What is WDL?
 The Winelands Development High School Debating League
is a social initiative to educate and empower the youth of
South Africa by teaching them formal debating in the
World Schools Debating style
 We are one of four Debating Leagues in the Western Cape,
presided over by the Western Cape Schools Debating
Board (WCSDB) who run the Provincial Championship
 They in turn are overseen by the South African Schools
Debating Board (SASDB) who run the National
Championship
Rotary
League
Nationals
SASDB
Provincials
WCSDB
Township
Debating
League
Winelands
Debating
League
We are here
Boland
League
Our Goals
 To empower and inspire learners from the Stellenbosch
community by teaching them to think critically and
express themselves with confidence
 To provide social support to learners who come from
difficult circumstances by building positive relationships
with them
 To teach these learners to debate successfully in World
Schools Debating Style, so that they may be selected to
represent their school at the Provincial Tournament, and
their Province at the National Tournament
The World Schools Format
 2 teams, 1 proposing the topic (or motion) and 1 opposing it
 Each team has three speaking members, one of whom speaks twice
 Each speech last 6 minutes (juniors) or 8 minutes (seniors), except for the
final ‘reply’ speech which is half normal length
 Teams take turns to present their case, starting with proposition
 Sometimes have prepared motions where teams get the topic in advance
and can research it
 Other times debates have impromptu motions which means the team only
get the topic an hour before the debate and must prepare
PROPOSITION
OPPOSITION
1
1
2
2
3
3
REPLY SPEECH
REPLY SPEECH
Proposition
1st Speaker
 give a CASE SPLIT (highlight each of the points that the
proposition are going to make in the debate)
 DEFINE the motion. The definition must be reasonable -
the test for a reasonable definition is how the ordinary
person on the street define would define a topic.
 provide a POLICY (steps that will be taken to
implement the motion)
 discuss arguments in favour of the motion (POSITIVE
MATTER)
Opposition
1st Speaker
 Provide a CLASH
 Give the team’s CASE SPLIT
 Provide REBUTTAL for the first speaker of the proposition
 Discuss POSITIVE MATTER
 IF necessary offer counter policy and/or definitional challenge.
Proposition
2nd Speaker
 provide REBUTTAL of the first speaker of the
opposition’s arguments
 further the proposition’s case with POSITIVE MATTER
Opposition
2nd Speaker
 REBUT the arguments brought forward by the second
speaker of the proposition
 Provide POSITIVE MATTER to further the opposition’s
case
Proposition
3rd Speaker
 The third speaker is also known as the ‘Rebuttal Speaker’.
 If time allows, the third speaker should also spend a little time
SUMMARISING the proposition’s substantive matter.
 The third speaker MAY NOT bring in any positive matter!
Opposition
3rd Speaker
 The third speaker of the opposition has the SAME job
as the third speaker of the proposition.
 The third speaker of the opposition MAY NOT bring
in any positive matter!
Reply
 The opposition’s reply comes after the opposition third speaker, and
is followed by the proposition reply.
 This is a short, three-minute speech given by either the first or second
speaker from each team
 The reply speech is sometimes referred to as being a "biased
adjudication" of the debate, because its format is similar to that of
an adjudicator's oral feedback on the debate, but with the purpose of
convincing the audience that the speaker's team was victorious.
Reply
 A reply speech should have the following structure:
 Outline two or three ISSUES of contention that the
debate has centred around;
 EVALUATE the course of the debate;
 Declare the reasoning of the team's victory.
 NO POSITIVE MATTER should be offered in a
reply speech. Instead, the speech should be a
SUMMARY of the entire debate with special
emphasis put on why your team should win the
debate.
Definitions
 …are NOT
 Dictionary definitions
 Word for word definitions – more contextual
 Truistic (self evident/not debatable)
 Time or Place Set
 Squirrels (completely unreasonable/not in the spirit of the
motion)
 Useless!!!
 DO
 Provide some context
 Ensure that everyone understands EXACTLY what is being
debated.
Definitions
This house would provide free AIDS drugs
 This motion isn’t completely specific and it immediately brings several
questions to mind:
· Who should supply the free AIDS drugs?
· Who should receive the AIDS drugs?
· Which AIDS drugs should be supplied?
 These answers could be:
· The government should provide free AIDS drugs.
· They should provide them to all people in South Africa with AIDS who
cannot afford to buy the drugs themselves.
· They should supply a particular anti-retroviral drug such as Nevirapine.
The Clash
 The clash is a statement or several statements that the
opposition team uses to sum up what they’re trying to prove.
 Is NOT…
 Long-winded & fancy
 Just the opposite of what the Prop has said (although
sometimes it is)
 MUST
 be clear and unequivocal (i.e. not ambiguous or
misleading)
 be maintained throughout the debate.
Clashes
This house would provide free AIDS drugs
CLASH
 “The South African government should not give free AIDS
drugs to everybody with AIDS; it should rather educate people
about avoiding infection. We as the opposition believe that
this would be more beneficial and effective as a long term
solution in dealing with SA’s AIDS problem.”
 NB!! It is Opposition’s job to clash with
Proposition, not the other way round!!!!
Case-splits & Teamlines
 Case Split
 Road map of teams line of argument
 Is directly related to strategy
 Teamline
 Similar to a clash.
 is a statement or several statements that either team uses to
sum up what they’re trying to prove.
POINTS OF INFORMATION
 The QUESTION Form
 This format is basically delivering an argument as a question.
 E.g. in the death penalty debate a POI could be phrased as,
-
"Don't you think that the death penalty actually deters murder by
increasing the consequences?" or
" What do you say to the argument that the death penalty deters crime by
increasing the consequences of crime?"
 This type of POI is essentially an attack on the speaker's case.
POINTS OF INFORMATION
 The FACTUAL form
 Often a team may be relying on a certain example or factual
piece of information to support their arguments. If you
have information that would stop them in their tracks, this
is worth delivering.
 For example if a speaker was arguing …
 That most asylum seekers are possible terrorists and criminals
and thus we cannot open our borders" a POI stating that,
'80% of asylum seekers are genuine immigrants and there is no
statistical evidence that terrorists come to South Africa via boats
according to immigration stats' would be devastating.
POINTS OF INFORMATION
 The EXPOSURE!

-
POIs are useful to
expose where a team's argument is lacking,
where their arguments are contradictory, or
where they have failed to rebut a key argument.
 Suppose a team is debating that we should invade Iraq, and they are talking
about all the benefits of having the UN administering Iraq after the invasion.
A POI may point out that, "You're talking about all these benefits of having
democracy in Iraq but have failed to rebut our arguments about how invasion in Iraq is
totally impractical and will not be possible."
POINTS OF INFORMATION
1. Always RESPOND to your POI. This is the best option. If you are
confident in your case just refute the point and move on. The
quicker you can do this, the better.
2. Dodge. Sometimes you are going to be stumped by a POI - it
happens to everyone. If you are stumped don't waffle for 30 seconds.
You can restate your case line or provide token refutation. The most
important point is that you shouldn't allow a POI to make you lose
your concentration.
3. Do NOT use POIs to 'nitpick' minor examples, unless the example
is very important to their case and you have matter that will destroy
them.
Structure - Internal
1. Always state the outline of your speech
2. STICK TO IT!!!
• Flag your points. Indicate clearly when you are launching into
a new point and when you’ve concluded a point.
3. Ensure that the flow of your speech is logical and strategic.
4. Relate the argument back to the overall case: i.e. state the
argument then show its link to the case.
5. Use examples to back up the argument, AFTER it has been made.
6. Structure is VERY important! Even if the matter and manner is poor,
good structure conveys a sense of purpose in proving the overall
case.
Structure – External
Team Structure
1. It is important for the first speaker of the team to give a clear case
split. Avoid repetition of arguments. A case split will quickly help
you identify duplicated or very similar sounding positive matter.
2. Use simple headings.
3. Two to three points per speaker starting from the most NB points to
the least NB points.
4. First speaker, summarise your case in two sentences!
5. Second speaker, summarise your case in two sentences!
Structure – External
Team Structure
This house would legalise euthanasia
 The first speaker could establish why suffering individuals have the
right to make decisions about their life.
 The second speaker can broaden the case to show the benefit to
family members in alleviating medical costs and personal suffering
that comes from a drawn out death. They could also show overall
benefit to healthcare systems who could divert valuable resources to
non-terminal patients.
What is an argument?
An argument is essentially a conclusion supported by reasons (otherwise
referred to as premises).
A conclusion is a statement or claim which a person would not ordinarily
accept at face value. As a result, you need to provide reasons for a
person to accept your claim. These reasons must be presented in a
logical progression which gradually builds up to your final claim.
This logical progression of reasons leading to a conclusion is the basis of
an argument.
The form of an argument
 Reason 1
 Reason 2
 Reason 3
Conclusion
The key thing to remember is that a conclusion only stands if there are
reasons provided to support it and these reasons are true. An
argument may be contrasted with an assertion. An assertion is
merely a claim or a statement which is not supported by reasons and
thus gives you no basis to believe it.
Assertions are your enemy.
How to construct an argument
 When constructing an argument you will initially start with some
conclusion in mind. It is then necessary to work backwards by
providing the reasons that will support your conclusion. For instance,
take the following conclusion as a starting point:
Amputating thieves’ hands will deter theft
 I will then need to supply the reasons that will lead to this conclusion,
starting from the least controversial claims and then building up to the
conclusion. The trick here is to make small, incremental steps from
these non-contentious claims in order to establish an argument that
will be difficult to rebut.
How to construct an argument
I will start with the first reason:
1) Thieves are generally rational individuals.
This seems to be a relatively good basis from which to
start. Next I will add an additional reason:
2) A rational individual assesses the consequences
of his/her actions before acting.
Having established this basis the next link is fairly
obvious:
3)Amputation is a severe consequence.
How to construct an argument
These reasons can be put together to create the final argument:
1)Thieves, in general, are rational individuals.
2)A rational individual assesses the consequences of
their actions before acting.
3)Amputation is a severe consequence.
 Amputation is an
effective deterrent
against theft.
How to construct an argument
Argumentation in practice
 In practice you will not have that much time to map out the
flow of your reasons and conclusions while you prepare your speech.
This is why you need to train your brain to think in logical patterns of
conclusions supported by reasons. The best training is to take
everyday statements and claims and try to create arguments for these
claims. Start with the most self evident reasons and gradually work
your way up until you have proved the claim. Use the following
examples to test your argument construction skills:
 Torture is effective in getting information out of criminals.
 Mother-tongue education allows children to learn better.
Using examples to support your
argument
The use of real-world evidence is often a powerful tool
to give your arguments greater force.
However, an example is NOT a substitute for an
argument. Examples are merely used to demonstrate
how the logic of an argument is carried through into the
real world.
Consider this use of an example:
Amputation was used in the country of XYZistan
and it reduced theft by 90%.
Therefore amputation is an effective deterrent.
Using examples to support your
argument
The use of an example in this context is clearly no substitute for an actual
argument. This is because narrow examples such as the one above suffer
from a crucial flaw:
There is nothing in the example to suggest that this isolated case is
representative of all cases.
For instance, it may be that XYZistan is unique in that its citizens are
particularly fearful of criminal punishments and change their behaviour
accordingly. Alternatively, it may just be blind luck that all the thieves left
XYZistan at the time the new punishment was introduced. As a result, there is
nothing in the isolated example of XYZistan to suggest that amputation will
work in all countries and all situations.
Using examples to support your
argument
To use an example effectively:
1) Present a logical argument
2) Establish the logic behind the argument you are providing
3) Use the example to show how the logic has been
demonstrated in real life
A few important things…
 Always, ALWAYS, read through the workshop thoroughly before you
present it. Email me if there’s anything you’re unsure about/need me to
explain
 If you aren’t confident of the matter the kids will struggle even more, so
make sure you are comfortable with what you are teaching for that week
 Decide within your groups who will do what each week, when you will
divide the class up and work in smaller groups, when you will address
them together, etc.
 Everyone should try and take turns to present sections of the workshop
 Be aware these kids are SECOND LANGUAGE English speakers.
Don’t be condescending, but also be aware of what you’re saying
and how you say it.
 Where possible explain things in simpler terms. Be patient and
take the time to explain difficult concepts to them.
 Check that they remember the previous session’s work and can
apply what you’re teaching/have taught them.
 HOWEVER don’t underestimate them simply because they struggle
to express themselves. Many of these kids are very smart and
informed about what’s going in South Africa, and the world.
 But most important of all…
HAVE FUN!!! The kids won’t return each
week unless they enjoy the workshops and feel
positive about debating.
Studying BSc Human Life Sciences
with Psychology
Portfolio: Chair
Studying Sociology Honours
PORTFOLIO: Secretary and Vicechairperson
Studying BA Sosio Informatics
PORTFOLIO: Marketing & Events
Coordinator