International Debate Camp resumes in-person activities

On August 23-27, 2023, after three years of online “camp” via Zoom, the 12th International Debate Camp in Japanese was held in-person at Yamanoie (Kyushu University Kuju Training Center) and Kuju Joint Training Center for National Universities in Kyushu Area. The event combined lectures, group work, and the practice tournament for Asian students to learn to debate in Japanese as their first, second, or third language. Debate teams consisted of Japanese and international students, who worked together to prepare for debate rounds representing both sides of the question: Should Japan prohibit all homework in elementary, junior high, and high schools?

A total of 32 students came from nine universities: Kyushu University, Chikushi Jogakuen University, the University of Teacher Education Fukuoka, Saga University, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (Taiwan), Busan University of Foreign Studies (Korea), Huizhou University (China), Konkuk University (Korea), and Yuan Ze University (Taiwan). Three overseas professors, who worked to prepare for and manage the program, also accompanied their students and stayed in the camp: Prof. Kamijo Sumie (National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University), Prof. Suwa Akihiro (Busan University of Foreign Studies), Prof. Zhang Xiaoying (Huizhou University). Prof. Jodoi Kota (Kagoshima University) gave lectures and organized other learning activities. At the final debate tournament, some other debate experts joined online to judge some of the rounds.

Not only did the participants learn to debate, but they also learned intercultural communication through fun activities. These activities, including a BBQ party, sports, and games, were prepared by some of the participants. One of the Japanese students gave the following comments after the camp:

We began by learning what debates are in the lectures given by Prof. Jodoi. We then learned how to formulate arguments and counterarguments, and how to gather evidence.
It was very difficult for the group, which included Japanese language learners, to create arguments through trial and error, but we were able to communicate a lot with others in the group and deepen our friendship.
On the fourth day, we actually debated with many groups, and I encountered challenges that differed from those experienced while creating constructive arguments. We were able to grow as the games went on, receiving arguments and rebuttals from the opposing groups and critiques from the professors.
Also, in terms of international exchange, I was able to communicate with many people from Korea, Taiwan, and China. It was a fulfilling time for me to learn about their culture, and conversely, to be taught about Japanese culture by them. I would like to continue to communicate with them through social networking and other means, beyond this camp, and into the future.

Two of the Kyushu University students, who are seniors in the School of Interdisciplinary Science and Innovation (ISI) and contributed to the workshop, reflected on the camp as follows:

It was five days of exhaustive learning about debate and having fun interacting with participants from overseas. I am very glad that I participated.

In the final tournament, each team debated three times in the preliminary rounds, at least once on the affirmative side and once on the negative side of the resolution. Based on the number of wins and the team’s total speaker points, Team H (Uzawa Amane, Bae Yuri, Chen Yuhong and Zhu Wenhui) with 3 wins and Team C (Matsumoto Junya, Nakashima Rumi, Kwak Yoohyeon and Guo Zhengxuan) with 2 wins advanced to the final round, leading to the victory of Team C. The top speaker prizes were awarded to Kwak Yoohyeon (Best Debater) and Cho Hyeonuk (2nd Place) among the learners of Japanese and Kawakami Mizuki (Best Debater) and Okura Masato (2nd Place) among the native speakers of Japanese.

This Japanese camp was jointly sponsored by the International Society for Teaching Debate (ISTD) and the Japan Debate Association (JDA) Kyushu Chapter. It was also co-sponsored by the Faculty of Languages and Cultures (FLC), and supported by the School of ISI, and the Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Global Society, all of Kyushu University. 

For more information about this camp and other debating activities, contact the FLC’s Debate Education Support Group at debate[at]flc.kyushu-u.ac.jp.