We spent April 15 & 16th in Nanjing, China where we engaged in some demo debates and sight seeing.
Our first two demo debates were at Nanjing Foreign Languages School (NFLS). NFLS, coached by Thom O’Rourke, is widely regarded as one of the top three schools in all of China.
In the first debate, Humza & Jatin faced off against Priten and Ryan Wang, last year’s quarterfinalist in the China national tournament.
In the second demo debate, Humza & Jatin debated last year’s China national champions — Vicki & Rosalind.
All of the debaters delivered some great speeches.
We spent the morning of our second day in Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, which commemorates the deaths of nearly 300,000 people who died in the Nanjing Massacre.
On our second debate in Nanjing, we participated in a third demo debate at the High School Affiliated to Nanjing Normal University, which is widely regarded as the second best school in Nanjing.
At HS Affiliate to Nanjing Normal, we debated against Judy and Timmy in the school’s awesome Model United Nations classroom. They were kind enough to pose for a picture with me.
Judy started a Debate Club at the school and the hope is that in the fall it will become a class. Her advice to the students watching the debate was to take every opportunity you have to participate in debate.
It was a great debate.