We are excited to announce that applications have opened for our new HKDSC Student Working Group! This is intended to provide structure for the young people who have generously stepped up to help us so far in the last six months, but also an enthusiastic invitation towards the larger debating community, so sign up if you want to help out!
This will be an exciting opportunity for 10-12 secondary school students to work with other members of the Group, as well as our Executive Board of Directors, in organising any of the 6 flagship events run by HKDSC every year. These include our yearly tournaments such as SDC and JSDC, and our WSDC and WIDPSC National Team Trials.
We are looking for responsible, keen, adaptable and organised individuals to help HKDSC further its goals of creating high-quality debating and public speaking opportunities for students across Hong Kong.The deadline for applications is 22 August 2021, 11:59pm HKT. We look forward to receiving your applications through the link below.
Over the past three days, Team Hong Kong has been debating tirelessly in the out rounds of World Schools Debating Championship, after breaking at the top of the tab. Facing Team Australia in the Octo Finals for a debate about data monetisation, then Team Pakistan in the Quarter Finals for a debate about international military aid and finally, Team Philippines in the Semi Finals on the topic of carbon credits.
With the announcement of their victory, Hong Kong has advanced to the Grand Finals at WSDC for the first time. Massive respect to all the teams in the competition and the team looks forward to their last match in what has been an amazing run thus far.
After four days and eight rounds of vigorous debate with friends all across the world, Team Hong Kong has broken first in the Panda Division of WSDC, with 20 ballots and speaks of 254.50! A massive hand to our team — Chloe Tse, Dhruv Leekha, Jenna Hong, Madeleine Wu, and Yui Kurosawa.
This continues Hong Kong’s streak from last year where they also broke first on the tab. Hearty congratulations to team coaches Harish Natarajan and Thomas Simpson for their tireless grind with the young debaters over the last eight months since the trials, the work has not gone unrewarded and we wish the team the best of luck as they move onto the outrounds starting tomorrow!
The 2021 Flashpoint workshops ended last week, stretching over the 5th, 6th and 8th of July. As in previous years, the programme was delivered by some of the most skilled and passionate high school debaters in Hong Kong, braving numerous challenges in the process of initiating, preparing and executing the programme. This year, there was the addition of practice debates held on the final day to help the students consolidate their skills. All in all, the programme successfully provided debate training to more than 40 high school students across Hong Kong, especially to those who might not have consistent access to debate training at their schools.
As the pandemic last year prevented the workshops from being run, we are tremendously glad that this year’s Flashpoint was able to take place. Above all, we hope this signals our commitment to providing quality debate and speaking education to all students in Hong Kong.
To the Executive Committee and Trainers, thank you for lending us your valuable time and giving back to this community. When we began the preparation process in April, there was doubt if we could put together the programme in time but the programme was executed with dedication and quick responses to challenges. First, thanks must go to Mr Stan Dyer, Ms Joan Cho, Xiao-ke Lu and Timothy Lo for taking the task up and constructing the syllabus. Then, a special shout-out to Angus, Markandeya and Audrey for bringing together and heading our ExCo Team, listed here in their respective roles.
Lead Coordinators: Angus Li, Markandeya Karthik, Audrey Chow
Design and Promotion: Anston Yu, Megan Chan, Chloe Lam
It has been a pleasure to observe the trainers teach younger debaters with such passion and tailoring your material to each class, across a spectrum of skills. We hope the many words of gratitude you received from your students and the improvement they have shown have been recompense enough for your hard work.
To our students, thank you for being such great participants — Flashpoint would not be possible if not for your enthusiastic support. Thank you for giving your all at the drills, exercises and debates, and we hope to see you grow as a confident individual in the community in the future.
What a way to kick off the summer and wrap up the six events brought by HKDSC this year! We wish everyone a vibrant summer and are eagerly preparing for the new year.
Two Hong Kong teams participated at the Singapore Pre World Schools Debating Championship over the weekend. The team Chloe Tse, Dhruv Leekha, Jenna Hong, and Madeleine Wu were the top team after the preliminary rounds, and reached the final. Davis Cheng, Markandeya Karthik, Navia Zhang, and Yui Kurosawa finished 17th overall. Chloe was the sixth overall speaker, Madeleine third, and Jenna finished top.
Flashpoint ‘21: Interactive Workshops for Debaters
Got a keen interest in debate but unsure of where to go? Flashpoint is back, and it’s here to make your debating that much better.
Flashpoint is an annual debate workshop for novice debaters to learn from some of the most skilled and passionate debaters in Hong Kong. After several successful years, we are hosting Flashpoint again over Zoom on July 5th, 6th and 8th from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m, concluding with an internal competition where students can put new skills to use. It is an excellent opportunity to develop English argumentative skills through a wide range of strategies and, most importantly, fun!
Are you looking to warm up again after a long break from debating? Or looking for a good introduction to debate? Questions on the registration form are designed to place debaters in the best ability group to make the experience for YOU. The Flashpoint registration form (one form per student) is HERE.
Once participants have registered, they can expect to receive an email on Wednesday 30 June to confirm their attendance and send out important details and the Zoom link.
Dear members of the Hong Kong public speaking community,
We would like to thank you for participating in the 2021 Junior Individual Public Speaking Championships 2021. In the last three weeks, judges across Hong Kong have tirelessly assessed recorded speeches and readings. This was followed on the morning of May 1st, 2021 by an exciting live round of impromptu speaking, culminating in the final rounds. Many outstanding performances were delivered, and we were delighted to see the passion speakers put into every speech they gave.
After heated competition at the Finals, the winners of the individual events are:
Persuasive Speaking – Christine Lam (HKIS)
Interpretive Reading – Jaden Yeung (DBS)
Impromptu Speaking – Lauren Lee (CDNIS)
Overall Top Speaker – Mark Lee (DBS)
A hearty congratulations to the winners and the top speakers of the tournament!
Appended to this post are the top speakers in each of the 3 categories. The individual ballots with scores and feedback are currently being compiled, and will be ready to share by next week.
Before we sign off, we also would like to extend a special thank you to every judge who helped make this event special for every participant. As part of the continuing legacy of public speaking in Hong Kong, we look forward to seeing everyone in our future events, especially the Team Trials scheduled for January 2022.
WIDPSC 2021 has been a unique journey for the Hong Kong team, from the trials in January to the weekly online trainings, to the two Asynchronous Rounds in early April. Finally, the Synchronous and Final Rounds took place on the Zoom platform, between 23rd to 26th April. Thanks must be given to the organizers for putting together such an amazing event that brings together 120 of the best speakers in the world.
This year, 10 members of the Hong Kong WIDPSC team broke into finals, claiming 20 spots across four categories at the expanded finals rounds. Two of the members, Yui Kurosawa and Jason Wong, went onto Grand Finals for Impromptu Speaking and Interpretive Reading. Grace Zheng also won the Supplementary Final and her piece will be displayed on the WIDPSC website.
In the final overall ranking, Hong Kong had our strongest showing in years, with Ellington Chen at 5th, Jason Wong at 10th and Charlie Lam at 20th respectively. The coaches wish to express our immense pride at the team for their strong performances and collaborative spirit. We would also like to send a special vote of thanks to the teachers and alumni who have given up their time during Sundays to help judge, give feedback and nurture this team into what it is today.
Thank you for participating in the 2021 Junior SDCs! Following yesterday’s rounds of debates, the final results of the competition can now be announced.First, the Top 10 Speakers (with 3 people tying for 9th place) are as follows:
1. Christine Lam, HKIS 2
2. Valerie Wong, STC 2
3. Rachel Lang, GSIS 1
4. Peony Sham, STC 1
5. Jaden Yeung, DBS 2
6. Dominic Gu, CIS 2
7. Shriya Srinivasan, RCHK 1
8. Kristie Cheung, SPCC 1
9=. Eric Wu, CIS 2
9=. Meagan Tam, SPCC 1
9=. Janet Lau, DGS 1
10. Lauren Ing, CIS 1
We are aware that the listing on the public speaker tab differs from the above list slightly – this is because in instances where speakers had the same average speaks, we used the standard deviation to decide ranking, preferring a lower deviation on the basis that it indicates greater consistency. In contrast, Tabbycat does not automatically do this. 3 speakers ended up with the same average speaks and standard deviation, resulting in a tie at 9th place. As can be seen from that fact, the speakers tab this year was very competitive, so congratulations to everyone who made it on the Top 10.
The Grand Champions of this year’s Junior SDC was RCHK 1, debating against CIS 2 in a spectacular Grand Final round. We congratulate both them and the runner-up heartily.All tabs and the break have now been released publicly. They can be viewed at https://jsdc2021.herokuapp.com/jsdc2021/.
Thank you once again to everyone, judges and teams alike, who participated in this JSDC. We hope to see everyone again soon – to this generation of young debaters, we can’t wait to see you excel in what will surely be bright and successful careers.
We can now announce the prepped and semi prepped motions for this year’s Junior SDC to the community. As Round 1 is fully prepped, we can also share the draw for that. All other rounds in the motions table below are semi-prepped with the exception of the Quarter Finals: the draw for the latter will be announced immediately after the break on Day 1.
