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March 29, 2024, 09:23:04 am

Author Topic: Should I do debating in Year 11/12?  (Read 2378 times)

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nicolinaa

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Should I do debating in Year 11/12?
« on: February 15, 2021, 04:03:23 pm »
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Hey!
I'm curious about those who are doing debating in their senior years or have any debating experience and wondering if I should do it?
I have a passion for it (+ did it in primary), and feel as though it could help with my social anxiety and possibly legal studies with explaining my point.

But again, I do have social anxiety, and I'm scared ill overthink or not do as well as others who are debating on my team and let them down, but also stumble across my words or speech and just not be good enough.

Plus: I feel like it'll look good on my extracurriculars for uni, as it'll really help.

Any opinions or advice would be appreciated !

Many thanks, Nicole.

dedformed

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Re: Should I do debating in Year 11/12?
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2021, 06:54:24 pm »
+6
Hey!
I'm curious about those who are doing debating in their senior years or have any debating experience and wondering if I should do it?
I have a passion for it (+ did it in primary), and feel as though it could help with my social anxiety and possibly legal studies with explaining my point.

But again, I do have social anxiety, and I'm scared ill overthink or not do as well as others who are debating on my team and let them down, but also stumble across my words or speech and just not be good enough.

Plus: I feel like it'll look good on my extracurriculars for uni, as it'll really help.

Any opinions or advice would be appreciated !

Many thanks, Nicole.

I'm not an hsc person but as a year 12 vce debating person - if you got that passion in yo veins, DO IT, bean. NEVER worry about letting your team down - the fact that you're participating already outweighs any potential little errors you'll make. And it's not like your team's gonna be some perfect Ted Talkers(even they stumble a little here and there) - they're gonna come with their set of flaws and you're gonna learn to work with them together. My debating gang is always my biggest public speaking inspiration because there's so much to learn from them and we see each other grow. To me, losing a debate isn't really a loss - it's something to humble myself with so I learn that there's better ways to present my argument.

And yes, it will help you at school. Lots of critical thinking goes into argument construction and those skills are transferrable to life. You'll become better at people too - speaking from personal experience I used to tremor in front of a crowd like a random word generator four years ago but now I can manage to improvise a speech and make sense (yes, that's an achievement hehe)!

Although remember not to stretch it too hard. If you need help with your social anxiety remember to reach out! Self care comes first! ^w^

Good luck!!!!
« Last Edit: February 15, 2021, 06:56:26 pm by dedformed »
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Owlbird83

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Re: Should I do debating in Year 11/12?
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2021, 06:58:25 pm »
+7
Hey!

It's really cool that you want to try something that scares you! You should totally go for it!

I tried debating in yr12 for the first time because I was freaked out by public speaking and I don't regret it at all! (I kind of freaked out in my second debate and said random repetitive stuff and made large pauses, but in the end it's still something to be proud about accomplishing and having the guts to put yourself in that position! And when I looked at the score sheet I hadn't even done as bad as I thought! I think the experience still was positive/beneficial for me).

Good luck with it!!  ;D



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dedformed

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Re: Should I do debating in Year 11/12?
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2021, 07:05:10 pm »
+5
Hey!

It's really cool that you want to try something that scares you! You should totally go for it!

I tried debating in yr12 for the first time because I was freaked out by public speaking and I don't regret it at all! (I kind of freaked out in my second debate and said random repetitive stuff and made large pauses, but in the end it's still something to be proud about accomplishing and having the guts to put yourself in that position! And when I looked at the score sheet I hadn't even done as bad as I thought! I think the experience still was positive/beneficial for me).

Good luck with it!!  ;D

this also made me wanna add: if you think you're doing bad, remember that you're also inside your body and not seeing yourself from third person (hopefully; this is just an assumption, I don't wish to offend). This means your perception of how you did (threat to positive face and ape survival instincts) are going to exaggerate your perception of how bad you did. Humans don't like social awkwardness so we like to maintain our best behaviour and avoid getting our reputation at stake - that's why so many people dislike public speaking. Staying conscious of this really helps. You might think you do bad but it's just in your head.
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angewina_naguen

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Re: Should I do debating in Year 11/12?
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2021, 08:33:07 pm »
+4
Hey, nicolinaa!

Welcome to the forums  ;D To add to all the amazing support in the above posts, I would also like to say that debating and public speaking are both great at encouraging a healthy growth mindset that transfers well to all aspects of your life. I did debating in Year 6 but then stopped until Year 9 in which I continued it all through the rest of my high school career. I have a huge tendency to beat myself up after something goes wrong which I'm still working on but I always came out of a debate feeling like I've accomplished something. Even when I was struggling with my arguments or just having a bad round in general, my team was there to carry me through to the end so I would definitely recommend doing it as an extra-curricular activity and make your final years memorable!

As for some practical advice, I would strongly advise you to read widely, engage in the news and stay informed. Debate topics are grouped based on categories such as education, politics, the media etc. Your school's debating coach will have a schedule that usually provides an indication of the categories for each debate you'll be having. Having background knowledge of the recent issues in those areas can assist you in formulating effective and relevant arguments in the debate. I also used to memorise about ten statistics related to those areas (and would pray that one of the topic choices would grant me the opportunity to actually use them) to provide some more logos in my discussion. If you do Legal Studies, this is something you are already probably doing as part of your subject so draw from your knowledge of the content and keep exploring social issues with curiosity and scrutiny  8)

If you are worried about the speaking aspect of it, you could potentially request to be a fourth speaker/team advisor. Fourth speaker doesn't have a speaking role (except for thanking the opposition for the debate at the end) but they are constantly writing speech content for the team both in the preparation room and during the debate. You'll learn lots about debating at a senior level from assisting the team and coming up with rebuttals against the opposition. This can also ease you into the whole experience of debating, rather than throwing yourself into the deep end  :) Debating roles are also incredibly flexible. My sister started out as a fourth speaker and now she’s first speaker in the school team. I also went from being second speaker to third speaker after realising I liked to have the final word and solidify my team’s case. If you observe the debate and realise you would love to try out a speaking role in a future debate, that should be more than possible for you, your team and your debating coach to arrange  :D Hope that helps and feel free to ask any follow questions if you have any!

Angelina  ;D
« Last Edit: February 16, 2021, 09:52:15 am by angewina_naguen »
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