“My mom always persuaded me to join a debate course; I never wanted to follow her because I was afraid to speak in front of people.
This Christmas holiday, my mother introduced me to a 10-day debate camp Lemon Shark, and she emphasized that it was run by a group of teenagers, which would be very interesting. I agree to give it a try.
Just after the first day, I was completely attracted by the course and the teachers Tony and Melody. They were very interesting and shared a lot of their debate experiences with us. In the 10-day course, I learned the basic recognition of the debate, such as constructing arguments, supporting evidence, researching, writing abstracts, planning defenses, etc.
At the end of the training camp, I also experienced the first debate contest. I lost the game. I realize I’m just starting out in this area and need to be more confident and constantly improve my skills. It will not be easy for me, but I will stick to it.”
My True Voice, by Simba Li
“This winter break, I went to the Lemon Shark debate studio, and I’m glad I did. Just last year, I competed in a competition, many may have heard of it, it is called the World Scholars Cup (WSC). I had always supported the WSC version of debate and assumed that it was the correct way of debating. (WSC consisted of three speakers, And only allowed 7 minutes of research, and you had to stand up and impromptu.) However, I realized that this type of Debate is different from the public forum debate I have learned in the Lemon shark studio. Compared to WSC, the public forum debate is more rigorous.
In Lemonshark, we learned that Public Forum debates only consisted of two people and months of preparation time and research. The first speaker did the constructive and the summary, while the second speaker did the rebuttal and the final focus. Something I also realized at Lemonshark is that there is a process in the debate called the “crossfire”, which I never experienced in WSC. Crossfire is actually an interval in the debate where speakers stand up to ask each other questions and give explanations or evidence to other people’s questions.
During the debates in Lemonshark, I was the second speaker, and I also learned quite a few significant key points I never had the chance to experience in WSC debates.
I learned about rebuttal speeches. (I used to be a constructive person in WSC.) The rebuttal is when one person shows evidence against what the opponent had mentioned before and prove them to be wrong. I also was taught in how to do Answer to’s (It is basically a technique where people provided a claim, and explanation and evidence against denying the opponents points (though I’m still not good at it)).
I spent a lovely ten days at Lemonshark and I encourage more students who want to learn the skills of debate for there.”
LemonShark’s Third Debate Tournament
Welcome to LemonShark’s 3rd Debate Tournament! Today’s tournament follows the Christmas Debate Training Camp – welcome debaters!
In this competition, Ricky Huang, who once won runner-up at the Stanford Invitational Debate, was also invited to participate in the competition. As an experienced debater, Ricky provided a role model for younger students while posing a challenge for more advanced debaters at LemonShark.
Ultimately, Wang Zu and Gao Ya emerged as champions.
Congratulations and thank you to all debaters who participated today! Additionally, we extend heartfelt thanks towards our judges, Kevin and Melody, and our special guests Joyce (from the NSDA China Office) and Ricky.
LemonShark’s Second Debate Tournament
Welcome to LemonShark’s 2nd Debate Tournament. Today, students will compete after 14 days of intensive training.
After fierce competition, the LemonShark 2nd Debate Tournament was won by the champion team Grace and Jack. Congratulations to our champions, and all students who competed today!
Additionally, thank you, Lydia, Melody, Steven, and Kevin, for judging and support of LemonShark!
Special thanks to our sponsor Deep Pure and SpaceYun for venue support!
LemonShark’s 1st Debate Tournament
After two weeks of intense and high-intensity debate training, LemonShark held the first honor debate tournament in the afternoon of July 15 in Hongqiao Tiandi Yanyouji.
Resolved: Humanity Should Establish a Space Colony by 2050.
In addition to two coaches, three experienced debaters were invited to serve as judges.
We invited Mei Ziji, an excellent debater from the University of California, Berkeley, to judge alongside Zoe Huang, from the University of Southern California.
Today, LemonShark also invited President Wu Zijian of Shanghai YK Pao School to present a certificate of completion for the debaters. Thank you, President Wu, for your support!
Congratulations to all of the debaters! If you would like to participate, please reach out to us through our website!
China’s first non-profit speech and debate organization founded by High school students
