First-Year Students in Professional Field of Political Sciences Demonstrated Their Debating Skills

First-year students studying specialities Political Science, International Relations as well as European Politics and Economics participated in a training simulation of political debates. They demonstrated the skills for participation in collective rhetorical forms obtained during the course on Political Rhetoric and Public Behaviour.

The simulation was held on the initiative of the lecturers leading the course - Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elena Simeonova and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Blaga Blagoeva and it is an expression of their aspiration to diversify the learning process and bring it closer to practice. In this way they further develop the theoretical knowledge providing students with the opportunity to demonstrate lively what they have learned which includes verbal and non-verbal communication, public protocol, clothing, etc.

All participants in the political debates with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elena Simeonova and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Blaga Blagoeva

The participants were organized into two teams each of them focused on a different topic. The Young Politicians team debated on the topic Educational Institutions and Politics while the Time for Change team presented their arguments about For or Against Voting by Everyone? as well as about the Universal or Limited Suffrage?. Within each team the participants were divided into two groups defending the polar positions "for" and "against".

Young Politicians team - advocates of the affirmative case on the Educational Institutions and Politics: Victoria Zhekova, Samuil Ivanov, Yordan Petrov, Vyara Miroslavova, Sara Zaouny, Emilia Stefanova and Petya Georgieva /in the picture below/.

Young Politicians teams - advocates of the affirmative case on the Educational Institutions and Politics: Boryana Mihaylova, Konstantina Simeonova, Alexander Sotirov, Alexander Mladenov, Cedric Shmarov, Georgi Nikolov and Ioan Ivanov /in the picture below/.

Time for Change team which presented the topic For or Against Voting by Everyone? with the sub-topic Universal or Limited Suffrage?: Stefany Todorova, Plamena Naydenova, Stoyanka Rumenova, Daria Shvets, Ivangelina Valkova, Martin Lyubenov, Alex Kashani, Donna Fitneva, Emilia Dimitrova, Iliana Dritsas, Nelina Petrova, Ioana Toshkina and Alina Minkova /in the picture below/.

According to the rules each team had 1 hour to present an affirmative and a negative case on the topic as well as to reciprocally "play" the arguments on each case.

Part of the learning assignment was the self-organization by the students which included drafting a scenario and rules for the simulation, producing accompanying information materials and managing the event. Victoria Zhekova, Petya Georgieva, Emilia Stefanova and Vyara Miroslavova successfully coped with this task. They prepared the script, the programme and the poster with the announcement.

The debates were held under the leadership of the moderators Elina Stefanova and Ivan Nankov. They introduced the audience to the issues of the discussion topics, "passed the baton" between the advocates of the different theses, strictly observed the rules of procedure and professionally "played" some attempts of provocation from the audience.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elena Simeonova and the presenters: Elina Stefanova, Ivan Nankov and Assoc. Prof. Blaga Blagoeva

"Congratulations to you for your enthusiasm, for the effort and creative approach that you have shown in the preparation of today's debate", welcomed the participants at the opening of the simulation Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elena Simeonova. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Blaga Blagoeva, in her turn, greeted the students and expressed her happiness to see them "prepared, in high spirits, with the appropriate behavior for a debate, including appropriate clothing."

"Such events crown the meaning of our work. We are trying to teach you something but whether you learn it is up to you. But today you are going to demonstrate what we have taught you for a semester over the course on Political Rhetoric and Public Behavior, you are going to show the skills you have learned in verbal and non-verbal communication, you are going to defend your own positions with emotion but at the same time in a controlled way because the point of public presentation is to defend our positions with arguments but also to be able to control our behavior, to stand up to the principles we teach you", said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Blaga Blagoeva.

After the debate the lecturers leading the course said they were very pleased with the students' performance because they had demonstrated "responsibility, profound knowledge on the topics discussed, diligence in finding convincing evidence for the theses advocated". According to them "the greatest achievement of all the participants in the debate was that they were defending their theses actively, reasonably and with tolerance to the other participants“.

In conclusion, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Blaga Blagoeva invited participants and guests on May 15, 2023 at 9.00 a.m. in the Small Conference Hall where the results of the studies on political culture conducted by the 4^th year students of speciality Political Science will be presented.