DEBATING AND CRITICAL THINKING
Now in its eleventh year, Global Young Leaders is a premium debate and communication course for students aged 12 to 17. The skills learned can be applied to wider academic study, and careers in business, the Law and leadership in general.
Annually, participants from various countries are coached and mentored by staff recruited from elite academic institutions. Small class sizes allow Global Young Leaders to emulate the formula of Oxford and Cambridge supervisions, and empower students to make enormous progress within two engaging weeks.
Debating as a Key Life Skill
Competitive debating is now widely recognised within the academic community as a powerful tool for a student’s self-development. Helping a child to nurture an authentic and articulate voice enables them to thrive beyond the debating chamber, with many seeing a marked improvement in exam performance and day-to-day confidence. That confidence can prove invaluable in the classroom and beyond, with admissions offices for many of the world’s best universities identifying structured thought and communication skills as key indicators of a candidate’s potential.
The growing recognition of these considerable benefits has seen the World Schools Debating Championships move from strength to strength, with over 50 countries now participating annually. Global Young Leaders gives students comprehensive coaching within this debate format, providing them with a unique window into the World Schools environment, which has earned so many plaudits from orators and statesman such as Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela.
Developing a Global Perspective
Global Young Leaders takes students with a range of debating experience and integrates them all within mixed classes which are structured in such a way as to encourage cooperation and mutual support across the student body. The international perspective of our students, a result of their diverse backgrounds, further emphasises the benefits of cooperative learning.
Debate is only one half of the course experience, with other lessons focusing on global themes such as politics, economics and law. The unique combination of critical thought with debate is key to the Global Young Leaders approach and succeeds in giving students something they want to say whilst empowering them to say it.
Outside the classroom, students can participate in a wide range of sporting and social activities held every evening. The course includes two days per week on which students enjoy excursions to Oxford, Cambridge and London. The Oxbridge trips are organised by students from those universities, and give unique insights into the history, admissions process and college life offered there.
Tony Binns is Principal of Our World English Schools who have provided summer courses based at Dulwich College for the past 29 years. Our World is a British Council accredited organisation, which attracts up to 1,000 young people aged 8 – 17 from over 50 countries each summer, with further centres at Caterham School and Wycombe Abbey. From 1988 to 2014 Tony was a member of the English Department at Dulwich College and, for the latter half of that period, Director of Marketing. In 2014 Tony took up the post of Deputy Head (External Relations) at Mill Hill School in North London.
https://www.ourworldenglish.com
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