Aprendiendo a Expresarnos: The first ever Starfish Debate!

We will be featuring a series of blog entries from our students, reflecting on the activities at Starfish during the February vacation period.  This year the vacation period started one month early due to heavy rain, so we took advantage of that by adding additional academic classes and extra-curricular clubs to our Starfish schedule! Today, some students share about their experience participating in our first ever debate.  4 groups divided to form teams for and against 2 topics: All students should have to wear uniforms to school and all schools should be mixed-genders.

Génesis Rivera: 
"What is important, in the debate that Starfish organized, is listening to others, and reciprocally, being listened to. We learned that it is important to debate topics that are truly interesting for us, and for the other side of the debate. My topic was: should all schools be mixed-gender? For us, it's important that they do exist as mixed gender, for that helps us develop our social skills, and we learn how to better interact among different groups of people. With regards to debating, I think it's very important to have debates about topics that are widely disputed between groups of people, but that it's even more important to choose a debate topic that doesn't have a clear solution; in that way, we debate and we hopefully find solutions, or at least justifications for our solutions. The art of debate helps us gain skills in interacting with our own team, and with those opposing our views, and through this, we learn how to dialogue successfully,  and respect each others' opinions while simultaneously holding on to our own, and not giving up on a topic we believe in." ~Génesis

"Lo importante es ser escuchado por medio de un debate de Estrellitas del Mar.  Aprendemos que es importante debatir en temas que son interesantes para ti y para los demás.  Mi tema era de que si debe existir las escuelas mixtas.  Para nosotros fue importante porque aprendemos a desarrollar nuestra capacidad de desenvolvimiento interactivo.  Es muy importante debatir sobre temas que tu crees que es muy debatido entre personas, pero que no hay solución.  Por eso es importante debatir para encontrar soluciones.  Te ayuda a interactuar con el equipo contrario y dialogar y aprender mucho más sobre el debate sin rendirse en un tema que tú crees que es necesario." ~Génesis

Luiggi Plúas 
"In 2016, we, the Starfish Community, began an activity called "Debate." This process includes defending a specific theme, and participating in groups. I the group that I participated in, we were discussing, why we should not wear uniforms in school.  We also had a group that opposed us, who defended why we should wear uniforms in school. My group prepared a Prezi slideshow. The debate went very well, and my group was chosen as the best. The process of debating will help us to further our talents, and enable us to better express ourselves." ~Luiggi

"En este 2016 iniciamos un proceso llamado "Debate".  Dicho proceso consiste en defender un tema específico.  El grupo en el que yo participaba, estábamos hablando sobre "¿Por qué no deberíamos usar uniformes escolares?"  Así que teníamos un equipo contrario, el cuál defendía sobre "¿Por qué sí deberíamos usar uniformes?"  Mi grupo preparó una presentación de diapositivos en "Prezi".  El debate salió muy bien, además fuimos escogidos como los mejores.  Estar debatiendo nos ayudará a desenvolvernos mejor y a expresarnos." ~ Luiggi

Alexander Lícoa
"To debate is to defend a topic given to us. In our debate, I learned to work in a group setting, to express myself clearly and efficiently, to listen, to formulate an opinion, and to respond to questions that the opposite side gives me. Moreover, I learned that, in order to achieve, you have to work as a team!" ~Alexander

"El debate es defender un tema que nos pongan.  En el debate aprendí a trabajar en equipo, a expresarme bien, escuchar, opinar y responder a las preguntas que me hacía el lado opuesto.  También aprendí muchas cosas especialmente sobre el tema que me tocó.  ¡Hay que trabajar en equipo para hacer las cosas bien!" ~ Alexander