IDEA Weekly October 23

October 23, 2007
Dear INN Readers,
It sounds like the Global Debates went well! I’ve heard from many of you, who have reported successful debates at your schools! Some of you even had local community leaders or reporters as guests! Nice job. For a list of participating schools, visit IDEA’s TPS website. I guess it’s time to finish up Fall and start prepping for spring…J The spring topic for the Global Debates is “Resolved: Water should be considered national property.” You will be able to find helpful resources on that topic on the new Debatepedia. In the meantime, don’t forget to send your ballots to the address listed in your toolkit (IDEA at Willamette). You will want to send items you completed for extra points directly to the U.N. Foundation: info@thepeoplespeak.org. I’ll also be here to answer questions. ~Arminda

**TPS Global Debates Participants are eligible to register for the IDEA TPS Bosnia Open, hosted by the Centre for Cultivating Dialogue in Sarajevo November 15th-19th.

Idebate Deadline November 1st
If you would like to submit an article to idebate about debate in your country or club, please send all articles and inquiries to alathrop@idebate.org by November 1st. If you have already agreed to write an article for idebate, don’t forget the deadline!

Meet Winnie: IDEA’s Newest Staff Member in the NL!
Winnie Terra (34) studied art and culture policy and social science with a focus on city and culture sociology. The past ten years Winnie worked for various cultural non-profit organizations such as Marres, Kunsten '92, De Balie, Shadow Festival, Fort Asperen, Catalogue Magazine as a project leader, researcher or managing director and worked as a cultural policy advisor. She recently received a grant to write an essay on cultural diversity in the arts in international perspective. Along with these activities Winnie has a special interest in debates and politics and writes about social issues and debates, and organizes political dinners (LuxVoor) and debates with Spreeksteen. She advises and helps the De Levante Foundation, a organization about cultural diversity, to become sustainable. Winnie's has a special interest in inequality in the broadest sense of the word, democratic processes and- participation, culture, East Europe.
~Welcome aboard, Winnie!

IDEA Announces Final Call for Youth Forum 2008 Staff
The application deadline for Chief Adjudicator, Curriculum Committee Member, and Tournament Director is October 29th. If you are interested in one of these positions, get an application here and submit it soon!

IDEA Calendar: Annual Events 2008
Mark your calendars for the following 2008 Annual IDEA Events!
●European Youth Speak: March 15-17, 2008 ~ Amsterdam, NL
●IDEA International Tournament of Champions: May 16-18, 2008 ~ Oregon, U.S.
●IDEA NJFL International Tournament (Middle School): June 26-29, 2008~Western Kentucky University, U.S.
●IDEA International Debate and Citizen Journalism Institute: June 29-July 19, 2008 ~ Duino, Italy
●IDEA International Youth Forum: July 23-August 5, 2008 ~Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria

Contribute to IDEA’s New Debatepedia, the Encyclopedia of Debate!

Debate in Argentina: Some Positive Feedback

Politica

02/09/2007 Rio Negro: Comienza un nuevo ciclo del programa Crecer en demócracia
El vicegobernador de Río Negro Mario De Rege anunció que 20 escuelas de diferentes localidades provinciales inscriptas para el presente ciclo del proyecto ‘Crecer en Democracia’, comenzaron a remitir a la Legislatura sus iniciativas parlamentarias con la intención de sesionar próximamente en el recinto legislativo.De Rege explicó que «los trabajos entrarán ahora en una etapa de selección y sorteo cuyo resultado determinará la realización de hasta ocho sesiones a las que los alumnos serán convocados a partir de la última semana de setiembre y durante todo octubre».Con ese fin, las áreas de Comunicación Social y de Capacitación y Desarrollo, encargadas de implementar y organizar el programa institucional, distribuyeron en el mes de julio pasado más de doscientos sobres con material instructivo y videos a todas las escuelas públicas y privadas de Río Negro.Remitieron sus solicitudes varias escuelas del Alto Valle, Valle Medio, y de las regiones Andina y Atlántica, que involucran establecimientos de General Roca, Villa Regina, Allen, Cipolletti, El Bolsón, Bariloche, Sierra Grande, Ingeniero Jacobacci, Comallo, Choele Choel y Río Colorado.[Diario de El Bolson BW]

IDEA Visit to Mongolia

Flying from Seoul to Ulaanbataar, the first thing I noticed was this:

People per square kilometer in Mongolia: 1.7

People per square kilometer in Seoul: 17,108

From the IDEA base in Seoul, I hopped on the 3-hour flight to Ulaanbaatar to work with the debate network of the Mongolian Education Alliance (MEA) for a week. Fortunately for my interest in traveling, these opportunities are fairly common since Seoul is so close to other Asian destinations. On this particular trip I got to work with the MEA to think about some grant proposals, start a blog (http://debateinmongolia.blogspot.com if you can read Mongolian), train some students and teachers, and help keep Mongolian debaters abreast of happenings elsewhere in the IDEA network. Overall it was an interesting trip and I got to catch a glimpse of a fascinating place. Debaters and educators have several challenges to face: getting quality debate research materials in the Mongolian language, connecting a network of debate clubs over vast distances, and attending international events when the country is so far from most others. The MEA is doing some interesting things to try to alleviate some of these difficulties by, for example, translating relevant parts of the Debatabase into Mongolian or using the new blog to reach those schools in Mongolia with internet access.

One of the main things I did in Mongolia was training students and teachers. Many of them wanted to know some methods for debating about policies or plans, some wanted to know about judging, while still others wanted to talk about the program side of things and how to get their students or classmates more involved. On the last topic, one student from the 2007 Youth Forum returned to her school in Ulaanbaatar and started an English debate club. I’ve included a picture of all of us after we talked along with some pictures from a few other teacher/student trainings.

Of course, no IDEA trip would be complete without a little bit of sightseeing and local activities. On my last afternoon in the country, Davaku, a former IDEA debater, 2007 Youth Forum coach, and current MEA employee, took me and a few others out to her grandmother’s house in the countryside. The beautiful scenery was a nice change of pace from my usual city surroundings. We got to hike up some mountains, eat some delicious food, and, of course, ride horses and yaks…

Alex.

Ozone Hole:Join Global Debates!

As part of the Global Debates effort within The People Speak 2007/2008, we would like to show you this Public Service Announcement, produced by Mite Kuzevski-Jumbo, on behalf of the International Debate Education Association.

IDEA Weekly October 17th: Global Debates News

The IDEA Weekly, Volume 145

October 17, 2007

Dear INN Readers,
The weeks of Global Debates are on; schools across the world have begun competing for one of sixteen team trips to the U.N. Youth Summit in New York next summer. The Global Debates last until October 23rd, so if you haven’t signed up, it’s still not too late! IDEA and the UNF have many great resources for your debate, including the new Debatepedia at www.idebate.org. The Debatepedia offers debate arguments that relate to this fall’s Global Debates resolution and contains additional information about TPS 2007-2008 as well. Last week marked the launch of the Global Debates, Debatepedia, and the new IDEA website. If you haven’t visited the website yet, please go and look around. I welcome your feedback and suggestions about the new site; we are continuing to make improvements. Also, the latest issue of idebate is available on the website and will be distributed in print soon. The latest issue features articles on Youth Forum 2007, the Institute in Duino, Dialogue through Debate and Critical Thinking across Cultures. You can find it at: http://www.idebate.org/resources/publications/idebate_magazine.php?id=41 .
Best wishes for a happy, healthy fall~ Arminda

Global Debates Statistics—as of Today’s Date
Number of Participating Countries: 63
Number of Participants Who Registered for Their School: 525
Number of Participants Outside of the U.S. Who Registered for Their School: 293

Number of Participating School Organizers per Country/Province:

Arab Emirates: 1; Albania: 10; American Samoa: 1; Australia: 1; Azerbaijan: 1; Bosnia/Herzegovina: 44; Bangladesh: 3; Bulgaria: 5; Belarus: 2; Canada: 6; Chile: 2; Cameroon: 2; China: 5; Kosovo: 1; Czech Republic: 1; Germany: 2; Egypt: 1; Great Britain: 4; Georgia: 1; Ghana: 1; Hong Kong: 1; Haiti: 2; Indonesia: 3; Israel: 1; India: 48; Italy: 1; Kenya: 6; Kyrgyzstan: 1; Korea: 5; Kazakhstan: 2; Lithuania: 2; Lebanon: 1; Moldova: 25; Montenegro: 1; Macedonia: 11; Mongolia: 2; Myanmar: 1; Mexico: 1; Malaysia: 3; Nigeria: 4; Netherlands: 1; Nepal: 3; New Zealand: 1; Philippines: 5; Pakistan: 10; Romania: 1; Russia: 11; Rwanda: 3; Sudan: 1; Sweden: 1; Singapore: 2; Slovakia: 2; Sierra Leone: 3; Syrian Arab Republic: 1; Thailand: 1; Taiwan: 1; Tanzania: 1; Ukraine: 17; Uganda: 2; United States: 232; Uzbekistan: 1; Serbia: 1; South Africa: 8; Zambia: 1 .

**For a complete list of schools outside of the U.S. that have signed up as well as detailed instructions for participation, visit http://www.idebate.org/thepeoplespeak

**TPS Global Debates Participants are eligible to register for the IDEA TPS Bosnia Open, hosted by the Centre for Cultivating Dialogue in Sarajevo November 15th-19th.

IDEA Announces Final Call for Youth Forum 2008 Staff

The application deadline for Chief Adjudicator, Curriculum Committee Member, and Tournament Director is October 20th. If you are interested in one of these positions, get an application here and submit it soon!

IDEA Calendar: Annual Events 2008

Mark your calendars for the following 2008 Annual IDEA Events!
●European Youth Speak: March 15-17, 2008 ~ Amsterdam, NL
●IDEA International Tournament of Champions: May 16-18, 2008 ~ Oregon, U.S.
●IDEA NJFL International Tournament (Middle School): June 26-29, 2008~Western Kentucky University, U.S.
●IDEA International Debate and Citizen Journalism Institute: June 29-July 19, 2008 ~ Duino, Italy
●IDEA International Youth Forum: July 23-August 5, 2008 ~Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria


Contribute to IDEA’s New Debatepedia, the Encyclopedia of Debate!

Silent Movie:Join Global Debates!

As part of the Global Debates effort within The People Speak 2007/2008, we would like to show you this Public Service Announcement, produced by Mite Kuzevski-Jumbo, on behalf of the International Debate Education Association.

Win a Trip: Join Global Debates!

As part of the Global Debates effort within The People Speak 2007/2008, we would like to show you this Public Service Announcement, produced by Mite Kuzevski-Jumbo, on behalf of the International Debate Education Association.

Global Debates Start This Week!

It's hard to believe that October 12th is so close. IDEA has many exciting happenings on that day, including the release of IDEA's Debatepedia, a launch of our new homepage, and the start of the Global Debates. Right now, there are approximately 200 schools from outside of the U.S. signed up. Six lucky and/or hardworking schools will win a trip to the U.N. Youth Summit in New York next July! It's easy to participate in the Global Debates. You can sign up at www.thepeoplespeak.org and find out how you can get extra bonuses from IDEA at www.idebate.org/thepeoplespeak. A free trip to New York for having a debate? It's not so difficult.

The latest issue of Idebate is online!

The October issue of idebate Magazine, full of photos and articles about Summer 2007 IDEA events and upcoming IDEA events is online. Go check it out and take a little walk down memory lane!