Each time slot (contest), according to the schedule, lasts an hour and a half, but a note there suggests the judge be there 45 minutes ahead for the orientation. So I rode my horse there right on time, at the campus of a Christian college in Irvine. Parking was easy, and they even sent out shuttle cart transporting you to the building where the judge orientation took place so you wouldn't get lost. It was a classroomful of about 40 or so volunteers like myself–actually I didn't know how many of them were first-timers like me, and how many were veteran judges, or alum debaters who came back to become judges, or friends or parents of the debaters, etc. The orientation instructor wasted no time explaining the program, the guidelines, the rules and tips on how to be a judge, etc. in a short 45-minute span. It's quite a bundle for a debate novice like me. But I did catch a couple of essentials out of it: Don't let your personal opinion on a subject influence your judging decision, and try to write constructive comments on your ballot so the debaters know what to improve on the next time.
Then off I went to the debate I was assigned to. It was in a library conference room. The debaters, 4 of them, all teen age girls, and one timer, a young boy probably some kid brother of some debater's, were all sitting there waiting for me. The girls smiled at me after I sat down and asked if I wanted to conduct it in any special manner or just let them make things easy for me (??). I smiled back and told them this was my first-time being a debate judge so letting things go easy for me would be just fine. They smiled back again and then the debate began.
The 4 girls were actually separated into two two-member teams. The subject of the debate was "Should the US Government Reform Its Revenue Generation Model", with Team Affirmative arguing for it, and Team Negative against it. Each team member started with a 8 or 10 minute speech that stated her core arguments, followed by a 3-minute questioning and answering session with the opposing team, then another 8 or 10 minutes of rebuttal by an opposing team member, and so on.
As the debate went, one thing that surprised me or I didn't expect was they all brought their pre-written scripts to the stand and practically read from it, interspersed with their charming stares and smiles at me. I soon realized they probably had to do it this way because the majority of their arguments consisted of statistics and quotations from various sources they collected, and I assumed the debate rules do allow them to bring scripts and read from them. I was impressed, though, by the effort they apparently had spent digging up those info, as well as the logic and arguments they made out of them.
What surprised me even more, and I think demonstrated the merit and purpose of such form of debate, was how intensely and keenly they listened to (and made notes of) their opponent's arguments, collected their thoughts, then quickly came up with defenses or counter attacks to their opponent's questions or arguments.
As instructed, I refrained from making any comments during the debate, except giving them encouraging smiles and an all-inclusive "bravo" congratulation at the end of the debate, then hurried back to the judges' corner to finish up the grading and ranking, then turned in the ballot to the judging committee and left.
The next judging session came a couple days later. It was a totally different format this time. Instead of debating each other, each participant picked and prepared their own subject of interest to present and speak about by themselves. (It reminded me of the "show-and-tell" session an English instructor from Canada had us do in her class during my college days in Taiwan). There were total of 8 contestants and 3 judges (including myself), along with one timer (again a kid brother of sort from some contestant), and a few audiences in the room. It was a captivating, totally entertaining 90 minutes through and through: From the girl that dramatized and explained the fear of public speaking she had overcome, to a tall handsome boy making cool and fun analyses of all stories in the world, to a short little boy dressed in 3-piece suit demonstrating how a little bugle can play more than 20 different tunes with just 3 notes that dictate the US army's on and off battle ground activities...
I didn't sign up for the final rounds or the awarding ceremony so I don't know who the ultimate prize winners were, but my hat goes off to all these young men and women who show passion and efforts in trying to excel on things they love to do, and men and women who organize and keep such debate and speech league going on year after year in communities all over the country!
No comments:
Post a Comment