Marla Rodrguez

A01186833
Debating Skills, The Great Debaters
1. Research
The members of the debate team had to do a research
about the topic they were going to discuss. Since James
was the littlest one, he was responsible of researching
about the topic and give the information to Mr. Tolson, who
wrote the arguments on flashcards, so his students would
learn them and debate based on that information.
2. Diction
Mr. Tolson had a very strange technique to help his
students have a better diction, they had talk about a
certain topic with a cork in their
mouths.
This technique helped the students to have a better
diction and speak clearly.
3. Use of personal experiences
When the debate team and the teacher were heading to
one of the debates, they saw a lynching. This traumatized
James and he used his personal experience to finish his
speech when they had the debate against Harvard. These
kind of stories, sensitize the audience and makes them
think over the subject and have a more accurate point of
view about it, which is the goal of a debate.
4. Self Confidence
The Wiley College debate team had a lot of self
confidence, Henry talked with a great tone and seemed
sure of his arguments and of the
information
he
provided while he was debating. We can tell that selfconfidence is crucial throughout the film, since the only
debate they lost was against Howard University is because
of how nervous James was when his turn to debate
arrived.

5.Write arguments in a short amount of time

When the Wiley College debate team arrives to Harvard,
they are announced that the subject of the debate has
been changed and that they should write new arguments.
This reflects the importance of knowing to research and to
write good and valid arguments in a short amount of time,
while being under a lot of pressure.
6. Listen to the other speakers and write down important
information
When the Wiley College debate team had the debate
against Oklahoma City University, we can see that both
teams wrote down important information throughout the
debate, so they could either refute or rebut later on when
they went to the podium to give their arguments. This is
important while debating because you show the judges
you were prepared to debate about those arguments and
that your research was useful.
7. Use of historical references
For example while they debate against Oklahoma
University, Samantha talks about justice and how it
time for negros to be admitted in State Universities,
uses historical references to justify her arguments
thanks to this and to the way she presented
information, the Wiley College debate team won
debate.

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