This is where we publish all the material from the speakers’ development training taught by Karolien this year.
(If you have any questions, whether you’re from Aberystwyth Debating or not, feel free to contact Karolien at karoliene.michiels (*) gmail . c0m.)
Other societies: feel free to use, with proper attribution.
Term 1
Debating for Noobs – A booklet explaining how debating works. In A4 printable form, produces three booklets per job.
Week 1: An introduction to speaking. In public – Goal of this week’s training: get comfortable speaking in public
Week 2: Introduction to British Parliamentary Debating, the puzzle on different debating positions we did, and the models for writing a speech in each position – Goals of this week’s training: get a feel for the BP format and learn to analyze a motion by trying to understand what problem it aims to address
Week 3: Matter Generation – Goal of this week’s training: learn how to come up with arguments
Week 4: Mechanisms – Goal of this week’s training: understanding how to set up a debate from First Government, and the role mechanisms play in determining the scope and the direction of the debate
Week 5: Guest Training on Analysis – Taught by Dr. Michael Keary. Goal of this week’s training: grasp and be able to apply the SEXI model to an argument
Week 6: Analysis II – Goal of this week’s training: understand the importance of the impact of an argument; distinguish its impact from its explanation; apply the SEXI model incorporating ‘Impact’
Week 7: Burdens & Judging – Goal of this week’s training: understanding what the ‘burden’ of a debate is & get a basic understanding of judging conventions and chairing rooms
Week 8: Summary Speeches – Taught by Oliver ‘Ollie’ Newlan. Goal of this week’s training: know how to do a summary speech
Week 9: Argumentation & Logic – Goal of this week’s training: know the characteristics of valid arguments & recognise fallacious arguments
Term 2
Term two is set up in a different way. The first term focused on skills; this term focuses on building your understanding of the big clashes and questions that underlie many debates: what is freedom? What is the criminal justice system for? How do we balance individual liberty with protecting people from themselves? How does social change happen?
Week 1: Cases – The difference between loose arguments and a case. Recognising the importance of argumentative burden and metric to picking your arguments
Week 2: Social change – How does social change happen? Bottom-up versus top-down
Week 3: Liberty – Why do we have liberty? To what extent should we protect people from themselves?
Week 4: Group rights versus individual rights – Why do we sometimes protect groups of people? How do we weigh up the rights of that group and the individual liberty of any member of that group?
Older materials:
This are the presentations and speakers’ development classes taught by Ollie during the academic year 2013-2014:
introduction to bp debating– Speaker Development Slides from First Week explaining how debating works
topic 2) getting to grips with bp– Speaker Development Slides Discussing the ins and outs of the different positions
week 3 crime– Speaker Development Slides Discussing the principles behind Criminal Justice Debates
kick ass first principles– A more extensive look into Criminal Justice Debates
Developement– a look at how to debate development based motions
How to Debate International Relations Motions– a more extensive look at IR motions
politics– a look at UK politics debates and a practice motion
topic 4) capitalism-Examples of arguments to be made in debates around capitalism
