HYmaster - English Debating Club

I never thought I would go to a Debating Club but here I am in Korea and just became a member of the HYmaster - English Debating Club of Hanyang University.
Two girls from my Qualitative Research Class asked me to go there with them and I thought I should just give it a try. There's nothing to loose, right?
The English Debating Club meets every Wednesday from 18:30 to 20:30.
First the president of the Debating Club introduces the topic of the week and gives a very short outline of the question or topic. Then the students are divived into small groups (we were all in all around 15 people, so we made two groups with 6 and 7 participants each). In those small groups some small group questions are discussed. These questions are mainly about personal experiences and opinions. I really liked this phase of the meeting because I learned a lot about Korean culture and mindset. Afterwards there is a big group debate, where the pro-side and con-side discuss with each other. During this phase the president acts as a moderator.
Today's topic was "Does competition in education contribute to the improvement of the society?".

I have to admit that I actually had a lot of fun during the English Debating Club and everyone spoke English surprisingly well, so it was no problem to have a debate in English with them. It was a nice and welcome change from everyday university life as well. The people there were also really friendly and nice so I was quite happy that I went there today and I will try to go again next week!