Speaking without fear!
暢所欲言吧
Ask a random selection of adults to list their biggest fears, and while you might get a few answers like “flying”, or “spiders”, or “heights”, for a surprisingly large percentage of the adult population (including, oddly, many teachers) the top of the list – the scariest possible thing for them to contemplate – is speaking in public in front of an audience.
如果隨機(jī)選擇一個(gè)人并讓他列出自己的恐懼清單，你可能會(huì)得到類似于飛翔、蜘蛛、高空等不盡相同的答案，但當(dāng)眾演講一定在絕大多數(shù)人(包括老師們)的清單之中。
It has therefore been great over the last couple of years at EtonHouse to see our MYP and DP students growing more and more accustomed to being on stage and speaking in front of their peers and teachers. Not only have they grown more used to it, but they have been getting better and better at it!
因此在EtonHouse過(guò)去的幾年中，我們很高興地看到MYP和DP的學(xué)生們不斷磨礪自己，越來(lái)越享受在舞臺(tái)上、在伙伴和老師面前進(jìn)行演講。他們不僅克服了對(duì)演講的恐懼，并越來(lái)越收放自如。
Opportunities for this have come in everyday classes, via student contributions to regular assemblies, and more purposefully through our Public Speaking and House Debating Competitions, designed specifically to thrust students into the spotlight, and to allow them to practice that precious, but difficult and nerve-wracking art of speaking in front of a crowd.
當(dāng)然每天在課堂上同學(xué)們都會(huì)有這樣的機(jī)會(huì)，但通過(guò)更有針對(duì)性的學(xué)生例會(huì)時(shí)間，我們舉辦公開演講和House間的辯論比賽，將同學(xué)們推向聚光燈，在讓他們公眾面前鍛煉這門寶貴但又令人傷透腦筋的藝術(shù)。
This is a real life-skill, valuable in so many different ways and contexts, and one that, as mentioned, many people simply do not possess. Any worthwhile education should seek to enhance this skill, to allow chances to hone and perfect the art. This is a school legacy more important than any taught fact.
這是一項(xiàng)廣泛適用于各種場(chǎng)景中的實(shí)用技能，正如前文所述，可能很多人都沒有這項(xiàng)技能。每一種有價(jià)值的教育都會(huì)提倡努力提高演講能力，為學(xué)生制造機(jī)會(huì)并讓其掌握這門藝術(shù)。 這是比任何教學(xué)事實(shí)都重要的教學(xué)傳承。
As Albert Einstein is reputed to have once said, education is what remains when you have forgotten everything your teachers told you. EXPERIENCE matters!
正如阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦曾說(shuō)過(guò)的那樣：教育就是當(dāng)一個(gè)人忘記了在學(xué)校所學(xué)的一切之后剩下的東西。體驗(yàn)舉足輕重!
House Debating
House辯論
With this squarely in mind, the Debating Competition provides the opportunity to gain exactly this kind of experience. In addition, it develops research and critical thinking skills, hones the power of persuasion, heightens student awareness of global issues and current affairs, and, of course, teaches them a thing or two about how to effectively argue and defend their point. That’s quite a list of positives!
正因如此，辯論賽為同學(xué)們提供了獲得這種體驗(yàn)的機(jī)會(huì)，并且它還可以發(fā)展同學(xué)們研究和批判性思維的能力，鍛煉演講力，提高同學(xué)們對(duì)全球問(wèn)題、時(shí)事的認(rèn)知。當(dāng)然，還會(huì)教會(huì)同學(xué)們?nèi)绾斡行У剞q論并捍衛(wèi)自己的觀點(diǎn)。益處不勝枚舉。
The competition saw each of the four Houses – Han, Tang, Song and Ming – debate each other once across three preliminary rounds, with the two Houses notching up the most wins going through to the final.
比賽采用漢、唐、宋、明四個(gè)House首先經(jīng)過(guò)三輪預(yù)賽，獲勝較多的兩隊(duì)進(jìn)入決賽的規(guī)則。
The format was the same for all the rounds: three speakers from each house, speaking alternately, each having two and a half minutes to state their case, with a two minute pause for team conferring in between each set of speakers. Houses were not allowed to use the same team more than once, widening the participation required from each House.
每個(gè)回合采用如下方式：每個(gè)House的成員輪流發(fā)言，他們將有兩分鐘的時(shí)間陳述自己的觀點(diǎn)。每組發(fā)言者之間有兩分鐘的間隙進(jìn)行小組討論。每次辯論，House不可使用同一批成員，以House中每個(gè)人都要參與進(jìn)來(lái)。
Adjudicated by a rotating set of four staff judges – one from each House – the students were scored both on individual and team performance, on categories such as understanding the motion, quality of oral presentation, use of facts and statistics to support the argument, respect for the opposing team and overall organization of the team argument.
評(píng)委由四位老師(每個(gè)House中一位)組成，并實(shí)現(xiàn)流動(dòng)制，以對(duì)學(xué)生個(gè)人、團(tuán)隊(duì)表現(xiàn)進(jìn)行評(píng)分，包括理解力、口頭表述能力、使用客觀事實(shí)和統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)支持論點(diǎn)的數(shù)量、是否尊重對(duì)方團(tuán)隊(duì)和全局的論點(diǎn)等。
Round 1: Trump
The opening debates took place on the same day as the recent US Election, and to mark that occasion, the motion was:
開幕辯論那天正好是美國(guó)大選的日子，因此議題是：
“It makes no difference to the world who wins today’s US Presidential election”
今年的美國(guó)總統(tǒng)大選結(jié)果是否會(huì)對(duì)世界產(chǎn)生影響
Despite the impact that Donald Trump has had on the global scene, the students found this topic surprisingly hard to debate. Song prevailed over Ming, and Han had a convincing win over Tang in this opening exchange. Being half a world and many time zones ahead of the USA, we didn’t debate totally in step with the voting, and in any case, as we now all know, the final result took many, many days to be officially confirmed.
盡管Donald Trump在全球舞臺(tái)上有著顯而易見的巨大影響，但同學(xué)們驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)議題實(shí)際很膠著。較后宋戰(zhàn)勝了明，漢也旗開得勝。由于同美國(guó)的時(shí)差，我們的辯論賽并沒有完全和投票同步，而且現(xiàn)在的我們知道，較終的結(jié)果需要很多天之后才會(huì)得到正式的確認(rèn)。
Round 2: Money
For the second set of debates, having argued about the merits or otherwise of a supposed billionaire American president, and with our renewed emphasis on Service & Action in mind, the motion was:
我們已經(jīng)討論了一位億萬(wàn)富翁美國(guó)總統(tǒng)的優(yōu)缺點(diǎn)，因此在第二輪辯論中，為了再次強(qiáng)調(diào)了服務(wù)和行動(dòng)的重要性，我們的議題是:
“The world’s super-rich people should be required to help solve the world’s problems”
富豪是否有義務(wù)為世界問(wèn)題提供援助
This topic proved a little more accessible for the students, who supported their arguments well with statistics and examples of philanthropy. The word ‘required’ in the motion was pivotal. It was sobering to consider that, in the time it took for the two debates, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos had made another $6 million! Results-wise, Song made it two wins from two, defeating Han, while Tang again went winless against Ming in a very close debate, the teams separated by just 4 points.
事實(shí)證明，同學(xué)們很容易理解這個(gè)議題，他們用統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)字和慈善事業(yè)的例子很好地佐證了他們的論點(diǎn)。議題之中的“required”是一個(gè)關(guān)鍵點(diǎn)。令人深思的是，就在兩場(chǎng)辯論的這短短時(shí)間里，亞馬遜的Jeff Bezos又賺了600萬(wàn)美元!較后，宋戰(zhàn)勝了漢獲得兩場(chǎng)全贏的戰(zhàn)績(jī)，而唐則在一場(chǎng)精彩的辯論中以4分的微弱差距再次輸給了明。
Round 3: Aliens
In a marked change of focus, we went extraterrestrial for Round 3, the motion exploring the wisdom - or otherwise – of humanity’s ongoing quest to find evidence of alien life beyond Earth:
第三輪我們將焦點(diǎn)轉(zhuǎn)移到了宇宙，探索人類尋找地球以外的外星生命、智慧的證據(jù)或其他方面：
“The human race should not be attempting to search for alien life”
人類應(yīng)不應(yīng)該尋找外星生命
This seemed to pique the interest of the students more than the previous two topics, and the result was two very high scoring debates. There was an almost universal assumption by the teams that “alien life” had to mean intelligent, and probably hostile bad guys, when in reality our first proof of life beyond is likely to be microbial and very simple. With Song virtually guaranteed a place in the final, they were playing for a clean sweep of all three rounds, and duly got their third win against Tang, who ended their campaign without a win. The final debate of the day would decide who joined Song in the final, and in the end it was decided by the narrowest of margins, Ming beating Han by a single point for their second win, and a place in the Final. Had it been a draw, or a Han win, they’d have gone through instead. Someone has to lose – just ask Donald!
這輪辯論的高分似乎顯示出同學(xué)們對(duì)這個(gè)議題濃厚的興趣。這些小組幾乎都默認(rèn)了“外星生命”是聰慧的，可能是敵對(duì)的。但實(shí)際上，我們第一個(gè)擁有生命的證據(jù)可能只是一個(gè)非常簡(jiǎn)單的微生物。宋在這輪與唐的對(duì)決中獲得勝利，以全勝的成績(jī)確定了決賽席位，而唐則已全負(fù)的戰(zhàn)績(jī)結(jié)束了征程，因此當(dāng)天的較后一場(chǎng)將決定誰(shuí)會(huì)和宋一起進(jìn)入決賽。較終，漢以一分之差輸給了明，明的險(xiǎn)勝讓其在決賽中獲得了一席之地。如果是一場(chǎng)平局或者漢獲得了勝利，明就會(huì)被淘汰。“總有人會(huì)輸?shù)?rdquo;——如果你問(wèn)DonaldTrump的話。
The FINAL: Euthanasia
So, on 24th November, after three consecutive weeks of debating, the Song v Ming final arrived. The motion was befitting a Final clash – an ethically weighty and polarizing issue, which forced the students to confront some genuine moral conundrums:
經(jīng)過(guò)連續(xù)三周的辯論，11月24日，我們迎來(lái)了宋明的決賽。這場(chǎng)議題十分切合一場(chǎng)較終的對(duì)決，這是一個(gè)在道德上具有重大意義及極端分化的問(wèn)題，它讓同學(xué)們直面一些真正的道德難題：
“Euthanasia should be legalized”
安樂(lè)死應(yīng)該合法化
Both sides were excellently prepared, and saw some impassioned and strident contributions from the individual speakers. The judges awarded the highest score of the whole competition to the winners, Song, who made it a “Grand Slam” by winning every round and the Final, though Ming ran them very close indeed, coming up just 7 points short on the day.
雙方都為此做了充分的準(zhǔn)備，我們看到了一些學(xué)生慷慨激昂的發(fā)言。評(píng)委們給予了宋比賽以來(lái)的較高分，較后明以7分之差惜敗，宋以全勝的戰(zhàn)績(jī)獲得了一個(gè)“大滿貫”。
The 24 debaters across the four rounds deserve huge congratulations for their hard work in preparing, as do their peers behind the scenes who helped in the research and formulation of arguments. It was especially heartening to see students from across the full age range, from Year 7 to Year 13, taking part. Valuable lessons will have been learned by all, not least about speaking without fear.
讓我們對(duì)四輪辯論中的24位辯手在過(guò)程中付出的辛勤努力給予熱烈掌聲，同時(shí)感謝為這些精彩的辯論在幕后研究和提供幫助的同學(xué)們。令人高興的是，從7年級(jí)到13年級(jí)的學(xué)生們都參與了進(jìn)來(lái)，所有人都在這之中(尤其在無(wú)畏懼的演說(shuō)方面)獲得了寶貴的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。
