Students aim high to improve as debaters<\/p>\n
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia's bid to improve its performance in international
\nstudent debating competitions has received a boost with the help
\nof trainers from Monash University.<\/p>\n
Around 100 students from various universities across the
\ncountry participated in a four-day workshop organized by the
\nUniversity of Indonesia, which concluded on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\"We invited debaters from Monash University who have won many
\ninternational competitions to improve the skills of Indonesian
\nstudents,\" Melanie Tedja, chairperson of the National Workshop
\nParliamentary Debate (NWPD) organizing committee, said.<\/p>\n
The workshop was sponsored by, among others, The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Melanie said so far Indonesian teams had never won any laurels
\nin international competition, although technically their skills
\nwere relatively equal to those of other Asian countries such as
\nJapan or Thailand.<\/p>\n
\"In Asia, we fare quite well, although we are still behind our
\nSoutheast Asian neighbors like Singapore or Malaysia,\" she said.<\/p>\n
In the latest world debate competition in Singapore last year,
\nIndonesia ranked among the best 32 teams among over 100
\nparticipating countries.<\/p>\n
Melanie said the workshop would help Indonesian students
\nimprove their achievement in a number of competitions this year,
\nthe closest being the Asian debate competition in Thailand in
\nJune. Indonesia will also take part in the Australia-Asia Pacific
\ndebate competition in Australia in July and the World Debate
\nCompetition in December.<\/p>\n
\"We hope we can reach the final 32 in the Australia-Asia
\nPacific and world debate competitions in the English as a Second
\nLanguage (ESL) category,\" said Melanie.<\/p>\n
She said Indonesia would bid to host an international debate
\ncompetition in 2006, in an attempt to help more talented young
\ndebaters in the country to flourish.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/students-aim-high-to-improve-as-debaters-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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