The first debate competition of the Youth Center-Burgas in partnership with the Bulgarian Debate Association has passed. It was held at “Alexander Georgiev – Kodjakafaliyata” Primary School and lasted the whole day.
Man vs. Internet
10 student teams debated among themselves on important topics related to Internet safety. The competition was themed “Man vs. Internet” and its purpose was to develop debaters’ critical thinking, teamwork, respect for the opposing team and argumentation skills. From Burgas the participants were from the following schools: English Language High School “Geo Milev”, PPMG “Acad. Nikola Obreshkov”, PGRE “Georgi S. Rakovski”, NEG “Goethe” and PG in computer programming and innovations. In addition, it was a pleasant surprise that a formed team also came from the distant city of Momchilgrad with leader Fikrie Boz.
Topics…
The competition had three rounds, the topics of the first and second rounds were prepared in advance by the teams, and the last one was only revealed 30 minutes before the final debate – the so-called Impromptu round. Here are the topics:
1. This government supports social media censorship
2. This government deplores (does not support) the use of welfare networks as the main source of information
3. This government believes that Radko should become a masked guardian of order.*
Who won the prize?
“PMG Debates Club” team won first place, and the “Killer whales” and “Hrus-Hrus” teams from the Geo Milev English Language School took second and third place.
Best Speaker award was given to Yasen Zhekov (from Killer whales), Dalia Bakhchevanova (also from Killer whales) and Momchil Hristov (from Hrus-Hrus). Congratulations to the winning teams and participants for the enthusiasm and great skills!
The debates are part of the planned project activities of the Youth International Center and they are not just a good way to socialize young people. The format gives young people the opportunity to step out of their comfort zone, consider all points of view and put themselves in the other person’s shoes. This makes them more tolerant in life – towards people who have a different opinion than theirs, and teaches them to back up their words with facts and arguments.
Nowadays, our lives have largely moved into the virtual space. We are drowning in information from everywhere, and yet, we are more uninformed than ever. On the one hand, this is due to the difficulty of sifting the important information from the unimportant and the true from the false. Therefore, it is extremely important to cultivate in young people the ability to think critically and to verify every information they come across.
Gratitude…
We would like to thank our judges and trainers from the Bulgarian Debate Association, our host – the director of the Primary School “Alexander Georgiev – Kodjakafaliya” – Mihail Nenov, as well as the leaders of the debate clubs who motivated their students to get involved. We hope to see each other again very soon!
Project No. BGLD-2.001-0002 “Establishment of International Youth Center – Burgas” is implemented under the “Local Development, Poverty Reduction, and Enhanced Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups” Program, funded by the 2014–2021 European Economic Area Financial Mechanism (EEA FM) and managed by the External European Programs Directorate at the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science.
