 - 9.30       Väittelyinfo auditoriossa (40 min.)  /Debate-info

9.30 - 10.20     Alkuerä 1 (50 min.) / Round 1

10.20 - 11.10   Alkuerä 2 (50 min.) / Round 2

11.10 - 11.40   Ruokailu (30 min.) / Lunch

11.40 - 12.30   Alkuerä 3 (50 min.) / Round 3  

12.30 - 12.45   Tauko (15 min.) Tulosten tarkistus ja mahdollinen jatkoonmenijöiden arvonta

12.45 - 13.30   Neljännesvälierät / Round 4

13.30 - 14.15   Semifinaalit (45 min.)  / Round 5

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14.15 - 14.30   Välipala (15 min.) / Snackbreak

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14.30 - 15.15   Suomenkielinen finaali auditoriossa (45 min.) /English semifinals

15.15 - 16.00   English final at auditorium (45 min.)

16.00 -              Palkintojen jako / Award ceremony

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Contact information

 

Debate Finnish Championships 2018

 

Espoonlahti School

Address: Opettajantie 3, 02360 Espoo

School secretary: 043 826 7177

vaittely.kilpailu@espoonlahdenkoulu.fi

https://peda.net/espoo/espoonlahdenkoulu

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Access from Helsinki center by metro to Matinkylä, continuing with bus 143, 145, 146 or 147 to Espoonlahti.