QatarDebate organizes a virtual training workshop to debaters from India

Doha – Qatar Debate Center

The Qatar Debate Center – Member of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development – organized an evening training workshop aimed at supporting and enhancing debate skills for students of Dar Al-Huda Islamic University – Republic of India – entitled “Debate Skills” using Zoom platform under the precautionary measures during the period from 20-22 July 2020 and from 6:30-8:30 PM Doha time. The workshop, in which 47 young people participated, is part of the center’s plans to train students on the basics of debating and raising the level of debaters at Dar Al Huda Islamic University and its colleges in the state of Kerala, Republic of India.

The program considers the varying levels of participants, as the trainees were divided into two groups, supervised by the trainers of the Center Mr. Lotfi Barkeh and Mr. Jaber Abu Humaid. The workshop focuses on the youth category from 17-23 years. The program of the workshop included several skills and training activities on various debate issues and how to employ them in a correct way. It also focused on the various methods of analysis and the tasks of the two teams within the debate through applications that enhanced the theoretical content of building the position of the parties and the argument and the steps of refutation.

The workshop gives us a glimpse of how important the Arabic language is to non-native speakers.

Lotfi Barkeh

For his part, Lotfi Barkeh stressed in his speech: “What distinguishes the workshops that are offered to students in the Arabic language as it is a second or third language is that it gives us a glimpse of the importance of the Arabic language as individuals from different countries of the world try to learn it. Not only that, but they also want to debate by it and express their thoughts and opinions through it.”

As for the students, their response and enthusiasm for the debate broke the barrier of lack of mastery of the language as its natives, as they were making great efforts to participate and express their opinions, and this gave the workshop a distinctive atmosphere.

At the end of the workshop, the students expressed their happiness to learn new concepts related to the art of debate in the Arabic language, and asked for more workshops to be held in the future.

The Qatar Debate Center continues its plan with the aim of rooting and publishing this art locally and internationally, as a guide to engaging in logical discussion on issues that are subject to controversy and debate in order to reach an accordant vision after presenting convincing arguments and clear proofs.