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 Elite Face-off: 2009 ICLP Interscholastic Debate
Competition
Bryan K. Beaudoin
 Vedio  Photo Album
[May 17] ICLP welcomed students
from National Taiwan University and National Chengchi University (政治大學) to the No. 2 Student Activity
Center for the 2009 ICLP Interscholastic Debate Competition (ICLP 2009跨校辯論大賽), the first event of its
kind. Between 9:00am and 4:00pm five
teams debated whether corporations should value the ability over the moral
character of their employees (企業用人，才貴於德).
ICLP envisioned the event as forum for advanced students to
demonstrate their Chinese ability, as well as an avenue for cultural
exchange between Taiwanese and foreign students.
 Participating were teams
representing NTU Debate (臺大健言社), the NCCU Debate team (政大演辯社), the NTU Department of Foreign
Languages and Literatures, as well as two teams of ICLP students. The final team, Global Friendship, was
comprised of NTU students who will volunteer during ICLP’s 2009 Berkeley Business
Chinese Summer Program. The five
teams matched their wits in English and Chinese during four rounds. Guest judges included Li Chen-Ching, a
professor of English at Shih Hsin University and former head of the MOE
Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, professor Kao
Tien-en, director of The Language Training and Testing Center, and
professor Yong Hway Hsi (Wesley Hsi) of the NTU Dept. of Foreign Languages
and Literatures.
ICLP advertised the event as such:
“Do you believe that elite foreigners can use Chinese to have a
professional debate against elite Taiwanese?” Indeed it proved to be a rare sight—a
bilingual, multicultural showdown between Taiwanese and foreign students. The first round was conducted in Chinese
and matched Global Friendship against the ICLP No. 1 Team. In the second round, seasoned competitors
from NTU Debate and the NCCU Debate team gave the audience a taste of their
frenetic, almost theatrical style.
The third round was conducted in English and pitted students from
the NTU Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures again the ICLP No. 2
Team. “I soon found myself sucked
into the debate, and was hardly aware that we were debating non-native
speakers of English,“ remarked participant and organizer Jeffrey Chivers.
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