On the afternoon of April 19, a preliminary training for Laramore (Chen Yang) and Eileen (Hu Yadi)，representatives of Ningde Normal University to take part in the semi-final round of “The 19th ‘FLTRP Cup’ National English Debating Competition” was provided by Dean Gong, Mike and Christina (Lin Li-li) in Dean’s office.
At the training, the background information of the competition and the self-introduction of the contestants were made. Afterwards, some suggestions for improving debating techniques were put forward by the teachers: Step 1, brainstorming. Once given a topic, students should focus on it, take turns to come up with various possibilities and speak out as many appropriate words as possible in 5 minutes. No reviews should be written down in this part. Step 2, reclassification of words and phrases. After taking down all the ideas in step 1, go over the words again and categorize them. Step 3, language re-organization. Go back to the word groups, take a few minutes to develop the meaning to re-organize the thoughts and make the ideas clear and persuasive. Step 4, role exchange practice. Both the pros and cons of the ideas should be stated by the two students to further practice their critical thinking and debating skills. When the above suggestions were given, Laramore and Eileen were asked to practice the three topics on Chinese Hukou policy issues, cigarette industries and students’ part-time jobs. After that, comments were made on their performance and further suggestions on their pronunciation and logical thinking were made.
Reported by Christina (Lin Li-li)