Forensics Lives… in Korea!!

If you know me well, you know that one of the things I love most in this world is forensics. So when I found out there was going to be a huge debate tournament held in Gwangju, I immediately thought ‘Sign me up!’ Turns out, a friend of mine was coaching three middle school debate teams and was more than happy to have some extra help.

Sign for the tournament outside the Kim Dae-Jong Convention Center

In case you’re wondering…. the tournament was conducted 100% in English and most of the kids were impressively fluent. The tournament followed Asian Parliamentary Format (read about it here if you want). There were three preliminary rounds, then Quarters, Semis, and Finals. The winning team took home 1,000,000 won (a thousand bucks)!

On the day of the tourney, I got in a last minute coaching session with my friend’s students and had a funny min-session with a very nervous 12 year-old girl who I had to convince there is no mathematical formula to calculate the amount of eye contact you should be making during a speech.

Assembly before the tournament.

When postings went up, we received the news one of our teams advanced to Quarters! The kids were ecstatic and began an all night practice session for QFs the next morning. Unfortunately, their excitement was cut short when a member of the Executive Committee called to inform us there had been a tabulation error and the kids were actually one speaker point away from advancing. No matter how the kids (and their angry parents) pleaded, the Exec. Committee wouldn’t budge.

Sidenote: don’t ever try to stand between a Korean parent and the academic success of their offspring – the result isn’t pretty.

Despite the disappointing conclusion to the story, it was incredible to be back in a forensics environment. Walking through the halls watching kids prep speeches, pace around nervously, celebrate wins and mourn losses, I felt right at home. And I realized that while the details of forensics can easily be altered, the spirit of the event will be the same no matter where you go.

Prepping outside in the halls for the impromptu debate round.

The Final round was broadcasted live on Korean National T.V.

I liked the quotation on the tournament packet.