How many of you spent at least an evening this summer arguing over what movie to watch, about what food to order for dinner or at what time you have to be home by? And did you win or lose the argument? Well, we can offer to teach you techniques on how to convince your friends, siblings or parents to follow YOUR decision. The art of persuading others to adopt your ideas boils down to debating. Debating has been shown to improve students' teamwork, as well as increasing their self-confidence. Newton's Debate Club, under careful guidance of Mrs Petrozzi, has been gaining in popularity and success since its humble beginnings 3 years ago.

Join us at our Newton Debating Club. This year, 2006 the Debate Club has grown in popularity. The beginners club (which now has a total number of 12 members) meet every Wednesday afternoon with Mr. Goodman and discuss the burning issues of the day, such as the use of laptops in the classroom and whether video games can stifle our intelligence. The intermediate debaters meet on Thursday afternoons with Mrs. Petrozzi and prepare for both the PDA and BSP Debates.

The PDA now runs debates for beginner, intermediate and advanced teams both in English and in Spanish. In the last PDA debate here at Newton on the 27th April, Newton presented 5 teams in total, two beginners, two intermediate and one intermediate in Spanish. The PDA has its very own web site (www.peruviandebateassociation.org) where you can read about the latest events and see how many points the speakers are scoring. Lorena Talavera and Gonzalo Cortez were the two top speakers in the beginners category last year, both with 58 points and this year they have moved up to the intermediate level.

BSP have been organising debates in the British parliamentary style amongst their Forms II -V for close to a decade. Come and learn how to convince the audience of motions such as "Rap music should be censored". If you accompany our team to our interscholastic meets, your vote will make a difference as to which side wins. The first Debate of 2006 was held at Peruano Britanico on Tuesday, April 4th and involved Form V students. The next debate involving Form IV students will be here at Newton on June 1st

Newton Debating Club prepares its members in the World Schools Debating style. A properly trained jury judges the winners of the debate as opposed to the public vote in the BSP debates. The ultimate reward will be to join the National team and represent Peru in the World's Schools Debating Championships in Wales in July 2006 (see www.schoolsdebate.com). In order to achieve this goal the Newton Debating Club will continue its close ties with the Peruvian Debate Association. We can also learn from our very own Newton world debater, Lorena Alarco, who participated in the 2005 World Championships in Canada.

If you're eager to win the next argument over what movie to rent, what pizza to order or what time to get home by, don't hesitate to have a word with Mr. Goodman or Mrs. Petrozzi from the English department.