Junior (Grade 6 - 9) Impromptu Debate Tournament at Acadia Junior High School January 17th, 2024

Time: Wednesday, January 17th. Registration will be from 4:30 to 5:00. Awards are around 8:30 pm.

Location: Acadia Junior High, 175 Killarney Ave, Winnipeg

Parking: Please feel free to park in any available space in the staff parking lot.

The resolutions will be distributed at 5:15 SHARP. Preparation for both sides of the debate will happen from 5:15-6:16. Please be early, or at least on time, so that your students have the appropriate amount of time to prepare.

Resolution: This will be an impromptu debate tournament, using kid-friendly topics.
         Some potential options: the environment, immigration, health issues, teenage behavior

There will be 2 rounds and all teams will debate both sides. In the case of this impromptu debate, there will be two different resolutions. The students will have an opportunity to debate one round as Government and one round as Opposition. The debate preparation will happen at the beginning of each round. In impromptu debates, no adult coaching, canned debate notes/casebooks, or research, including books, magazines, internet or computer searches, are allowed during the preparation time. Squirrelling the definition will not be tolerated.

Speaking times for all debates will be a maximum of 6 minutes for constructive speeches and 3 minutes for rebuttals. There is no minimum time. Heckling is not allowed. Points of information are allowed in the open category. They are described in the parliamentary rules available on the MSDA website.

https://sites.google.com/site/manitobadebate/rules-and-scoresheets/parliamentary-debate-rules

There will be separate novice and open categories at the tournament. In order to qualify as novice, debaters must be in their first year of debating or must be grade 6-8. Schools may send a maximum of 3 teams in total, i.e. adding together the novice and open teams. Schools must bring at least one judge per 2 person team. Senior high students, grades 10 to 12, who are experienced debaters, may judge. If this presents a problem, please contact me about it and we will see if other arrangements can be made.

Please fill out the google survey below to register your school by January 12.
https://forms.gle/kpZYL9x9qivyG5wr9

Snacks will be served between rounds.

Direct questions to Jared Thorlakson at  jthorlakson@pembinatrails.ca  or text 204-292-2000 if you are cancelling a team at the last minute so that we can fill your spot.