Heading to the Grand Finals of HKSSDC

HKTLC Senior Debating Team I earned the ticket to HKSSDC Grand Finals after the victory in the Round 2 match. Team members include Nicole Chan, Anna Chan, Tina Cheung and Toby Chiu (from left to right) with their coaches Ms Tam (left) and Ms Yeung (right).

Despite the pandemic, our school Senior Debating Team I has had a busy year battling various schools in the territory over zoom debates. Our second round of debating competition in term 2 was on 13 May. Having participated in the debate as a speaker twice in term 1, this time, as the Chairperson, I earned the greatest spot to spectate the entire competition from an audience point of view. I can see our debaters making breakthroughs in their maturity and English proficiency, from being reticent in lessons to speaking confidently in the competition. Also, I was impressed by our well-trained debaters, who had done an exceptional job in anticipating opposition’s arguments and choosing rebuttals that were strongly supported by good research. Their solid research and evidence has impressed the adjudicator, who finally declared our team the winner against Pentecostal School on the motion about “Imposing carbon offset tax on the sales of airline tickets”. Their persuasion was just remarkable, and this victory has not only been rewarding to our team’s year-long effort, but also brought us to the first-ever HKSSDC Grand Finals, which we all look forward to. What’s more, our second speaker, Tina Cheung, was also named the best debater in the competition! This is surely a match to be remembered.

Nicole Chan Cheuk Yu, 4A

Debaters are trained with the proper use of camera, postures and gestures while debating online

Clashing the opposition with her successful rebuttals, Tina Cheung was named the best speaker of the competition

This was my second time joining the debating competition. As a more seasoned debater, I felt this certainly was a better experience compared to my first attempt. Being the second speaker, I had to rack my brains to select suitable rebuttals according to our team strategy in order to clash the opposition, which was the most challenging part in a debate, the part I had failed to do well before. Clenching my teeth, I listened intently with full attention. It was a fierce match but our team stood shoulder to shoulder. All of us put our heads together to come up with the best tactics at the spot. I am glad that our hard work didn’t go in vain and we won. To my greatest pride, I was also thrilled to be named the best speaker in the debating competition. It is a true honour to be a part of the debate team.

Tina Cheung Tin Nam, 4A