On April 27th, the final round of the DTU English Debating Contest was held. The six best students from the preliminary round debated with each other on current, compelling topics.
Awards are presented to the leading students
The first contest was organized at DTU in January 2016, with the support of Professor Barbara G. Howell from Lorain College in the USA, and many students actively participated. This contest gives DTU students an opportunity to practice their persuasive English skills, their confidence in public-speaking and international communication prowess.
DTU lecturers and students
In this year’s Debating Contest finals, six students were put into three debating groups with three topics. These were, “Technology does more harm than good”, “Living together before marriage”, and “Should Danang focus on stability or on development?” The students had refreshing and interesting opinions on these popular topics, had lively and inspiring debates and displayed their understanding and ability to convince their audience in English.
“Debaters should not just argue loudly to satisfy their egos,” said Ms. Howell, “a debate is a battle of words, to convince the audience with the viewpoints and evidence accumulated. Words should be used wisely. As the 13th-century Persian mystical poet Jalal Uddin Rumi said: ‘Raise your words, not your voice. It is the rain that grows flowers, not thunder.’ This is why, when debating, we should focus on selecting information and analyzing arguments to find reasons for our opinions.”
The contest winners received prizes. Tran Ngoc Ha Nhien of the Faculty of Medicine, class K22 YDK3, came first. Second prize went to Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, class K21 NAB5, and Le Thuy Bao Quyen of the Faculty of Medicine, class K20 YDH6 came third. Two consolation prizes were awarded to Tran Thi Xuan Tram of the International School, class K22 UIU2, and Hoang Nhan Duc of the International School class, K22 CMUTPM1.
(Media Center)