Well-designed and tested out curriculum provides a unique opportunity for beginner debaters to catch up with the rest of the Forum group in an intensive four-days training in Karl Popper debate and public speaking.

It is designed for students with little-to-no experience in debate, who would like to get some practice before competing. The curriculum will teach and reinforce some basic debate skills and concepts, and will do so in a clear, and easy to understand manner. Through a lot of practice, these four days of intensive training will reinforce and build confidence for beginning debaters, giving them a good starting position for the Mixed Team Track (MTT).

IND Track

IND Track

2009 IND Track Group

The IND will emphasize development and mastery of the basic skills of debate—argument construction, refutation, and public speaking. Through small group activities, daily games and drills, skill development sessions, and finally by working as a member of a team, participants in the IND will learn, hone, and master these three foundational skills, which will enable them to compete regardless of which format they choose to participate in.

After this four-days initial training, the participants of the IND will join the rest of the group for the MTT.

The head trainer of the IND Track is Joe Zompetti.

Comments from participants of YF 2008:

Ablay & Azizzhan [debaters]: On our track we have a lot of fun: making new friends, speaking English, debating and playing table tennis.

“Elvira Seitkazinova [Trainer]: We [trainers] have been preparing this track for a half of year. We tried to make it as fun as possible. Now we are happy that we met all of you and that we can find out more about your personalities. What I specially like about IND is a great diversity among the participants. Moreover i’m really glad that i have an opportunity to work with such great trainers as Ronna and Aaron. To some up i’d like to say that we are having and we are going to have a lot of fun!!!