Last month we had a planning meeting for this camp (when we visited Lumpini Park and all that), and now the event finally arrived! There were about 15 Peace Corps Volunteers involved, as well as Thai teachers and volunteers who were students of debate, and we had about 300+ middle and high school aged students from all over Thailand practicing their debating skills in English.
Now, this event was a little tricky for a few reasons, primarily that all the planning and stuff we did last month was for naught because our leadership changed and so did the outline and content of the camp! It was crazy! After all the changes we had loads more additional training about what debate is, how to judge, and all the ins and outs of Asian Parliamentary Style Debate. Overall, I enjoyed the experience, possibly because I have so much previous experience as a judge in other types of competition, and I've been judged so I know how to phrase suggestions and give constructive criticism. I really enjoyed the passion of the students and how their teachers would approach us afterwards and ask how their students could improve, why we ruled one way or the other, because asking questions like that shows how much the teachers care about their students and their students' success. It was a great experience, on the whole!
Now, this event was a little tricky for a few reasons, primarily that all the planning and stuff we did last month was for naught because our leadership changed and so did the outline and content of the camp! It was crazy! After all the changes we had loads more additional training about what debate is, how to judge, and all the ins and outs of Asian Parliamentary Style Debate. Overall, I enjoyed the experience, possibly because I have so much previous experience as a judge in other types of competition, and I've been judged so I know how to phrase suggestions and give constructive criticism. I really enjoyed the passion of the students and how their teachers would approach us afterwards and ask how their students could improve, why we ruled one way or the other, because asking questions like that shows how much the teachers care about their students and their students' success. It was a great experience, on the whole!
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