International Debate Academy Instruction Ends in Ormoz

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Wednesday and Thursday were the last two instruction days at the 7th International Debate Academy Slovenia being held in Ormoz, Slovenia. As the days passed the dedication of the students seemed to increase and the improvements in all of the debaters were obvious. The teachers and trainers began judging with faculty members to work on their judging skills for the tournament.

It was good to welcome TJ Semnemgern from Thailand to the faculty. He was chief adjudicator at the Asian BP Championships held in Thailand, and arrived in plenty of time to add his considerable skills to the instruction. It was sad that Rhydian Morgan was not able to attend as he had a family emergency. Everyone supported his choice and wishes he and his family the best. It became apparent that there are actually 27 countries here. Although with Rhydian not in attendance we lost Wales but gained Bolivia one one student finally announced their nationality.

The schedule continued with the same pattern. That seemed to work well because after a couple of days you never have to look, you just go to the same sort of event and the same room as the day before.

Practice debate motions for the last two days included:

• THBT developing nations should nationalize their natural resources
• THW eliminate the executive power to pardon
• THW legalize the sale of human body parts
• THW forbid all religious symbols in all public schools.

The lectures and exercises for the advanced group covered:

• Principle and Philosophy, lecture by Stephen Boyle
• Economics, lecture by Stephen Boyle substituting for Rhydian Morgan

The lectures and exercises for the intermediate and beginner groups covered:
Second Teams, lectures by Loke Wing Fatt and Jens Fischer
Points of Information, lectures by Alfred Snider and Chris Langone

The electives that were offered included:
WEDNESDAY:

• ILLSLEY - FINDING YOUR EXTENSION
• LOEWE - WHIP SPEECHES
• NENADOVIC - WHAT IS THE PROBLEM (IN THE MOTION)?
• SKRT - CASEBUILDING PART 2
• VALKERING - ARGUMENT DEVELOPMENT
• LANGONE - STRUCTURE IN YOUR SPEECH
• SNIDER - MAKING YOUR ARGUMENTS MORE IMPORTANT
• BOYLE - SNEAKY TRICKS FOR DEBATERS
• LOKE - DEBATING ABOUT CHINA
• FISCHER - PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL LAW

THURSDAY:

• FISCHER - ADJUDICATION FOR DEBATERS
• BOYLE - PRINCIPLES & PHILOSOPHY
• LOKE - UNDERSTANDING ISLAM & JIHAD
• TJ - DEBATING SOCIAL ISSUES
• VALKERING - HOW PEOPLE CHANGE
• SNIDER - TRAINING DRILLS & EXERCISES
• LOEWE - INDIVIDUAL & SOCIETY
• NENADOVIC - RECRUITING DEBATERS
• TJ - MILITARY ISSUES IN DEBATE
• FISCHER - WINNING AND DEFENDING THE MORAL HIGH GROUND

On Wednesday night there was a faculty demonstration debate on the motion: This House would give the International Criminal Court its own police force. The teams were:

• First Prop - Loke Wing Fatt & TJ Semnemgern
• First Opp - Gavin Illsley & Stephen Boyle
• Second Prop - Jens Fischer & Isa Loewe
• Second Opp - Maja Nenadovic & Anne Valkering

A vote was taken by the students and teachers in the audience, and on a very tight count it was:

First - Second Prop

Second - Second Opp

Third - First Opp

Fourth - First Prop

A video of this debate and many other IDAS 09 events will be posted within a week.

There was another WSDC schools round held in the evening with Romania vs. Slovenia. Romania was the winner again in another close debate.

Wednesday night there was a party with comedy night, and four brave comics faced the crowd of debaters.

Thursday night there was a chill-out party for the students and teachers, while all of the faculty members went to a local Inn and enjoyed home grown and produced foods, meats, wines and brandies. It was a truly jolly celebration of the end of the instructional program, and the Americans present said it was much better than "Thanksgiving."

Friday morniong people slept in and came to a late breakfast. The bus arrived to take everyoine to Ljubljana for the tournament and the next phase of the extended event. It was farewell to Ormoz and especially to the lovely Hotel Ormoz, the finest two star hotel in the world, who had been such a wonderful host.