MIND 2010 - FIRST EXPERIENCE FOR UTeM's DEBATERS

1^st Day

We left UteM, Malacca, by 3pm on 24^th September right after class. The van picked all 7 of us from hostel to hostel starting from Cecilia (bukit beruang), Nushen, Teng and Kanthaan (emerald), Vivian (bunga raya),  Skairin(TTU3), Ridzuan (Murni) and lastly, Jason (Murai Jaya). Everybody just finished their class that day by 12pm, but are also excited for the destination we are heading to – KLIUC for MIND 2010!!

Eating at R&R (Cecilia & Shakirin)

      

           

                                                            

Teng, Nushen & Kanthaan

MIND 2010 is the 1^st ever English Debate Competition that the UTeM English Debate Team has taken part in.  Everybody is excited!!!

                                             when we first reached KLIUC, with JASON as the photographer.

We reached KLIUC around 6pm that evening and were escorted by few facilitators in charge who directed us to 3 separated rooms in the hostel right after registration and paying the competition fees.  We were relieved to have quite a cozy room for our 3 days 2 nights stay there for the room includes hot shower, air-conditioner, a television, 2 single beds, 2 wardrobe and a dressing table and it is spacious enough for 3 person. We were playing around during the 1^st night in KLIUC, with room keys (especially Jason, Kanthaan and Cecilia). We had dinner by 8pm.

After dinner, we were asked to gather at the main hall not quite far from the dining hall. There, we were given few tips on what the judges are expecting from the debaters during the competition. The adjudicators were also given briefings on how they are suppose to judge in a different room at the same time.

Then, we were all asked to join to color the 1 Malaysia wall with our painted palms. According to them, our names will be included in the World Guinness Book of Record.

        THE 

1 MALAYSIA

   

     WALL

2^nd day

Debaters

We woke up around 6.30a.m, preparing ourselves mentally to compete.  After breakfast, we walked to the briefing room. As we walk we felt the tensed feeling around us. Other competitors kept their face serious but we were still fooling around and joking.  Our first motion was “This house believes that death penalty should be allowed for baby dumping”.  On that day we had 4 preliminary rounds.

Our confidence increased after every round.  We had to pay full attention on what the other teams were saying when the competition was on. The second motion was “This house believes that the Imam Muda programme degrades the religion”. This motion really put our minds to the test, because most of us don’t watch that programme. But we went through it somehow.

After the second round we were exhausted, because every round is around 1 hour and 30 minutes and we only had 30 minutes gap before each round. Which are 10 minutes for the adjudicators to judge us and another 20 minutes for us to figure out our points for the next motion was given. Basically, we didn’t have any time to rest.

We had lunch after the 2^nd round.  Then the 3^rd round began. Our 3^rd motion was “This house believes that experimenting on animals for the use of cosmetics should be disallowed”.

Although we were drained out, we pulled ourselves together and went for the round. We saw many friendly debaters there. After every round, we come out and laugh at ourselves on what we said and how ridiculous it was. While waiting for results after every round, we grouped up with other competitors and get to know each other.

When it came to the 4^th round, we were crossing fingers and hoping for the time to pass fast as we barely could think due to tiredness. The last motion on that day was “This house believes that in the fight against global AIDS, the catholic church should allow the use of condoms”.

That motion really made us to talk openly and made us to think wide. Everyone was laughing during the debate session because the way we talked about that issue, including the adjudicators.

After the last round, we were relieved. It was a very tiring day. We walked back with other competitors, to the place where we were staying. After a warm bath and a short rest, we went for the Gala dinner. It was a nice dinner. Everyone seemed anxious to know the results for the teams entering the quarter finals. After dinner and performances, the results were released and we didn’t make it to the quarter finals. But we found out that the 2^nd team got the 17 place out of 32 teams and they choose  the top 16 teams. We nearly entered the quarter finals. But its okay, for a few days training and most of us are 1^st timers, we did great. It is a new beginning, hopefully by next year, we’ll start entering finals.

That very night, we attended the Gala Dinner and it was full of performance. Unfortunately, this is the few pictures we have captured as memories.

ß Taking pictures with few friends from other universities

                                            WE ENJOYED THE FOOD (even brought some soft drinks home)..

After that we spent our night with an international adjudicator that shared with us his experiences in debating. Soon after that we returned to our rooms and slept.

Spectators

As a spectator, although I am not one of the speakers, I learnt a lot by observing the speakers from other institutes. The way they speak, the way they react to other speakers…… That really taught me a lot. It was funny to see Kanthaan speaking with his hands up and down, especially when he shouted at the opponent’s speaker, “shut up, SIT DOWN!”……

To enter this competition even though as a spectator only, I am satisfied with what I’ve learnt no matter of the speaking skills or speaking attitude and the most important thing is we spent days together happily.

   

ß The spectator

 

Adjudicator

Two of us were the adjudicator. We were given a briefing on the first night where we talked about what adjudicator needs to judge in a debate. Before the debate began, we have the same feelings just like other debaters, nervous. As the first debate “battle” begins, we, the adjudicators, we were so attentive to the things the debater was saying for we were asked to jot down every point they said. When the debaters had finished their “battles”, the adjudicators start debating and share their thoughts about who perform well, which team do not contradict so much and each adjudicator have to explain why they chose that particular person/team to win that round. It was really tough for us to choose the winner however fpor working with Asian top debaters and adjudicators have their way to make us change our mind and decision we had made earlier after hearing their explanations and opinions. Working with them is just wrathful. After four rounds of debate tournaments, our day had finally come to the end. It was a tiring yet a meaningful day. We learned a lot from what we saw and hear.

ßThe adjudicator during briefing

We gained many valuable experiences in this competition and now we know where to improve both as debater or adjudicator.

We went home the next morning without having the chance to watch the final round because most of the members say they have assignments to complete.

We had a great time at KLIUC, MINDS competitions.