Led by English instructors Richard Keeling and Catherine Stafford, two higher level English classes stood before their peers in the auditorium on April 28, in the first ever primary school English debate at Beijing New Talent Academy.
    4月28日，在英语指导教师Richard Keeling和 Catherine Stafford 的带领下 ，小学部4、5年级的学生来到了报告厅，在他们的小伙伴们面前，展开了小学部第一次精彩的英语辩论赛。

Students from Fluency classes grades 4 and 5 debated separate topics, which included, “Study is more important than sports and games,” and “iPads are better than iPhones.”
    来自4、5年级外教班的学生，分别就“学习比运动和玩游戏重要”和“iPads 比 iPhones 好”为辩题开始了辩论。

In a debate, there is an affirmative motion, which is a statement that the affirmative team believes to be true. The negative team, which disagrees with the motion, argues with the affirmative team, trying to prove that the affirmative motion is not correct.
    在辩论中，由正方首先提出观点。陈述过程中正方坚信自己的观点是真实的。反方反对这一观点，与正方进行争辩，试图证明正方观点是错误的。

 “There are a lot of rules to a debate,” said Ms. Stafford, who teaches grade 4 higher level English. “The students caught on quickly, though, and in the end we could see they had a lot of passion for their side of the argument.”
    “辩论包含许多规则。”4年级外教班教师Ms.Stafford 说，“学生理解得非常快，在最后我们能看到他们激情无限为自己的观点争辩。”

主持人有请观众席的同学发表观点

Each debate was made up of an announcer, a chairperson, a team of three debaters for each side, summarizers and translators, and a time keeper. This enabled every member of each class to play a part in the debate. Some of Steve Spierling’s higher level Fluency students also participated, acting as interpreters. The three members, or debaters, of each team had a chance to state their reasons why they agreed or disagreed with the motion. The first speaker summed up the debate by presenting the closing arguments for their side.
    每场辩论均由宣告员、主席、正反方各3位辩手、总结人、翻译以及计时员参与组成，从而保证班级的每个成员都能参与到辩论中来。外教Steve Spierling 所带领的6年级外教班的有些同学也参与进来当起了翻译。每组的3位辩手都有机会陈述他们同意或反对的理由。最后，由每组的第一位辩手通过最后陈述来总结本辩论组的陈述观点。

“It was really exciting,” stated Crystal Zhong, a student in Mr. Keiling’s grade 5 Fluency class. “I was only the translator, but even just listening to the debate, I was excited and happy.”
    “真的很精彩！”Mr.Keeling 五年级外教班的学生Crystal Zhong 说道，“我是唯一的翻译，但是即使只是在一旁听着，我也感到分外激动和高兴。”

Addie Yu, the key debater for grade 5 on the negative side, stated, “I thought the debate was sometimes funny because some information people researched was wrong,” referring to the cost of the iPad vs. the iPhone.
    5年级的反方辩手Addie Yu 说：“我觉得辩论很有趣，因为有时人们调查的一些信息是不准确的，比如说平板电脑和手机的价格对比。”

During the debate, students from the audience were invited to ask questions. Some argued with the debaters’ stance, which, at times, left team members unable to give a clear answer to back up their claims. However, debaters were also able to expound on their original arguments after a question, adding more evidence to prove their position.
    在辩论的过程中，观众席上的学生也邀请来提问。面对台下同学对自身立场的反对，辩手们时而无法以明确的辩解来反驳，时而也会用清楚的阐释和更多例证来捍卫自己的观点。

外教Catherine 现场提示

“I was impressed by the student-to-audience participation,” stated Richard Keeling, lead foreign primary school English teacher at BJNTA. “I thought students capably tackled a difficult task.”
    “辩论席与观众席的互动环节让我印象颇为深刻，”小学部外籍教师负责人Richard Keeling评价道，“我想学生已经有能力解决有挑战性的难题了。”

At the end of the debate, a vote was taken to see which team had convinced the audience it was right, which ultimately revealed that most students disagree that study is more important than sports and games, but agree that iPads are indeed better than iPhones.
    辩论赛结束时，就正反两方谁更具有说服力展开了投票评选。结果表明，大部分同学反对“学习比运动和游戏重要”的观点，支持“平板电脑比手机更好”的观点。

Sam Yu, the key debater for the affirmative side in grade 4, stated that he felt the audience was lazy because they thought study was not important. With his eyes lighting up, he added, “I think we should have many more debates!”
    来自四年级的正方辩手Sam Yu认为,观众席上的同学有些懒散，因为在他们眼里学习不是很重要。Sam的眼睛闪烁着光芒，接着又补充道：“我们期盼辩论赛这样的活动能够多多举行。”

反方辩手在发表个人观点