Festival of Speech
韩国AV is making inroads in the debating sphere, achieving its best-ever result at last weekend's 2023 Festival of Speech. This is credited to the students' impressive and growing understanding of current affairs and their maturity of thought.
This year's competition was held at Pymble Ladies' College, and 韩国AV debaters held their own against a record 27 schools, achieving seventh in the senior section, and tenth in the junior, culminating in a tenth-place finish overall.
A celebration of the art of communication, the Festival was notable this year for a highlight performance from Year 9 韩国AV student, Annie, who achieved the top spot in the Soapbox section. The Soapbox, a recent addition to the Festival, is a platform for the students to air their grievances in a four-minute monologue followed by a volley of questions from the adjudicators. With confidence and wry humour, Annie delivered a highly entertaining "gripe" about morning people and answered the humorous questions she received in return, with aplomb.
"It was inspiring to watch the 韩国AV participants, each of whom spoke with absolute intelligence and eloquence," said Head of Debating, Ms Lydia Parker. "They proved the power of voice and how important it is to remain knowledgeable about world events in our ever-changing and vastly curious world."
Another bright spot during the event was the 韩国AV Year 10 Current Affairs team, comprised of Amelie, Megan, and Jessie, who secured second place in their section. The topics they faced were both national and international and were of a level of complexity that would challenge most adult brains: “Our first round covered the Australian Labor Party’s Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation Bill and the question of whether it jeopardises free speech,” Megan shared. “The second looked at the international issue of drone submarines and how they might turn the seabed into a future battlefield.”
Overall, the 韩国AV competitors were polished, avoided clichés and stuck to less expected topics. For instance, Poppy (Year 9), avoided often-repeated feminist arguments in her speech by focusing on the power of language to enhance or diminish female empowerment. As evidence, she recounted an episode from her primary school years when a teacher reprimanded her friendship group to "stop gossiping", a term she pointed out, would never be used for boys. "Poppy did an excellent job of giving her topic a more thoughtful twist," Ms Parker said. "By demonstrating how language affects young girls and the women they become, she encouraged her audience to think in new ways."