School Blog

From the Roman senate to modern parliaments, the art of public speaking and debate has a long history, and competitive debating is a well-rooted tradition in our Upper School curricular and extracurricular activities. On Friday, December 11^th, our Upper School students engaged themselves in one of the most exciting competitions of the school year, the HQIS Speaker’s Cup, the last chapter of the 2020 Winter Carnival.

The Speaker’s Cup is not just a challenge, it is a great opportunity to help our students practice and demonstrate their critical thinking skills, deepen reasoning, sharpen communicating skills, and improve learners’ ability to form balanced, informed arguments.

The Middle School session was held in the morning, while the High School students delivered their speeches in the afternoon. Both sessions were divided in two sections, Prepared Speeches and Unprepared Speeches. For the Prepared Speeches, students had time to do background research on their topic, as well as practicing their speech. As for the Unprepared Speeches, Students are randomly given a topic, and they have two minutes to prepare and must speak for 1-3 minutes. Their speeches were evaluated by a mixed jury composed of teachers and students.

The Winners:

Best Speaker Grade 6: Lily Xu – Topic: “The Colors of China”

Best Speaker Grade 7: Austin Chan – Topic: “Culture And Why Is Culture So Important”

Best Speaker Grade 8: Amy Zhao – Topic: “What Is The Best Way to Raise a Child?”

Best Overall Speaker for Middle School: Amy Zhao

Best Prepared Speech High School: Jeremy Chan – Topic: “A Dream and a Dream”

Best Unprepared Speech: Rex Song – Topic: “Should Students Wear School Uniforms?”

Best Overall Speaker High School: Jeremy Chan

As part of the school’s tradition, the Best Overall Speakers will have the honor to get their names carved on the base of the Speaker’s Cup, which will be kept in the HQIS Hall of Fame, along with the names of the winners of the previous editions.

It is worth mentioning that all our top speakers also participated in the 2020 Shanghai World Scholar’s Cup (which took place in the HQIS Campus). Each participant delivered memorable speeches during the Debate Showcase. Currently, our students are engaged in a training session offered by the school to prepare for the next WSC session.

All of this would not have been possible without the time and effort of the organizers and participants, therefore, we want to thank all of them for making this competition happen. Last but not least, we want to congratulate our little Socrates’ and Ciceros for their wonderful job, and wish them good luck for the next  competitions.