Public speaking and debating: mid-year report

Year 7 Debating

This year we have four very enthusiastic Year 7 teams debating on topics such as; ‘animal testing should be banned’ and the ‘internet causes more harm than good’. The students meet on Wednesday lunchtimes and brainstorm and plan their arguments. It is a great way to look at the importance of evidence and how to rebut, not to mention getting experience in public speaking. In semester two the teams can register for the DAV junior competition and compete against other schools in the Ivanhoe region. Participating students have included:

1. Luke Campbell 7G, Mac Robertson 7G, Connor Hastings 7G, Harry Ostwald 7B

2. Violet Sykes-Hesterman 7D, Aoife Dennehy 7B, Anthea Kalathas 7A

3. James Wickett 7!, Zara Go 7C, Asha Dacy 7L, Mia McCormacvk 7B

4.Daniel Feng 7A, Daniel O'Neill 7E, Walt Wilson 7A, Leonardo Bini 7L

D.A.V. Debating Competition

We recently completed round four in the Ivanhoe region. It was a fascinating night as one of our speakers fell off his crutches and had to be replaced by Hugo Waples’ younger brother in grade 5 at Clifton Hill Primary School. It was great to see the team rally around each other and present a quality debate! This year, we have two teams at A grade (year 12) one team at B grade (year 11) one team at C grade (year 10) and five teams at D grade (years 8 and 9). Totally there are five rounds before we move into finals during which Northcote High School will host a play-off round in August. We are looking forward to hosting schools from around the metropolitan region as well as regional Victoria. The following students have represented Northcote High School in this competition:

A1: Julia Thiem, Jade Wang, Josie Murphy

A2: Issa Chanzi, Mariah Milla, Max Ramsay and Demetrius Mousaferiadis

B1: Edie Bush, Matilda Brown, Ella Baker, Noah Sutherland

C1: Greta Bush, Louka Pocock, Alec Johnson, Alice Brown, Katrina Gustafsson, James Roseman Gannon, Llewellyn Bargh

D1: Romy Nolan, Mila Lawson, Zara Baglioni, India Madder

D2: Zac Warnest Knowles, Yianni Syrbopoulos, Hugo Waples, Will Grage Perry

D3: Baptiste Emery, Harry Huppatz, Stella Russo

D4: Matthew Foster, Amelie Sibillin, Joel Taylor, Chester Wearn-Jarvis

D5: Indigo Lau, Phoebe Lawlor, Bridie McLaughlin, Vesna Laffy

International Student Debating

The International Student debating program has run for a few years now. We run a round robin competition over terms one to three culminating in a Grand Final. Debating gives International Students an opportunity to discuss current social issues and to research and write arguments and present these arguments in English. We meet on Thursday lunchtimes and in 2018 the following students have participated:

1. (Leader Zuo, Xin Yi) Sang Chatthahireach, Feng Yu Yue (Fiona), Ho Quynh Ngoc Nhu, (Katie) Pham Dao Phuong Dung (Esa)

2. (Leader Kuy Vandy) Fan Yi Cheng (Ethan), Gao Xu Peng (Gary) Passotorn Rattanasappakuna (James)  Ye Xiaso Xuan (Anthony)

3. (Leader Li Ziyang and Jane Nguyen) Gao Zi Xuan (Jasmine), Ge Zhao Ying (Helena), Le Hoang Ha, Nguyen Linh Tu (Tu)

4. (Leader Eom, Hae Yun) Huynh Khanh Nhu, Nguyen Duong, Minh Chau, Prasetyo Javier, Dong Jin Yan (Jane), Nguyen Thanh An (An)

5. (Leader Liang Jia Yi) Zhao Junting (Gloria), Intraplang Sila, Xu Yilin, Li Jinxuan (David) 

6. (Leader Do Huong An) Li Yixiao (David), Nguyen Ngoc Ha (Karen), Tran Thi Hai Luong (Celine), Chenxi Zhang (Isabella)

International Student Public Speaking Competition

In 2018 International students from fifteen schools will be coming to Northcote High School for the annual International Student public speaking competition on August 22nd. This is a competition that has been running for four years and showcases the talents of our international students. The topic changes each year. Last year the topic was ‘Art is Essential to Life’ while in 2018 the topic is ‘Hitting the Bullseye’. These topics allow for a variety of approaches. Each speech goes for three minutes and the judges make their decisions based on a number of criteria including; voice, body language, content and language.

ABC Radio debate with Sammy Shah

On May 11th Mariah Milla in Year 11 was invited to participate in a debate on radio with ABC journalist Sammy Shah. The topic was ‘that pineapple should be banned from pizza’. She presented the case for the negative side. Mariah says that the highlights of the event included:

“seeing the size of the radio console, seeing how quiet it is in the studio at 8 o’clock in the morning and seeing how big the building is with a different studio on each floor. It was difficult to debate, however, because of the timing. I didn’t have headphones so it wasn’t clear when to start speaking. But it was a great experience and an eye opener to see how early Sammy and Jacinta have to get up every morning to go to work.”

Maria Milla

Regional Constitution Convention 2018

This semester students from Northcote High School attended a regional constitutional convention at Lalor Secondary College on the topic ‘Should we continue to celebrate nationhood in the 21st century and if so, how and what date?’ Students from ten schools listened to guest speakers Hon. Andrew Giles (Member for Scullin), Mr Ben Clark (Community Action Organiser), Mr Kevin Ind (President Epping RSL) and Tammy Walsh (Acting Executive Director – Koorie Outcomes Division, Early Childhood and School Education Group, DET). A lot of the speakers focused on the idea of what it means to be an Australian now and an Australian in the future. The Northcote High School students who participated in this event were Til Exton, Elspeth Pinnuck, Kitty Robinson, Mia Ostwald, Edie Bush and Ella Baker. These students are now eligible to apply for the State Constitutional convention and the National Constitutional Convention in Canberra 2019.

Martin Ramsay and Carlene Wilson