Debating Competition

If you are interested in the debating competition, please apply with a team of four students from Year 12 (England & Wales) or Year 13 (Northern Ireland) or S5 (Scotland), all at least in their 4th year of learning German. 

Schools that would like to take part but do not have enough pupils learning German to form a team of 4 can team up with another school and apply together as a team.

Please note that students with a native German speaking background or who have resided in a German speaking country for more than one year are not eligible to participate in the competition due to matters of fairness.

Students in their last year of school are not eligible to participate in the competition. In exceptional cases however, students from Year 11 (England & Wales), Year 12 (Northern Ireland) or S4 (Scotland) may participate if necessary to make up a team of four students.

The motion is sent via email to the German teacher 2 weeks before a debate including the following:

• Motion / thesis
• Position (For/Against)
• Contact address of partner school

A time limit of 2 minutes is allotted for every student's speech. Following this, teams, the jury, and the audience have the opportunity to ask questions, which will be answered collaboratively by the team. Teams are permitted to engage in a brief discussion before providing their responses.

In order to prepare the students for the competition and to ensure that they can express themselves at the appropriate language level, the Goethe-Institut provides teachers and students with useful resources.