本日、ESSの１年生生徒５名が熊本県高校生英語ディベート講習会にオンラインで参加しました。５名とも英語のディベートは初めてとのこと、英語ディベートの流れを知るところから始まり、Constructive speech（肯定側・否定側立論）の構成やattack（反論）のポイントを学んだり、実際にスピーチを考えたりと、盛りだくさんの３時間でした。

　本日のディベートの論題は１０月に県で行われるディベート大会と同じ”That the Japanese government should legalize gestational surrogacy.”（日本政府は、代理出産を合法化すべきである）。なかなか難しい論題です。特に、Nagative（否定側）はAffermative（肯定側）の「子どもが欲しくても持てない人にとって必要な制度だ」「合法化すれば、国内で、現在より低コストでの代理出産が可能になる」という意見に論理的に反論することは難しく感じたようです。双方が原稿を考えるなかで、根拠になるような記事や資料を読み、英語学習だけでなく、代理出産そのものについての考えを深める機会ともなりました。

　Today five ESS students participated in the Prefectural English Debate online lecture.  There were 14 schools participating, and they started from the very beginning - studying about the flow, writing effective constructive speech, and learning how to attack the opponent.  It was a difficult, but productive three hours. 

    The topic given today was that “the Japanese government should legalize gestational surrogacy.”  It is the same topic for the Prefectural Debate Contest in October.  It is such a difficult theme and especially the negative side had difficulty attacking.  While the affirmative side insisted, “it would enable people in need to have babies at a lower cost,” the negative side tried to say, “even if they could have gestational surrogacy in Japan, it still costs a lot because the medical cost in Japan is high.”  Still, they felt it’s difficult to prove that.  

     Through their first English debate, students learned not only about debate techniques but also about the situation and problems of gestational surrogacy.  Debate is never easy, but we’re sure this experience will be useful in the near future.