The English-Speaking Union’s 2014 Debating Academy, which ran between April 10 and 12, took place at the Old University Building in St Paul Street, Valletta.

The students who participated were all first-year Sixth Formers at St Edward’s College, De La Salle College, St Aloysius College or St Martin’s College.

The first two days of the event were taken up with interactive workshops, tutorials, talks and sample debates. The students had the opportunity to try out different debating techniques as they participated in the Balloon Debate, the Fantasy Debate, the Linear Debate and the Parliamentary-Style Debate, which is the mode chosen by the English-Speaking Union of Malta to conduct its competitive debates.

The keynote speaker for the academy was Katia Mercieca, litigation partner at Fenech Farrugia Fiott Legal who, during her presentation, provided the students with the example of a real-life situation and urged them to put forward questions by using the most appropriate words and the correct tone. This would help them receive the answers they desired from their opponents, a very important factor when making points of information in public debates.

The participants were trained primarily by the English-Speaking Union’s director of education, Yvette Micallef, but they also enjoyed a highly entertaining and informative session with Philip Leone-Ganado, who drove them to think quickly and speak effectively on any subject during an exhilarating activity that had them all in fits.

The final day saw all the three-person teams come head to head in different debates until the final two teams were left.

These two teams, made up by students from St Aloysius College and St Martin’s College, will be participating in the Debating Competition being held later on this month. Motions debated included diverse topics such as free healthcare, football and whether animals should be allowed to roam free.