samedi, octobre 27, 2007
So I adjudicated at the SAID-VS Debate Invitationals, and it was really interesting. Hung out with the TJ delegation, KCX and TP people, and for the first time in a very long time, I felt debater-y, that was awesome. (: The KC X, Nicole, Michelle and Callie totally rock, they're awesome debaters and they were kind enough to accompany me back to VS at 7.30 when it's really dark. You guys are really cool! Oh yeah and Ningrong is amusing, one of those spontaneous people who're great to have around. The world needs more people like her, just to make life more unpredictable. (x
Okay, on to the debates. Overall, I really think I'm a good, impartial adjudicator. Some of my rulings meant that my own juniors wouldn't break ironically, and that in itself proves that I made decisions without any vested interest, honest.
1) TPJC Swing vs TMS2 : TPJC Swing consisted of The Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Farah, Jasmin and Angela. They're fun people, I met them at Loke's house previously and while they're better stylistically than the novice team from TMS, in terms of consistency and fulfilling their burden they fell a little behind so I gave it to TMS by a really close margin. I think that made the TMS people really like me, because they were nice and friendly to me later. One of them, Fadhil, is my primary schoolmate Farah's younger brother. I remember going to their house for Hari Raya one year, and I also know their neighbours, Farhan and Nabilah. Small world, haha.
2) FMSS vs VS3 : I tried very hard not to laugh so obviously. The motion was about banning the use of human embryos in scientific experimentation, but Fairfield's main argument was riots, how not banning would mean riots. Ohh, they are precious precious little kids, with a lot of potential but with 3 min speeches I had to give it to VS3 even though they were really passionate and enthusiastic. I wonder what happened to John (?) ROBERT (yes thank you Heidi) from debate camp who was also from FMSS and should be Sec 4 now, I didn't get a chance to ask. Also, I think their coach takes debating wayyy too seriously- he kept asking me to tell the kids where they went wrong, why I gave it to VS3, etc. Chill la, debating is about having fun really. I just needed better argumentation and content, and that really is something that comes with time, experience, and just plain street smarts so yeah.
3) XM2 vs TMS2 : Yes, I adjudicated TMS2 again haha. This time I had two people in the room I knew personally from both teams- Fadhil and from Xinmin, Ismail, who's my Madrasah student; I adore his younger brother and sister Isa and Sarah, who are the cutest kids ever. But the fact that I knew him personally had nothing to do with the fact that I gave him best speaker and his side the win. I think his debating style was the most appealing - it was entertaining and his quirks weren't at the expense of content. Since it was the third debate of the day at it was getting really late and everyone was tired, the mood seemed to wind down and the debate got really fun and a little informal. I kept my Oral Adj short and sweet (and anyway XMS clearly won) so we could all go home.
Day 2, Debate 4) SPS vs CGS : The SP 2nd had a L&G crutch that I was later told he repeated 37 times in his speech. The fact that his supporters counted really shows how bad it was, lol. I gave it to Cedar, by a pretty substantial margin, and this is another decision that's evidence that I'm impartial and unbiased, given the pseudo-rivalry Cedar had with us in JGs my year, lol. The teacher-in-charge of SP recognised me from TJ U16s and said hi, haha. Oh, and I realised I was adjudicating Miss Woodford's brother! His name on the form was Aidan Woodford, so I figured he might be related - kept trying to see similar features while he was speaking. Later, back in the AV room, I asked and surprise, surprise, lol.
5) SCGS vs TPJC Swing : This was the only debate in which I adjudicated as a panelist, one of three with Alfred and another girl whose name I didn't catch. TPJC Swing later told me that they did the debate the way they did so that SCGS would win because they wanted them to break since they couldn't break anyway. But in retrospect, if they'd done a proper job which I know they could and took the debate seriously, they could have won and consequently, my juniors would be through instead of SCGS and then SCGS wouldn't go on to win. So they really did a tad more harm that good from my POV that is. SCGS won of course, I gave it to them by a huge margin but for best speak all 3 adjudicators had different choices haha.
Lunch with the TJ gang was amazing - the butter squid was heaven on earth, as Chin says.
bagaikan PUTERI. (:
