Presentation Techniques for ESL Speakers IDEBATE Season 2 Traning Session Recap

Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam
Tuesday, March 21, 2023

On March 18, 2023, at 9:00 AM (UTC +7, Van Lang University’s International Education Institute (Vietnam) held the second of four training sessions for this season of IDEBATE). The organizers of IDEBATE ss2 have prepared for the candidates 4 workshops with various topics designed to improve their knowledge and skills required for this year’s championship. Speakers from various professional backgrounds are invited to host the workshops, which provide their central theme: Sustainable Development Goals.
The first training session will cover a guideline for teaching applicants about presentation techniques. IDEBATE designed this class to give them the fundamental debater skills they need, enabling them to improve and nail their performance throughout the competition steadily.
The workshop was hosted online via Zoom by Mr. Nicholas Collier from the University of Newcastle, Australia. IDEBATE is honored to invite him to be the speaker for this session on his experience in teaching students
Mr. Nicholas Collier
Nicholas is a Learning Advisor at the University of Newcastle, where he works with students on their academic language, writing and speaking skills during their studies. Before arriving in Newcastle in 2009, he taught English in Japan and Saudi Arabia, where he met every imaginable sort of student and covered every imaginable sort of material. If one job involved teaching medical vocabulary to hospital staff in the middle of the desert, another might involve teaching colours to kindergarten students in the middle of a high-rise city. Another might involve teaching modern literature to retirees, Japanese grammar to adult learners, or everything in between


Born and raised in Australia, he has travelled widely in Asia, and speaks several languages (he tried learning Vietnamese three years ago, but wasn’t very good at it). Qualified in education, philosophy, linguistics, English literature and Indonesian history, he also writes and illustrates, and is known among his colleagues for travelling ridiculously long distances on foot. Before being asked to participate in Van Lang University’s debating tournament, he worked on presentation, public speaking and debating with students from many backgrounds
Presentation Techniques for ESL speakers workshop
In this training session, candidates were taught what real debate was and how to deliver their speeches. Mr. Nicholas Collier has created this highly interactive learning atmosphere by constantly asking students questions for their opinions while letting them answer without raising their hands. His slides for the workshop had little words in them but mostly fun animations that he had prepared himself.

He gave his explanation of what a proper debate was, because sometimes, candidates may forget what the main purpose of debating was and make their discussion get heated or go in the wrong direction. He taught candidates to keep in mind that debating is a rather “healthy” discussion between people and that people who are involved, and share their opinions with proper argument and a friendly approach.

In conclusion, the workshop was a success thanks to the participants’ active engagement with Mr. Nicholas Collier and the open sharing of their responses to his questions. IDEBATE and the co-organizer, The University of Newcastle in Australia, we’re happy to give our candidates the knowledge necessary to develop their debating abilities and help them become better debaters for IDEBATE season 2 performances.

Don’t Forget that IDEBATE still has 2 more training workshops during the championship. If you love to share your thoughts about opinions on global matters and join exciting activities, don’t hesitate to join the International Debate Championship IDEBATE season 2 to gain experience and win big prizes.
Check out our website and fan page to learn more about IDEBATE!
For further information, please contact:
- Website: https://idebate.vlu.edu.vn
- Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/IdebateVLU
- Email: idebate@vlu.edu.vn
- Whatsapp: +84 931 757 104 or https://chat.whatsapp.com/LWkAoowCtlzJ0udczrkVpg
Author: IEI
Photos taken by: Van Lang University’s International Institute