Doha – QatarDebate

The second edition of the U.S. Schools Arabic Debating Championship, organized by QatarDebate –  a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development  – in collaboration with the University of Utah – Middle East Center along with the Arabic and English Debating Clubs – concluded on February 4th as West High School team from Utah emerged champions of the championship, for the second time.

The tournament, which kicked off on February 3rd, included the participation of 7 schools 5 different States: Kansas, North Carolina, Connecticut, Illinois, and Utah.

This tournament brought together the students at American schools with this important cultural event to help spread the culture of debate in Arabic in America.  In addition to being a meeting place for debaters interested in debating in Arabic.

The tournament is part of other cultural events such as the QatarDebate International Schools Debating Championship. training programs are conducted to enhance further debate skills, sharpen speech talents, and deepen the spirit of dialogue through competitions between debate enthusiasts.

The tournament, which was moderated by14 judges, will see a variety of topics relevant to students in the United States. Students debated on various issues including education, health insurance, youth empowerment in elections, as well as a philosophical issues about the impacts of honesty and lies.

The event serves as an annual meeting where students and teachers with a similar interest in the Arabic language interact and communicate with each other.

In this regard, debate instructor from QatarDebate Saad Elasad said: “A group of experienced judges participated in the arbitration of the tournament in dealing with the category of “Arabic as a foreign language speakers”, and the tournament was characterized by the participation of former debaters from Utah universities as trainee judges as part of their preparation for future championships.”

In addition to the well-known benefits of debate in developing critical thinking and public speaking skills, the tournament provided a distinct educational experience for a group in dire need of such activities, namely the category of Arabic language learners, which with the testimony of their teachers accelerates the process of acquiring and mastering the language.

We were keen to organize the event to enable the debate community in America to organize it independently in the future, so the beginning was the formation of a council of participating teachers in which they agreed on the rules and details of the tournament and voted on the host, then we cooperated with the University of Utah in organizing and involving several individuals in the management of the tournament in order to transfer experiences to ensure sustainability.