Saturday, January 27, 2007
Refugee Debating Program
The ESU, in co-operation with The Children's Society, began preparing a group of young refugees to take part in the National Youth Parliament Competition. The day started with a tour of the Museum of London's 'Belonging' exhibition, which traces the stories of 150 refugees' experiences of living in London. The young refugees then recieved a lecture from a representative of the Children's Society about the rights of young refugees in the UK, and were given an opportunity to ask questions about their own situations. Finally Andrew Fitch, the ESU's Debates and Education Officer, gave the young refugees a debating training session, culminating in them holding a debate of their own about refugees' access to higher education.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Capitol Hill Programme Briefing Day
 Dartmouth House played host to eleven UK university students on Friday 19 January who were attending the Capitol Hill Programme Briefing Day. The programme offers internships in the office of a congressperson or senator, giving participants the opportunity to gain first hand experience of the American political system. This year's interns heard talks from ESU staff, including Elizabeth Stokes, Director of Education, and Alison Wardrop Alumni Officer, and Chris Dunnett, Assistant Cultural Attache at the US Embassy, who delivered an interesting lecture on the workings of congress. The students then heard from programme alumni including Mehreen Malik (2005), Jonathan Bailey (2006) and Jatin Sharma (2006), who took part in a discussion about their experiences on the Hill. The Washington DC placements will run from June-August and will include the chance to attend Speakers' Series lectures and a range of briefings, hearings and receptions. For more information about the ESU Parliamentary Exchange Programme, please contact vivienne_thomson@esu.org.
ESU becomes founding sponsor of the World Schools Debating Championships
 The ESU today announced that it would fund the executive of the World Schools Debating Championships in its bid to incorporate as a registered charity. The ESU and World Schools have a long and close history - in 1999 the ESU in London hosted what was at the time the largest Championships ever held, and has been responsible for selecting, training and funding the England team since the mid 1990s. Other ESUs around the world also have or have had important relationships with World Schools - including Scotland, Pakistan and Mongolia. The funding will allow the tournament to create a central legal body to aid in fundraising and to provide support for national hosts of the Championships.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Davos welcomes the voice of youth, trained by the ESU
 The ESU delivered a morning of training in public speaking to outstanding young people from around the world at the British Council's Greenwich Forum today. The three-day long series of workshops, sponsored by Gordon Brown, aims to prepare a small group, selected by a debate from the 60 participants, to take a campaign they have developed to the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland. James Probert, Head of the ESU Centre for Speech and Debate, worked with ten of the Forum's delegates, one of whom will form part of the six-person team presenting in front of world leaders at Davos next week.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Speech and Debate Squad selected
 The ESU chose students for its series of overseas public speaking and debating tours today, from amongst the most outstanding debaters in the UK. Twenty young people were chosen to support the ESU's work in Argentina, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Mauritius, Mexico, and Mongolia during 2007. The visits will involve workshops in persuasive spoken English with children and adults; demonstration debates; judging; and will offer a cultural experience for the British trainers. Click here for more information and a full list of this year's squad. Later in the year the ESU will select the two members of the British National Debate Team, who will spend three months in the autumn touring around the United States as part of an exchange than has been running since 1922. The ESU will also support debate activities in Armenia, Estonia andKorea this year.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
ESU, Royal Mint, Virgin Trains and Scotland Office mark Treaty of Union
 The Scotland Office has asked the ESU to join it in marking the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Union, alongside the Royal Mint and Virgin Trains. Outstanding young debaters from their national schools teams in Scotland and in England & Wales will meet at Dartmouth House, headquarters of the ESU in London, and at Atholl Crescent in Edinburgh, home of ESU Scotland, for two parallel debates in June. In September the students, representing each half of the Union of 1707, will debate before a panel of judges including Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for Scotland, at Dartmouth House. The Secretary of State announced the joint programme at a reception at Dover House, Whitehall, today, where a commemorative two-pound coin (pictured) was unveiled. As well as the coin and the debate the Scotland Office have plans to name a train on the West Coast mainline.
Friday, January 12, 2007
University debate rankings
Up-to-date rankings of performances in British and Irish tournaments, plus Worlds and Euros, are now available on BritishDebate. Thanks to Jonathan Leader Maynard of KCL for creating and updating them.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Dartmouth House Debating Society - Schools Debate
 The Dartmouth House Debating Society's first meeting of 2007 took place on Wednesday 10 January, when some of the best school level debaters in England tackled the motion "This House would join the 1000 people who emigrate every day from the UK". The six speakers, Ben Woolgar, Claire Moulange and Conan McKenzie in proposition, and Ben Lewy, Thomas O’Reilly and Emily Pearce in opposition, debated using a special version of World Schools format, which included six minutes speeches and a floor debate. The motion was eventually defeated by a narrow margin. Many thanks to all of the speakers for taking part. For more information contact vivienne_thomson@esu.org
Monday, January 08, 2007
Willard Foxton is officially funny
For those who missed it, Willard's winning performance in this year's WUDC Comedy competition is available on YouTube. Clip #1Clip #2
|
|
