Western Chances Update

"I really don't want to speak in front of the group. I wanted to do public speaking training, but I didn't realise it would involve actual public speaking"

Free Debate and Western Chances have been working together since 2006 to deliver high quality communications training to youth in Victoria's western suburbs. And yes the person quoted above did have to talk in front of the group. And yes, she did a very good job, in spite of her fear.

Last year Free Debate implemented a successful pilot programme at Bayside College – featured in The Bridge newsletter in September '06 – which has resulted in Bayside's increased involvement in the mainstream debating competition run by the Debater's Association of Victoria. Free Debate's four week program focused on basic debating training and research skills and each participant was awarded a certificate by Terry Bracks.

Since then Free Debate has expanded its programme to include a "train the trainer" course for teachers with the aim of fostering a debating culture within schools. In 2007 participating schools to date include Kurungang Secondary College, Copperfield College, Kealba College and Bayside Secondary College. More are expected by the end of the year.

As the number of schools involved has increased, Free Debate has broadened the programme's structure to include general presentation and leadership skills as well as formal debating skills. Student leaders as well as debating teams can now learn how to structure, deliver and time a speech, as well as how to use body language, props and microphones. These more general sessions have allowed the students to discuss issues that matter to them (granting an immigration visa to rapper Snoop Dogg was a particularly hot topic in the early sessions) while also having to take up positions contrary to their own.

Free Debate is especially grateful for the hard work of Helen Worladge, Executive Director, Western Chances, who has brokered the relationship with Free Debate and has provided constant support as well as introducing Free Debate to other members of the Western Chances network.

Bahr El Ghazal Program - Update

We did our second practice debate today, after running a prep session last Sunday. The topic for Round 2 was "That the US Should Leave Iraq Immediately", and the debates were vigorous and enjoyable.

It's gratifying to see that the participants have made substantial improvement in such a short time. In the first round speakers were taking up a lot of time without saying much, and so the focus of our feedback was on bulking out their speeches with more arguments and details. They obviously learned the lesson because this week the debate featured a wide variety of arguments. Well done!

Our feedback this time was centred on structure - making sure the participants develop arguments and properly differentiate the key components of their speeches. The standard of their skills is improving fast, and I look forward to hearing about how their third and final round goes.

Unfortunately for me, this was my last week with this pilot program. I have other commitments over the next two Sundays, but Kim is taking over and Lucia will do one more week so the guys are in good hands.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Lucia, Duncan, Tom and Matty K for helping with this programme. I think this is the start of a long and productive relationship with Bahr El Ghazal, and it's been a lot of fun!

Bahr El Ghazal Programme - Week 3

Just a quick update on Week 3 of Free Debate's programme with the Bahr El Ghazal Community Development Association.

We have now divided the group into four teams with a dedicated coach for each team. (The teams are all fiercely competitive and I look forward to seeing my boys wipe the floor with Duncan's team in the first round!)

Next week is Round One of the competition and the topic (selected in consultation with the participants) is "That new migrants wishing to become citizens should be required to pass a language and values test". Given that all the debaters are new migrants, it should be an interesting clash!

If anyone is interested in sitting in on next Sunday's debates (and the training and adjudication that will follow) please contact us. The venue is Victoria University (Footscray Campus, Ballarat Road, Building 'P' at the rear of the campus, across from the sports field) from 2-4pm.

Bahr El Ghazal Debating Programme

Free Debate is running a debating programme with the Bahr El Ghazal Community Development Association.

So far it's been a phenomenally fun and successful project. We're working with a group of about twenty lively and enthusiastic Sudanese men who are chomping at the bit to debate competitively.

The first week was an information session. Last Sunday was the second of our weekly sessions where we covered speaker roles and the difference between arguments and assertions. We followed the 'basic training' up with a series of 'lightning singles' debates - which the group took to with great passion and humour.

Next week is an 'advanced training' session, where we'll go into a bit more detail about definitions, models and case construction, and then break up into teams and prepare for a practice debate. The practice debate will be on the topic we'll use for the first round of the competition (beginning the next week) so in effect it's a 'full dress rehearsal' for the competition.

The competition will run for three weeks and will be a round robin tournament where all four teams get to debate each other. I'm hoping that the teams will form a close bond with their coach and do additional work between the formal sessions to prepare for the rounds.

All sessions and rounds are run on Sundays, 2-4pm and if you're interested in being involved please contact us.

Free Debate thanks:

• Helen from Western Chances;
• Maureen Ryan of Victoria University for her help with the venue; and
  
• Lucia, Tom McCarthy, Duncan Kauffman, Matty K, Rollie and Kim.
  

Free Debate Enabling Day

Free Debate's inaugural Enabling day (held on March 3rd) was all about providing our members with the know-how to put together and deliver Free Debate programs.

Kim kicked off proceedings with 'How to Present';
Tim followed up with 'How to Debate';
Bek facilitated a discussion on 'How to Organise' (put together by Bek and Kylie); and
Rob rounded off the day with the innovative and informative 'How to PowerPoint'.

For those on the receiving end, there was a lot to absorb. But our participants proved themselves highly capable when we set them the task of putting together a hypothetical Free Debate program plan. The results were thoughtful, comprehensive plans that would each be a fantastic starting point for a program.

A big thankyou to those who put so much effort into preparing the presentations, and to all participants for your engagement and feedback. We hope to run a similar training day again soon - we'll keep you posted!

Building Bridges

Free Debate conducted a presentation class for the Centre for Multi-Cultural Youth Issues (CMYI), as part of the as part of the Building Bridges project. CMYI is a community-based organisation that advocates for the needs of young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

Building Bridges is an initiative of Vic Health seeking to promote intercultural understanding as a mechanism to reduce discrimination. For this project, CMYI has bought together young women from diverse backgrounds to organise a women's event, called Ee-Ha-Yeah, involving a variety of cultural exhibits and activities.

The Free Debate team of Lucia, Mat, Rebekah and Roland designed a training course aimed at improving the confidence and presentation skills of the participants, in the context of organising a major event. Our course emphasised practical exercises and was adapted to take account of the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds of the participants.

The feedback from the group was quite positive and Free Debate is keen to collaborate with CMYI in future initiatives.

Our thanks go to Rachel Murray of CMYI for organising Free Debate's participation in the programme, and to the participants for their time, efforts and the multicultural feast provided to the trainers.