It was great to begin (or rather return to where it all began!) our term of Debating and Interview Work in our club at Eaton House Belgravia.
We began with a focus on presentation skills, from posture to eye contact, to diction and projecting your voice to reach the back of the class.
With this in mind, we turned to a warm up exercise and focussed on interview style questions: 'Tell me something interesting about you/your favourite hobby etc.' and 'Tell me something interesting about the world/current affairs'. The group did extremely well, with answers ranging from sports and music, to current affairs such as climate change, the football world cup, Space exploration, and the War in Ukraine.
Following the warm-up we split into two groups to debate the motion: 'This House would only use a plastic Christmas tree'. Many in the group had spotted the many Christmas trees abandoned across London this January and raised concerns about deforestation and climate change. Likewise others argued strongly that plastic waste ended up in oceans and seas. The most impressive responses recognised a via media of either no tree (which the group saw as unlikely to be implemented) or better still a real tree but in a pot and therefore reusable. Voting moved in favour of this approach at the second telling. This sustainable approach was an impressive solution to the problem discussed and would also avoid economic/job loss for the industry.
It was great to see some excellent argumentation as well as active listening.
Looking forward to a fascinating term of debating ahead! Well done all.
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