Dear all,
First of all, let me wish you all a happy, healthy, and wealthy 2023!
Before we have a look at the question we have recently received, I would like to comment briefly on the BEO Portal and remind you of the upcoming webinars.
The BEO Portal is now live, and all registered school were sent their unique log in detail before the end of the year. If you have not yet logged in, and familiarised yourselves with the Portal, please do so as soon as possible. If you have any issues logging in, please email me immediately. Please note, that the BEO Portal is for the BEO programme only.
Secondly, I would like to remind you of the upcoming webinars:
26th January – BEO Webinar 3 – The Debate
26th January – WEE Webinar
22nd February – The Masters Webinar
23rd February – BEO Webinar 4 – Semi-finals, Grand Finals, and non-competition events + Q&A
The link to the webinar will be emailed a closer to the event.
PRESENTATION EVENTS
Question: My students have been researching the migration crisis our assigned country is facing due to the War between Russia and Ukraine. There are over 300 thousand Ukrainian refugees currently living in the country and the number keeps growing. There is a particular civil association dedicated to migration matters that are working to improve the life of refugees and their integration to society. Does this social crisis meet the event brief or is it mandatory for it to involve an environmental issue?
Answer:
The brief asks your Ss to cover main three points (as per page 16 of the written guidelines):
- Country profile with RELEVANT info
- Current crisis or crises
- Leadership which promotes SUSTAINABLE way of life
If you choose to focus on the migrant crises, then you need make sure that you can link it well to the sustainable leadership. I would emphasize that this applies for all of you when looking how to prioritise information. The middle point above should ideally link well with the other two.
DEBATE
Question: We have doubts regarding the participation for the Debate competition and the Grand Final. The Guidelines say that for the Qualifying Round, there must be: 2 Speakers, as well as 1 to 2 Advisors.
Then the Grand Finals says 2 Speakers, as well as “same as qualifying round”
The doubts are these: do the participating students in the Grand Finals need to be the same participants from the Qualifying Round; or does the number of students that would participate in the Grand Final need to be the same was the number of students that participated in the Qualifying Round?
Answer:
The number needs to be the same; that is if you had one advisor in the QR you cannot have two in the GF. However, I personally would encourage the teams to keep the same participants. I believe we have never had different debaters (speaker or advisors; unless for medical emergencies) in the GF and I do think that new debaters would be someone disadvantaged if all the other teams put forward participants who have gone through the debate already once in the QR.
Question:
Additionally, the Grand Final brief mentions assigning new roles, but does not mention the stance in the debate. Would the stance change, or just the role? (e.g., QR: Teens, in favour… GF: Parents, against)
Answer:
This could go either way. Typically, there are six roles, three in favour and three against. The team may be assigned a new role bit the same stance as in QR, but they could also be assigned a role which is of a different stance as well.
Once again, if the BEO Debate format puzzles you and if you have more question like the one above, please do make time and come to our BEO Webinar next week which is going to be devoted to the BEO Debate event.
Hope to see you all there.
CREATIVE EVENTS
Question:
During the Drama competition are we going to have control over the lighting? We have the intention of turning off the lights at some point during the play.
Answer:
This is something I cannot guarantee. Some of the hosting schools have very expensive theatre set up and it is entirely possible that hey will not allow us to use all the tech equipment. I would certainly say they any kind of dimming and spotlighting will not be possible. However, if it just a matter of making the whole room dark(er) for a couple of seconds, it might be possible. If that is the case, it will certainly need to be operated by one of OIEG /BEO staff, so you need to think ahead of time if one of your students would be indicating to the member of staff what to do and when. Please keep in mind that you cannot assist with this.