思想碰撞，舌尖争锋——来领略上海浦东新区民办宏文学校学子辩论风采 WSC Style Debate

　　上海浦东新区民办宏文学校作为一所IBDP候选校，致力于培养学生们的沟通和思考能力，拓展他们的多元化思维和理解能力。

　　为了实现这一目标，本学期我们参加了“世界学者杯”(WSC)国际比赛，这场精彩赛事将为宏文学子提供一个与来自世界各地优秀学生交流和竞争的机会。

　　“世界学者杯”比赛有三大板块，分别是：辩论、合作写作和知识竞赛。所有内容都是基于2020年的课程主题——“新世界”，该课程涵盖了六个学科领域：科学、社会研究、文学和媒体、历史、艺术和音乐，此外还有一个特殊领域——错失和弥补。学生们以三人一组的形式展开课程内容的学习和竞赛。

　　Hongwen School is an IBDP candidate school. We are keen to take every opportunity to develop students’ communication and thinking skills, while promoting awareness and understanding of different perspectives.

　　In pursuit towards that goal, this semester we launched the World Scholars’ Cup (WSC), a fantastic competition in which our students will have the change to connect with and compete against students from all over the world.

　　There are three main elements to WSC: debating, collaborative writing and quizzes. All of these are connected to a curriculum based on the 2020 theme, “A world renewed”, which covers six subject areas: Science, Social Studies, Literature and Media, History, Art and Music and a Special Area, Mistakes and Recoveries. Students work in teams of three to learn the curriculum content, and compete.

　　作为宏文ECA的一门课程，我们的“世界学者杯”团队(由Charlotte Stonehouse, Gavin Ross和April Li三位老师组成)一直在帮助学生编写学习指南，并培养他们在竞争中获得成功的必要技能。

　　我们尤其注重公开演讲技巧的培养，通过展开各种游戏和活动鼓励学生表达自己的观点，或者具有建设性地回应他人的观点。

　　通过陆续组织了一些小型辩论之后，我们决定是时候给宏文的学生们提见证一次真正的WSC风格的竞赛了，因此我们在宏文学校举办了一场英语辩论比赛。

　　In our ECA sessions, the WSC team (Charlotte Stonehouse, Gavin Ross and April Li) have been supporting students in compiling study guides and developing the necessary skills to succeed in the competition.

　　We have focused particularly on effective public speaking skills, through games and activities to encourage students to express a point of view or respond to someone else’s constructively.

　　After some mini debates, we decided to give our students the opportunity to practice or witness a true WSC style debate and hosted one in-house.

　　这场英语辩论赛在7月3日星期五举行，辩论的主题是一个关于社会研究课题的讨论：“我们相信没有时尚的世界会更好”。

　　代表正方的是8年级的学生Tony Zhu、Robin Ma和7年级的Eric Dong。他们的观点主要诠释了时尚给世界带来的社会问题和环境影响。

　　而反方代表，来自九年级的学生Butemwe Chakaba, Yoyo Zhang和Lucas Chen则认为，时尚可以作为社会的均衡器，如果没有了时尚的存在，世界也将失去色彩和文化的调和。

　　Our debate took place on Friday 3rd July and was based on a Social Studies related motion: This house believes that the world would be better off without fashion.

　　On the affirmative side, arguing for the motion were Grade 8 students Tony Zhu and Robin Ma and Grade 7 student Eric Dong. They explained the social and environmental problems that fashion causes to the world.

　　On the other hand, Grade 9 students, Butemwe Chakaba, Yoyo Zhang and Lucas Chen argued for the negative side against stab motion. They maintained that the world would lack colour and culture without fashion and that fashion can act as an equalizer in society.

　　我们很荣幸地请到了来自上海其他双语学校的六位评委，他们都是参加过多年“世界学者杯”比赛的前辈同学。其中包括三位刚毕业于IB的学生：

　　将进入杜克大学学习心理学和计算机科学的Xixi Lei、将进入圣安德鲁大学学习医学的Nisthula Rajesh、以及将进入加州伯克利学院工程系的Jennifer Chen。

　　另外还有三位即将进入12年级的优秀的IB学生：Katrina Lee, Michael Cui和Yu Hong Law。

　　几位评委除了对此比赛中每位辩手的个人表现给了认真的评价反馈之外，还就辩论赛中如何团队协作以及如何辩证思考关键词的含义等方面提供了许多积极有效的建议。

　　We were honoured to welcome six guest judges from other Shanghai international schools, who had all participated in World Scholars’ Cup themselves for many years. Out judge panel included three recent IB graduates:

　　Xixi Lei going to study Psychology and Computer Science at Duke University, Nisthula Rajesh, soon to be a Medical student at St Andrew’s University and Jennifer Chen going to University of California Berkeley College to study Engineering.

　　We also welcomed three high achieving mid-IB students entering Grade 12: Katrina Lee, Michael Cui and Yu Hong Law.

　　The judges offered insightful guidance to students. As well as individual feedback, they gave useful advice in how to plan together as a team, and to unpack the motion considering critically what the key words mean.

　　辩论比赛结束后，评委们与宏文的学生和家长们分享了他们在高中和IB的学习经历。这是一个很好的机会，让我们的学生了解到包括高中课程选择到升学择校要求、甚至是IB学生的作息时间等方方面面的重要信息和经验。

　　After the debate we had a very informative question and answer session with the judges sharing their own high school and IB experiences with our students and parents. This was an excellent opportunity for students to get insights on matters as varied as course choices, to university requirements to the time IB students go to sleep!

　　最后宣布比赛结果，虽然反方获得了大多数观众的支持，但根据最后的综合评分，正方仍以微弱优势获得了胜利。

　　然而，正如我们的一位学生评委所说，过程比结果更重要。对我们宏文学生来说，比赢得比赛更重要的是与团队一起协作的经历，让我们获得了宝贵的经验，在兴趣和特长的培养中不断进步与成长。

　　我们非常感谢每一个参与这次活动的人，并期待在未来通过更多的WSC活动来丰富宏文学生的学习和成长经历。

　　Finally the winning team of the debate was announced and this narrowly went to the affirmative team, although the negative team won the audience’s vote.

　　However, as one of our student judges said, it is more about the process than the result. More importantly than winning students, worked together with their teams, gained speaking and debating experience and have hopefully grown in confidence and enthusiasm as a result.

　　We are very grateful to everyone involved in making this event a success and look forward to enriching students’ learning through more WSC activities in the future.