WSDC Ltd Executive Committee 2008/2009

Chairperson: Chris Erskine (Australia)
Vice Chairperson: Geetha Creffield (Singapore)
Secretary: Claire Ryan (New Zealand)

6 committee members;

Jeannette Baljeu (Netherlands)
Taimur Bandey (Pakistan)
Beth James (Wales)
Alex Just (Qatar)
Irene McGrath (Scotland)
Dick Wafer (Ireland)

WSDC 2008 debates on line

Recordings of debates from the 2008 championship are springing up everywhere.

Here's one of the Grand Final. I don't know which kind soul recorded the debate then made it so quickly available to us all but a huge thank you to whoever did it.

Tuna Snider is also uploading debates on his WSDC 2008 blogspot so check that out too. He has the NZ v Scotland semi-final there now. Hopefully he or someone else has the England v Greece semi-final as well. If people would like to share their recordings with Tuna or with me for inclusion on the WSDC 2008 blogspot or the WSDC blog, please don't hold back!

Gaurav Keerthi from Singapore who was judging at WSDC also filmed a number of debates including the delightfully entertaining England v Israel quarter final which he has placed on the Facebook WSDC Washington DC group and is also reproduced here. Gaurav is also placing more WSDC 2008 debates which he recorded on the Debate Association Singapore website. Click here if you would like to register with that site.


NB: I've also gone back and added a few extra photos to earlier postings plus added ESL/EFL top 3 teams to the team tab, and published a corrected individual speaker tab because of errors in that tab so feel free to go back and have another look.

Claire

2008 speaker tab.

Here is the individual speaker tab containing the names of the top 50 speakers at the 2008 World Championships. This is an amended list from that earlier published.

Chief Adjudicator Aaron Maniam advises that there was an unfortunate software error in the computation of scores earlier, which he has spent some time correcting and checking and trusts he has now rectified.

As usual, only the top 50 names are published to the world and only those who have debated in at least 4 of the preliminary rounds are included in the list.

I have ensured as best as I can that the names of the individuals have been spelled correctly but I am dependent on the information that has been supplied to me. If any name is incorrect, please e-mail me and I will correct it.

If nations wish to know the placings and speaker points of their speakers who are not in the top 50, could the team managers please e-mail Aaron Maniam and request the details. He will be happy to provide them.

Thank you very much and congratulations to all those who debated in this tournament.

Claire Ryan
Secretary, Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

2008 team tab.

As promised, here is the WSDC 2008 team tab.

It includes the top 3 EFL and ESL teams.

Kind regards,

Claire Ryan,
Secretary, Executive Committee
WSDC Ltd

More international debating... without leaving home

Congratulations to England, New Zealand and all the teams at what was a gripping World Championships - and thanks to Claire from those of us around the world who were only able to live it via her posts to this blog.

When the dust has settled, you might be interested in a new project from a South African school - Global Connection - which enables schools to debate each other over the Internet, using a variation of World Schools style. It's done using the popular Skype software which is downloadable for free; otherwise you just need a PC, broadband connection and a webcam/microphone.

Sign up now and arrange your debates with schools around the world.

Top 10 speaker awards

Jen Savage with her award


10. Hugh Burns (IRELAND)

9. Daniel Kaliski (SOUTH AFRICA)

8. Sian Ni Mhuiri (IRELAND)

7. Emily Chalk (AUSTRALIA)

6. Sam Greene (CANADA)

5. Ben Woolgar (ENGLAND)

3 = Holly Jenkins (NEW ZEALAND)

3 = Chris Bisset (AUSTRALIA)

2. Ben Kornfeld (NEW ZEALAND)

1. Jen Savage (NEW ZEALAND)

EFL best speaker award

Congratulations to FILIP DOBRANIC from Slovenia who wins the award for the second year in a row.

A software error in the tab programme meant that while the late round 4 Slovenia v USA points were entered into the tab and the scores were included in the team total, the programme did not automatically carry the points through to the individual tab the way all the other scores were carried through, so Filip's scores and the scores of all those in that debate were not originally included and he wasn't originally announced as EFL best speaker. Aaron Maniam , Chief Adjudicator, has now rectified this. Sincere apologies to all concerned.

Aaron is resolved to do his best to work with future adjudication teams to rectify this glitch on future tabs.

The top 3 EFL speakers are:
3. Valerie Deiss (Germany)
2. Carmen Belafi (Germany)
1. Filip Dobranic (Slovenia)

ESL best speaker award

Congratulations to ZEESHAN HAIDER from Pakistan.

Top ESL speakers:
3. Feroze Shah (Pakistan)
2. Elena Georgantzis (Greece)
1. Zeeshan Haider (Pakistan)

Awards night part 2 - EFL award......

goes to...............


TEAM SLOVENIA

Top 3 EFL teams:
1. Slovenia
2. Netherlands
3. Argentina

Awards night part 1 - ESL award

The final banquet is in progress. The awards have just ocurred. Here we begin the list.


ESL team award - TEAM GREECE

Top 3 ESL teams:
1. Greece
2. Pakistan
3. South Korea

Rule Britannia!

New Zealand 4 v England 5

Final judging panel: Aaron Maniam (Singapore), Chris Erskine (Australia), Janet Webster (Canada), Taimur Bandey (Pakistan), Jumin Lee (Republic of Korea), Simona Mazilu (Romania), Branislav Fecko-Cegin(Slovakia), Liana Miholic (Slovenia), Beth James (Wales),

England wins the championships! So I guess I won't be singing......except the praises of a great debate between Team NZ (Jen Savage, Ben Kornfeld and Maria English with great support from Holly Jenkins and Tom Chen) against Team England (Ben Woolgar, Seb Farquhar and James Fox ably supported by Emily Pearce), worthy winners England and gracious losers NZ.

Congratulations to England, a team that lost no rounds throughout the entire competition, who were clever, sophisticated and witty.

The final banquet awaits.....love to you all and I'll be back later with some photos and final thoughts.

Will it be God save our gracious Queen or God defend our free land?

Teams New Zealand and Scotland who provided us with a simply spectacular semi-final

Result of the semi-final:


New Zealand 7 Scotland 0

England 5 Greece 2


Final tomorrow: TH would expand the permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

New Zealand proposing, England opposing.

Let the semi-finals begin!!!

Resolution: This house would drop all US sanctions on Cuba.

(Interesting wording - from which height?)

New Zealand proposing against Scotland

England proposing against Greece.

May the best team win... well, I am a little partisan of course... but still, may the best team win.

(And if NZ manages to win the whole thing, I promise to sing!!!!)

Indian Creek Part 2

I have received a lovely little clip from Indian Creek, featuring an interview with brilliant Bryce from Hong Kong, and snippets from the Hong Kong v Lithuania debate.

ENJOY!!!

Click here

Quarter-final results!!!!

TH regrets the hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

PROP OPP
New Zealand 4 Ireland 1
Greece 3 South Africa 2
England 4 Israel 1
Scotland 4 Canada 1

There were some very gracious appreciative and congratulatory speeches by losing teams this afternoon, more so than I've seen before. These teams rock.

So.....it's New Zealand v Scotland and England v Greece tomorrow night.
I can hardly wait

Quarter final topic

TH regrets the hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

PROP OPP
NZ v Ireland
South Africa v Greece
England v Israel
Scotland v Canada.

Go teams!!!!
And to those around the world: keep sending positive vibes and messages!!!!

Outstanding Octofinals

THBT heads of government should be required to have a parliamentary majority to govern

PROP OPP

Netherlands 0 New Zealand 5

Australia 1 Ireland 4

Canada 3 South Korea 2

Scotland 4 Pakistan 1

South Africa 3 Hong Kong 2

Singapore 2 Greece 3

England 3 Wales 2

Slovenia 0 Israel 5


Commiserations to the teams who now exit the competition but become supportive audiences. As you can see, the rounds were very close and we saw some superb debates between very gifted teams.

Congratulations to the winners of close-fought battles. This afternoon is going to be sensational.

The Break

Lewis Turner, coach of Wales, hearing the news that Wales has broken.

Hello again everyone.We returned from a great day at Indian Creek in time to quickly change into more casual clothes and head off to the Crystal City Sports Bar for a night of good food, good friendship, not-so-good dancing and the great break announcement.

Slovenia v USA were completing their rescheduled debate when we arrived so I stayed back to await the decision (Slovenia 3-0) and then checked with the others the tab for the final breaking teams - although really, James Probert had done such a splendid job with the tab, and he and Kris Ade with the data entry, so that the final checking by the rest of us was just a confirmation of the obvious.Our work done for the meantime, the CAP headed off to the Sports Bar to be greeted by an excited throng ("ooh, here comes the CAP!!!")and various offers to buy drinks if we could just even drop some hints but I don't drink so that was a waste of time -and they don't sell White Chocolate bars at the Sports Bar.

After what seemed to be an eternity for the anxious debaters, Phyllis entered the building. With the help of the DJ's microphone against the background of the usual sports bar noise she proclaimed the draw from 1 to 16 with the teams loudly cheering and hollering not only for themselves if they made the break but even more riotously and generously for each other. Some people had worked the draw out already but there were many moments of worry for those on 5 wins who knew that some of them wouldn't break - before all was revealed.

And here it is:

Breaking teams

1. New Zealand. 8 wins, 23 judges
2. South Africa. 8 wins, 22 judges
3. England. 8 wins, 21 judges
4. Canada. 7 wins, 21 judges
5. Pakistan. 7 wins, 19 judges
6. Israel. 7 wins, 19 judges
7. Singapore. 6 wins, 19 judges
8. Australia. 6 wins, 18 judges
9. Ireland. 6 wins, 18 judges
10. Greece. 6 wins, 18 judges
11. Slovenia, 6 wins, 16 judges
12. Scotland. 5 wins, 15 judges
13. South Korea. 5 wins, 15 judges
14. Wales. 5 wins, 14 judges
15. Hong Kong. 5 wins, 14 judges
16. Netherlands. 5 wins, 14 judges.

Where teams are on equal wins and judges, they have been separated by speaker point totals.

On Friday, the teams will meet in the octofinals, paired 1-16, 2-15, 3-14 and so on.All debates will be limited preparation ie one hour of preparation after the topic is announced. Sides will be determined by coin toss before the topic is announced.

Just so you know the fabulous encounters we will see, here they are:
New Zealand v Netherlands
South Africa v Hong Kong
England v Wales
Canada v South Korea
Pakistan v Scotland
Israel v Slovenia
Singapore v Greece
Australia v Ireland.

It's now after 1 am so I'm about to sign off. Tomorrow is the free day, so a sleep in is in order before heading into Washington Central and....the Smithsonian!!!

Rounds 5 and 6

Above: Team Germany making friends and influencing people at Indian Creek High School 10 September 2008

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay in getting results to you....but when you're working all day travelling a number of hours to judge wonderful debates outside Washington and working all night every night into the small hours (such is the volume of work for this CAP, even more so than last year)then there is little time or opportunity short of complete sleep deprivation to post to the blog.

For the last two days I, some other judges and 4 debating teams have been travelling by bus out to the warmly welcoming Indian Creek High School in Crownville, Maryland. It's a refurbished, rebuilt high school, the new buildings being only two years old, on a former tobacco farm in a leafy, semi-rural setting. Yesterday it took us two hours to get there in humid conditions, because we got lost, the directions were wrong, and even the local mailman did not seem to know where it was. But we did see a great deal of the Maryland country side and the local bush, creek and nouveau-rustic cottages nestled beneath the trees - although perhaps more than we had intended and more than once past the same crashed and crushed black car sitting on an otherwise impeccably manicured front lawn...

Finally, we arrived, our orange bus (reminiscent of Peru but without the rapid-fire horn sounds) rumbling up the sweeping driveway half an hour after we were scheduled to begin debating. The school took it all in its stride and the staff simply rearranged their day. Today, the same bus driver knew where to go and we arrived within an hour. The school was delighted to have us, dispatched appreciative audiences to our debates (it was so great to have an audience), hosted the debates either in a light, open music room with the sun warming our backs or in the impressively spacious auditorium, fed us well, enjoyed a workshop by Asher Weill today and hosted a reception tonight to thank and farewell us. This will be one of my fondest memories of this tournament - this is what WSDC is all about.

The school is setting up its own debating team and I said that I hoped to one day see a member of Team USA from Indian Creek HS.

Anyway, here are the results of Rounds 5 and 6. The teams that debated at Indian Creek in those rounds were Australia, Ireland, Pakistan and South Africa, four power houses of debating who put on great performances for the students and teachers, many of whom were enthused and inspired by our teams. (Today, teams Canada, Germany, Lithuania and Hong Kong came out to the same school and further impressed the school with their verbal dexterity and eclectic general knowledge. I'll post rounds 7 and 8 once I have them all!)

Round 5: Prepared: THW make the directors of multinational companies personally liable for environmental abuses committed by their companies in the developing world.

PROPOSITION OPPOSITION

Swing 0 Qatar 3

Montenegro 3 Mongolia 0

England 3 USA 0

Wales 1 Slovenia 2

South Korea 1 Israel 2

Kuwait 0 Canada 3

Argentina 0 Greece 3

Peru 1 Philippines 2

Romania 1 Indonesia 2

Estonia 2 Bermuda 1

Sri Lanka 2 Bangladesh 1

New Zealand 3 Scotland 0

Hong Kong 0 Singapore 3

Australia 1 South Africa 2

Ireland 1 Pakistan 2

Mexico 0 India 3

Botswana 3 Slovakia 0

Netherlands 3 Czech Republic 0

Lithuania 1 Germany 2

Bye: Japan

Round 6: Impromptu: This house would cease the use of detention without trial in the war on terror

PROPOSITION OPPOSITION

Greece 3 Kuwait 0

USA 3 Peru 0

India 3 Japan 0

Mongolia 0 Swing 3

Slovenia 2 Argentina 1

Israel 3 Wales 0

Philippines 1 South Korea 2

Indonesia 2 Estonia 1

Bermuda 0 Sri Lanka 3

Bangladesh 2 Romania 1

Canada 1 England 3Scotland Hong Kong

Singapore 0 New Zealand 3

Pakistan 3 Australia 0

South Africa 3 Ireland 0

Qatar 3 Montenegro 0

Slovakia 1 Mexico 2

Czech Republic 2 Lithuania 1

Scotland 1 Hong Kong 2

Germany 0 Netherlands 3

Bye: Botswana.

Rounds 3 and 4

Round 3–Prepared Debate

This house would ban the use of unethically obtained data in scientific research.

PROPOSITION TEAM OPPOSITION TEAM

South Africa 3 Japan 0

Singapore 3 Montenegro 0

Canada 3 Mongolia 0

England 3 Qatar 0

New Zealand 3 Bangladesh 0

Slovakia 0 Ireland 3

South Korea 3 Estonia 0

Argentina 2 Indonesia 1

Peru 0 Kuwait 3

Bermuda 0 Greece 3

Israel 3 Romania 0

Mexico 1 Scotland 2

Swing 0 Hong Kong 3

India 1 Pakistan 2

Botswana 0 Australia 3

Czech Republic 0 Slovenia 3

USA 1 Germany 2

Wales 2 Netherlands 1

Lithuania 1 Philippines 2

Bye: Sri Lanka

Round 4 impromptu motion:
This house believes that humanities courses should be part of every
undergraduate programme.

PROPOSITION TEAM OPPOSITION TEAM

Japan 0 New Zealand 3

Montenegro 0 England 3

Indonesia 0 Peru 3

Sri Lanka 0 Canada 3

Kuwait 1 Slovakia 2

Bangladesh 0 South Africa 3

Estonia 1 Israel 2

Qatar 0 Singapore 3

Greece 2 South Korea 1

Romania 1 Argentina 2

Ireland 3 Bermuda 0

Hong Kong 1 Mexico 2

Scotland 3 Swing 0

Australia 3 India 0

Pakistan 3 Botswana 0

Slovenia USA (postponed)

Germany 1 Czech Republic 2

Netherlands 0 Lithuania 3

Philippines 0 Wales 3

Rounds 1 and 2: results and thoughts

Today the competition started for everyone, following the "warm-up" of adjudicator training sessions and Round 0. All storms had passed and the sky was back to Washington blue. Those who arrived on Friday night to brooding clouds and the edge of the hurricane could not believe the complete weather change overnight. So in bright sunlight we travelled to George Mason University or GMU for Rounds 1 and 2. We didn't know where we were going and neither did our bus drivers. It could have been worse - we could have disappeared along some stretch of Route 66 never to be seen again. Fortunately, we had volunteers with cellphones and savvy. A few calls later, we arrived at the Student Union building...No 2.

After some refreshments and threats not to return on the bus (and one team didn't)we were into the prepared round. I was fortunate enough with my fellow adjudicators Gaurav from Singapore and Eva from the Netherlands to watch an outstanding debate between Pakistan and Wales. People know I like alliteration so try this: the debate was classy and clever, stylish and sophisticated, poised and professional. What a privilege.

Could I be treated to two great debates in one day? In this case,yes.England and Hong Kong put on another impressive show, this time in the impromptu round. I dissented - but can only say that it was very close and hard fought. Our debaters are all wonderful young people and it was a fantastic first day.

And the results? Here they are:

ROUND ONE: TH SUPPORTS MILITARY INTERVENTION TO DELIVER EMERGENCY AID IN HUMANITARIAN CRISES.

PROPOSITION TEAM OPPOSITION TEAM

Israel 1 South Africa 2

Philippines 0 Singapore 3

Romania 0Hong Kong 3

Slovenia 1 England 2

Greece 1New Zealand 2

Bermuda 1Slovakia 2

Scotland 2 South Korea 1

Czech Republic 0 Argentina 3

Mongolia 0Peru 3

Pakistan 3 Wales 0

Sri Lanka 3 Lithuania 0

Canada 3 USA 0

Japan 0 Montenegro 3

Qatar 2 Botswana 1

Netherlands 2 Mexico 1

Bangladesh 2 Swing 1

Indonesia 0 Ireland 3

Estonia 0 Australia 3

Germany 3 Kuwait 0


ROUND 2: IMPROMPTU: THW BAN STRIKES BY THOSE WORKING IN ESSENTIAL STATE SERVICES

South Africa 3 USA 0

Singapore 3 Slovenia 0

Canada 2 Greece 1

England 2 Hong Kong 1

New Zealand 3 Estonia 0

Montenegro 0 Netherlands 3

South Korea 2 Romania 1

Argentina 0 Pakistan 3

Peru 2 Sri Lanka 1

India 0 Bermuda 3

Israel 2 Scotland 1

Wales 3 Germany 0

Lithuania 1 Bangladesh 2

Kuwait 1 Czech Republic 2

Swing 0 Botswana 3

Mexico 3Mongolia 0

Japan 0 Qatar 3

Australia 3Indonesia 0

Ireland 2 Philippines 1

What we do when not debating.......

Debaters need water.....lots of it. What better way to employ adjudicators and debaters idling away the hours before the championships start than to send them off to Costco to purchase 100 crates of water...only the van would only take 50, Costco wouldn't take my card (but did take my cash!!) and after a half hour shopping trip which turned into a 2 hour marathon, the boys are still smiling.

Thanks to Chris from Canada and Sven from Germany for remaining cheerful and upbeat after all our exploits and all their work-outs with the water.....

WSDC begins with Round Zero

As Washington felt the edge of the hurricane outdoors, WSDC began in the safety of the indoors, with the adjudicators' briefing begun with a power point presentation by Aaron Maniam before the large group of about 75 broke into 3 groups, the new, the not-so-new and the old hands.

In the afternoon, Round Zero began, the details of which are as follows:

Resolution: THW ban government funding from being given to faith based initiatives.

Proposition Opposition
Botswana Japan
Result: Botswana 3-0

Slovakia India
Result: Slovakia 2-1

Mongolia Sri Lanka
Result: Sri Lanka 3-0

Qatar Bangladesh
Result: Bangladesh 2-1

Meanwhile......at Reagan

Those arriving at the National Airport are very close to the Hyatt Regency and there is a free shuttle bus which is (a) FREE and (b) whisks you to the hotel in a matter of minutes. Come out of the terminal, turn right and keep walking until you come to the "Hotel shuttle" sign (the slight clue will be the large group of people gathered there.) Wait until the big blue shuttle with the word "HYATT" comes along and give the driver a wave.

I've been popping out when I can to meet various people at Reagan to direct them to the shuttle. Today I rushed out to meet a team and couldn't find it. Many minutes passed while I anxiously sought out some familiar faces, but to to no avail - before I was put out of my misery by the information that in fact the team is due tomorrow...

To change the subject or as Mark Twain once put it, to draw the curtain of charity over the scene, there are some fabulous eateries within a short distance of the Hyatt. Which one is your favourite? There may be a little prize for the best description........

C

From dullest to Dulles

Greetings everyone.

At last I am in DC....or more correctly, in Virginia, after 20 hours of flight(including 3 hours at San Fran.) I left a rather cloudy, dull day in Auckland where it was raining (so....er...untypical of Auckland) and there was a huge amount to do in the office (how equally untypical of me) but leaving all that exciting material behind, I now email you under a balmy, clear sky in Washington.

20 hours is a long time but for the first 12 hours I had the pleasure of sitting next to 2 widows who fled Fiji in one of the coups and were otherwise travelling abroad for the first time so filling in all the forms for the US was an experience of great challenge - and hilarity. Fortunately there were a few spare forms around but we didn't need quite as many as the air hostess predicted. The 12 hours passed quickly (I hasten to add that it took less time than that to complete the forms). I was sorry to say farewell at San Francisco - except for one little matter and that is that one of them correctly guessed my marital and religious status which she said she could tell by looking. I began to wonder if I stayed with them any longer, what else they might discern about me. I don't think they fossicked in my handbag while I was on cabin walkabout (and it was in the hold above for most of the time), nor do I think there was anything in there that could reveal all my past misdeeds but you never know...

In San Francisco I discovered that notwithstanding all my efforts to have my mobile phone configured for global roaming, it wasn't working. A very expensive call to Telecom NZ later, all is up and running...sort of. Text messages seem to be working and I can phone home via toll call prices and home can phone my mobile via non-toll call prices so that's the main thing.

Speaking of the main thing, I'd better get on to the two main reasons why I wrote up this blog this morning.

The first - Dulles Airport. When you arrive there after midnight, the place is in sleep mode apart from passengers becoming anxious about the delay it is taking for their luggage to appear (but when you have to be transported by super-truck from place of landing to main passenger area, so does your luggage so patience is useful especially when-sleep deprived) some service crew - AND a group of very animated, eager taxi drivers who are very happy to help you out in any shape, manner or form, especially as the information booth is empty.

But it comes at a price - the desire to take you all the way to the Hyatt at Reagan for US $50-$64. I imagine the fare is financially viable if there's a group of you who can split the cost between you. It isn't for an individual. I'm very grateful to Phyllis for giving us an estimation of prices before we came so that I knew that the shuttle costs significantly less. The taxi driver who unsuccessfully tried to take my luggage ("But you're a woman", he exclaimed when I refused. Poor man, he didn't know what sort of woman!!!) told me that no shuttles ran at that time of night. He was mistaken - the Super Shuttles still do and one of them cost me US $29. You do have to wait for others to fill the shuttle of course and it tends to meander all around Virginia and DC if it's filled with different people so could take you hours to get to the Hyatt, although at that time of the night - sorry, morning - I didn't have to do any of that and enjoyed a lovely journey under northern stars, listening to the driver's rather interesting selection of music.

As we came into Arlington, the view of the Washington monument was simply stunning.

Secondly, internet access. From the hotel, it costs US$9.99 a day. If anyone knows of anything cheaper, let me know. I'll have a scout around too. It is cheaper for me than the global roaming/Ipass system I often use however and provides the same options so I've been impressed with Ameri-tech so far.

I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Claire