The 3rd PDA High School Parliamentary Debate
World Congress 2018 Report
General Incorporated Association
Parliamentary Debate Personnel Development Association (PDA)

Dates:
2018/1/19(Friday), 1/20(Saturday) and 1/21(Sunday)

Venue:
Hotel Nikko Kansai Airport Kansai - Airport Conference Halls
1 Senshukukokita, Izumisano-shi, Osaka Prefecture 549-0001
Tel: (81) 72-455-1111

Hosted by:

Parliamentary Debate Personnel Development Association (PDA)

Sponsored by:

The Nippon Foundation.

Supported by:

Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Sciences andTechnology (MEXT), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan(MOFA), The Asahi Shimbun Company, Asahi StudentNewspaper, English-Speaking Union of Japan (ESUJ) andOsaka Prefecture University.

Participating schools and debate teams: 18 Teams (Japan 6 teams, Overseas 12)
Japan - Asano Senior High School
Japan – Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Senior High School
Japan – Kyoto Prefectural Sagano Senior High School
Japan – Shibuya Senior High School
Japan – Toshimagaoka Joshi Senior High School
Japan – Yamaguchi Prefectural Ube Senior High School

Indonesia - Budi Utama Senior High School
Italy - Mosè Bianchi & Enrico Tosi
Korea - Busanjangan High School
Philippines - Caraga Regional Science High School
UK*
Australia / UK*
Russia / France*
Denmark / Norway / Austria*
China / Nepal*
Jamaica / Canada / USA*
Germany / Canada*
Mongolia*(* = swing team)2

Purpose of the Event:
Recently, as the process of globalization accelerates, fostering talents that can contribute to a global
society and understand cultural diversity and different ways of thinking has become one of the mostimportant goals. The PDA High School Parliamentary Debate World Congress (PDA WorldCongress) aims to help participants nurture and strengthen their English speaking skills, logicalthinking, presentation skills, communication skills, general knowledge and other various skills
through active participation in Parliamentary debate format. It is a wonderful opportunity forstudents from different countries to achieve personal growth while exchanging ideas and arguments
on an equal footing. The primary purpose of this event is to motivate participants to grow into active
talents of our global society. To better assist that process, we have included various educational
opportunities such as keynote speeches and other contemporary lectures. PDA World Congressoffers not only the opportunity to challenge one's debate skills on a world scale but also, to use
debate as an effective tool for cultural exchanges. Moreover, the schedule has been designed toresemble international/academic conferences. It is a unique experience for high school students as itprovides them with a chance to visualize themselves being on an international stage. Furthermore,PDA World Congress integrates the results of a research project supported by the Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Sciences and Technology (MEXT) and uses an impromptu English
debate format that can be used in a regular high school class (50 minutes). It is a format that is bothfamiliar to the students who have some experiences in debates through extra-curricular activities,
and at the same time, friendly to the students who have no prior training in debates.

Motions:(Motions were announced 15 minutes before the beginning of each round)
Preliminary round 1: Corporal punishment should be legalized.
Preliminary round 2: Stricter sanction on North Korea for its aggressive behavior does more harmthan good.
Preliminary round 3: Preventive evacuation from meteorological disaster has to be obligation.
Quarter-final round: Government should punish individuals who write Fake news.
Semi-final round: Government should subsidize prenatal diagnosis.
Final Round: Countries with aging populations should prioritize policies enhancing productivity
over population increase.

Keynote speeches’ speakers:Japan Foundation, President
Mr. Takeju Ogata
Mr. Takeju Ogata

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First day (Opening Ceremony, Mix Debates, Culture Night)
The 3nd PDA High School Parliamentary Debate World Congress 2018 finally began with thewelcome speech of Professor Nakagawa, PDA’s Representative Director. She greeted andintroduced the 18 teams from 12 Overseas’ countries and 6 Japanese high schools participating to theevent. 6 Teams from Japan were selected through 3rd PDA High School Parliamentary Debate
National Tournament held at The University of Tokyo in December 2017.

The first day’s main activity was mix-debate. Teams are formed randomly with students fromdifferent countries. Each student needed to communicate with his or her teammates only using
English even if it was their first meeting with difference in backgrounds. The motions were“Homework should be banned.” and “Governments should actively promote international marriage.”
Away from their usual debate teammate, participants had to share their idea on the spot, such as what
homework was like in other countries while preparing their speech. It was an exciting experience forthem because they encountered ideas that they would otherwise never think of.
One of Korea’s student said “Mix debate was the most satisfying aspect of participating in thePDAWC. I thought it was a rare experience to be matched other people from other countries. One ofJapan’s student also said “Mix debate was really good experience and I felt that I need to study
English more.”4(Mix Debates)“Culture Night” was held in the evening. During this event, the participants shared dinner
wearing each country’s traditional outfits. Participants from each country made a presentation about
their own culture. We had 12 countries in total for this day, Italy, Asano High School, Philippines,Korea, Denmark / Austria / Norway, Maebashi High School, Indonesia, Sagano High School, USA,Russia, Morocco and France. They introduced unrecognized aspects of each country, beautifulsceneries, and the difference between the bias against each state and the reality, which largely
impressed the audiences. Some teams exhibited dances in their own country as well.

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Second Day (Preliminary rounds, 1st Keynote speech, Recreation and Banquet)than it was in the Mix-debates on the previous day, each team began to argue and debate intensely
against their opponents.

Before the last motion was announced, Dr. Nakajo (Engineering Department, Osaka City University)
gave a lecture, which helped students better understand the complexity of disaster prevention, thetheme for the third preliminary round. One of Japan’s student said “Keynote speech was veryinteresting. It was good for me to know the topic of next round.” Some students also said “I could
know a lot of things about the topic.” “The keynote speeches were interesting and on topics I didn’tknow about.”7

After the preliminary rounds, the time for recreation came. Social dance was introduced in this event.
It seemed some students were shy at first but everyone got used to dancing in pair little by little. Itwas a quite different way to communicate from debating in English and it seemed to have been a
joyful and interesting experience for the participants.

After the recreation, the results of the preliminary rounds (break-announcement) were announced.

The Results of Preliminary Rounds (A team with * is swing team)
1st Australia / UK*
2nd Shibuya Senior High School
3rd Philippines
4th Russia / France*
5th Denmark / Norway / Austria*
6th Indonesia*
7th Toshimagaoka Senior High School
8th Asano Senior High School
9th Mongolia*
10th Germany / Canada*
11th China / Nepal*
12th Italy
13th Sagano Senior High School
14th Jamaica / Canada / USA*
15th Ube Senior High School8

Following that, students from UK, Australia, Toshimagaoka high school, Mongolia, Canada,Jamaica, Ube high school, Germany, China, and Shibuya senior high school made presentations
respectively on their culture to the assembly by sharing famous tourist spots, teaching greetings andshort-phrases in their mother tongues, introducing their schools or even giving gifts and sweets to theparticipants.

At last, the participants enjoyed social dance, which they had learned a while before, to empower
friendships.

9Third Day (Quarter Final rounds, Semi Finals rounds, 2nd keynote speech, Final rounds, ClosingCeremony)First, Quarter Final rounds were held. Debaters argued about international issues with analogies ofvarious countries.

After a short break, Semi Final rounds were held.

Before the Grand Final round, the long-awaited 2nd keynote speaker, Mr. Ogata took the podium
and shared his knowledge to the attentive audience with the presentation about the context ofestablishment of Japan Foundation and wisdom to think about what kind of contribution is necessary
for the foreseeable future society.

10Finally, the Grand Final round (Asano High School vs. Shibuya High School) began. Adjudicators
for the Grand final round consisted of each country’s representative faculty members and as guest
adjudicators. In a serious but exciting atmosphere, participants listened earnestly to the speeches of
the teams who won thought the final after three days of debates.

And the winner was …… Shibuya Senior High School.

We would like to express our gratitude to the participants, high school students from all around theWorld, faculty members, to the keynote speakers, to the PDA World Congress sponsors andsupporters and to everyone would help us making this event a success.

11Results of the 3rd PDA High School Parliamentary Debate World Congress 2018
Team Prize
1st Place: Shibuya Senior High School
2nd Place: Asano Senior High School
Semi Finalists: Philippines, Italy
Quarter Finalists: Indonesia, Ube Senior High School, Sagano Senior High School,Toshimagaoka Senior High School

Individual Prizes
Best Debater
1st Place Riku Saito (Japan – Shibuya Senior High School)
2nd Place Alexander Julian-Ottie (UK - UK / Australia*)
3rd Place Tim Christopher Emanuel Beyermann (Canada – Germany / Canada*)
4th Place BYANJANKAR Avash (Nepal - Nepal / China*)
4th Place Christian Dale C. Paqueo (Philippines - Caraga Regional Science High School)
4th Place Baptiste (France – France / Russia*)
Best POI
1st Place BYANJANKAR Avash（Nepal - China/Nepal*）2nd Place Seon-Woo Kang（Korea - Busanjangan High School）
3rd Place Armie Grace R. Pepino（Philippines - Caraga Regional Science High School）
4th Place Riku Saito（Japan - Shibuya Senior High School）
4th Place Aoi Kubota（Japan – Toshimagaoka Senior High School）
4th Place Zakaria Mohamed（UK - UK*）
4th Place Alexander Julian-Ottie（UK - Australia/UK*）
4th Place Riley David Snoswell（Australia - Australia/UK*）
4th Place Stefano Ryan Gunawan（Australia - Australia/UK*）
4th Place Philipp Staubmann（Austria - Denmark/Norway/Austria*）
4th Place Giulia Dell'Acqua（Italy - Mosè Bianchi & Enrico Tosi）
4th Place Amanda Esler（USA - Jamaica/Canada/USA*）
4th Place Mai Kambara（Japan - Shibuya Senior High School）

Culture Prize
Team Korea
Team Italy
Team Indonesia
Team Philippines
12Questionnaire Results and Impressions on PDA 2018 World Congress
Did you enjoy participating in the PDAWorld congress?
3.It wasn't bad.
46%

1.I enjoyed it very much.
2.I had fun.
3.It wasn't bad.

2.I had fun.
1626%

4.It wasn't fun.
5.I didn't enjoy it at all.
1.I enjoyed it verymuch.
4268%

N=62

Participants’ Impressions on PDA 2018 World CongressThis is a selection of impressions written by the participants (students, faculty members andobservers).

General Impressions-“I enjoyed everything especially dancing party. It was my first time to dance this type ofdancing so I’m very glad to experience this at my age.” (Japan).

-“I am impressed of how neat and good the flow of the entire event was.” (Philippines).

-“The motions were interesting. The debaters from foreign countries were so strong”(Japan)-“There is no room for improvement. It was so fantastic. Food was delicious, debates wereinteresting.” (Japan).

-“The debate was very fun. I enjoyed it. There are so many people with different cultures andthey are very friendly. I enjoyed very much.” (Indonesia).

-“The PDAWC is one of the most fun debating tournaments I’ve joined.” (Indonesia).

-“At first, I was very nervous before the debate because I worried that whether my opinions
convey or not. However, the debate went smoothly. So, I was very happy. And I enjoyedtalking with other countries’ people.” (Japan) .

-“I was surprised that the outcome of boat race contribute to the finance of Japan Foundation.”(Japan).
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-I have got very important messages from both keynote speakers. They are the models for mystudents because they have their own arguments to share with people all over the world.”(Japan) .

-“Meeting students from Japan and the west of the world was fun .” (Denmark).

-“Staff members and quality was excellent.” (UK).

-“Really amazing event got a lot of inspiration. Also it was fun to meet new people from all over
the world and Japan.” (Russia).

-“Very interesting. I’m glad to see the sponsor of Japan Foundation.” (Australia).

-“Great quality of service and an excellent event. Debaters were interactive and meeting people
from other countries and schools were enjoyable.” (Jamaica / Canada).

-“Keynote speeches are very interesting and impressed me and I knew a lot about Nippon
Foundation. I think I would also make some institutions to the world.” (China).

-“It was interesting to meet new people from so many countries and experience debatingtogether.” (Norway).

-“The time after debating, the discussions between government side and opposition side are very
meaningful. I made a lot of friends during the debates.” (China).

-“Debates helped me to broaden my mind and learn new things from the others.” (Mongolia).

-“The event was well planned and concluded. I made new contacts and had fun debating.”(Germany).

-“It was a lot of fun to be able to interact with Japanese High School students.” (USA).

-“Well organized and a great experience for international students.” (Korea).

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