Qatar Debating (Reading: 3A/3B)
Vocabulary: You will need the following vocabulary to understand the reading.
host (noun): to hold e.g. Qatar will be the host of the debating competition.
to be composed of: made up of e.g. The team is composed of 5 Qatari students.
expand (verb): to get bigger/grow e.g. to expand your knowledge of Qatar.
motivated (adjective): to feel a desire to do something e.g. The team are motivated to work hard.
inspire (verb) : To give a desire to do semething. e.g. the teacher inspired the students to work hard.
achievement (noun) : to do something/complete something difficult. e.g. To be in the top teams is a great achievement.
Reading Text:
Qatar Debating Team Ready for World Championship
DOHA: One week before the start of the 2010 World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) to be hosted by Qatar, the country’s debating team is ready. Ready for the competition, and ready to show off the beauty of Qatari culture and tradition.
The national team is composed of Mohammed Hubrack, Dana Al Ansari, Sara Al Shamlan, Chantelle D’Mello and Arwa Al Sanosi. The team members, who come from different schools in Qatar, were smiling as they answered questions from the media yesterday.
It is the first time that the competition has been hosted in an Arabic country. It is also the first time it has been hosted in a non-English speaking country.
One member of the team, Al Shamlan, said that he was very excited that he could show the beauty and culture of Qatar to the other teams.
Jessica Prince, team coach, said the group has shown a lot of improvement since June last year.
“This team knows a lot about different areas and show a lot of talent and enthusiasm. This gives them a great chance of winning the competition,” he said.
The team's young members have a lot of experience after going abroad to compete in competitions held in Slovenia, the Philippines and Oman.
They have also been training six hours a day on different topics - but they didn't believe in all the topics!
“The good thing about debate is that you get to defend some things you don’t believe in.That means that you expand your knowledge of the world we live in,” said Al Ansari.
As Qatar is the host country, the team is motivated to perform well in the debates.
“Qatar Debate is still young compared to other countries. These other countries have been debating for twenty or one hundred years. Just being in the top teams is a great achievement for us, and inspires others to take part in debate,” said D’Mello.
(Adapted from an article in The Peninsula)
Quick Reading
Answer the questions as quickly as you can.
Complete the following sentences with by, on, to or of.
Verb Forms
The following are verb patterns used in the article. Choose the correct form in each example.