Goethe-Gymnasium’s Junior Debating team couldn’t have had a better start of the debating season: they have won their first two rounds of Debating, an event which is organised by the Debating Society Germany. 

The team members, who are from year 7 and 8, have only been learning about Debating for a couple of months. So it was not surprising that everyone was excited, but very nervous. Would those few practice lessons be enough to compete in school debating? Would the other schools be a lot better? Would we even stand a chance? 

Due to the pandemic, unfortunately the debates could only be held online, but that didn’t take the fun away! 

As the first round was an impromptu debate (“THW not watch political talk shows.”), the teams had an hour to prepare once the motion was announced. Our Junior debaters were team opposition and therefore had to find arguments why they would indeed watch political talk shows. After a nerve-wrecking and stressful preparation time, the team members couldn’t have been more excited to start their very first debate. When the judges announced that the team from Goethe-Gymnasium won the debate, the team members were overwhelmed with joy and the three speakers Maximilian, Niklas and Immanuel were celebrated. Who would have thought we could win our first debate! 

Round 2 was a prepared debate, which means that the teams had a couple of weeks to prepare arguments for the motion “THB that schools should prioritise teaching practical learning over general knowledge”. Maryam, Jule and Laura were team proposition – thus in favour of the motion – and have worked incredibly hard on their speeches. Almost everything went as planned and they deservedly won this debate as well! 

The Junior team consists of Maryam Reidel, Jule Carl, Laura Mocken, Niklas Knauff, Immanuel Bach, Sören Müller, Kevin Pajkoski, Maximilian Kirschner, Louis Popp and Michael Wang (who unfortunately couldn’t be with us for these first two debates). They are coached by Mrs Freudenberg. 

Those interested in joining the team can do so on Tuesdays at 1.25pm (room 209).