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Online Debate

Workshop 2020 by

HELP University

or two consecutive Saturdays, May 30th and June 6th, HELP University held their annual English
Debate Workshop— online. In response to the imposition of the Movement Control Order (MCO)
Fto curb the spread of Covid-19, HELP University has gone online and beyond Malaysia’s borders.
This year, schools from all over Asia were free to participate in the workshops held over Microsoft Teams.
The one held on May 30th was for beginners, whilst the one on June 6th was for regulars.

The May 30th beginners’ workshop saw the participation of seven of our school’s Debate Club
rookies, along with 74 others from schools all over Malaysia. Twelve members from our school who
After that, a series of various videos were played. Some videos gave some insightful tips into were to attend the following week’s regulars’ workshop were present as well, acting as timekeepers and
the basics of videography, while others taught students how to polish their videos to become up chairpersons for the crux of the event: the practical debates, which would come later in the day.
to standard. Others showcased some truly marvellous pieces of stop-motion videography, aiming
to inspire the attendees to create magnificent works by taking inspiration from the showcased The workshop schedule was the same as previous years, with minimal fixes. After roll call, Mr Lai
masterpieces.
Sin Siang, the organiser from HELP University gave everyone an in-depth rundown of the rules of Asian
Parliamentary style debating. Then, as the debaters adjourned to prepare for the afternoon showdowns,
the attending teachers were given a briefing on adjudicating debates.

At 12:30 p.m. the debaters and adjudicators filed into the separate virtual conference rooms for
the debates to commence. Two debaters from our school were matched with a debater from SMJK Heng
Ee, Penang to go against a team from Chung Hwa Independent High School, Kelantan. Unfortunately,
our team lost. However, the two teams from our school that competed in the second session, which
started at 2:30p.m., garnered more favourable results, beating the two teams from SM Kai Dee Bintulu
and Sekolah Menengah Sin Min Persendirian, Sungai Petani.

A team member from an opposing team in the
beginner’s workshop.

A few comedic videos also showed students the extent of creativity and innovation found in
digital media. Some Douyin videos were also played to further enrich attendees with ideas for their own
videos. There was even a simple baking video made by a student from Sr3A, bringing the idea of video
creation down to earth, thereby strongly encouraging students to make their own videos.

With that, the lesson came to a close, hopefully leaving students with newfound insights for
their videos.
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