English Debates in Kagoshima
A team of debaters made up Chloe Lazenbury, Jacqui Dack (from Winchester University) and Shoko Amioka and Yumi Nakano traveled by car from Kitakyushu to Kagoshima last weekend to take part in a debate contest sponsored by the International University of Kagoshima. They won all four debates. David McMurray was the coach for the IKU while Dennis Woolbright was the coach for the Seinan-Jo/Winchester University team.
Jacqui Dack said, “It was a weekend filled with a debate competition, a haiku event, food, drink, laughter, volcanic ash, a foot onsen, and a capsule hotel…a weekend to remember, that’s for sure!”
Shoko Amioka had this to say, “I took part in a debate competition on April 26 with Chloe Lazenbury, Jacqui Dack, and Yumi Nakano. We worked so hard , and actually we won the championship! Yay! Now I think I have to improve my speaking skills more. I really wanna try another competition again.
After the competition, we enjoyed sightseeing in Kagoshima:) Kagoshima people were all nice and kind, and the food was really good! I’m so sure that I’ll go there again:)
The debate topics were:
- Debate topic 1 – Spending all of your parents’ savings to go to an expensive university Is it worth if?
- Debate topic 2 – You have to be good at saying “NO” if you want to be good in business.
- Debate topic 3 – Playing video games helps develop key skills and supports brain function.
- Debate topic 4 – For the benefit of its economy, Japan needs to maintain its population of 127 million by improving its birthrate and allowing more foreigners to immigrate.
