Dear Parents, 

The day started at the Concordia School in Shanghai early in the morning. The students practiced a debate against each other first thing once they got there, watched a lecture by a famous author, then immediately entered the knowledge quiz, which was a 90 minute multiple-choice exam testing them on the information they have been studying over the past few months to prepare for the tournament.  

After lunch, the students entered the most intense part of the competition - which was the debates.  The students, in a 3-on-3 forum, debated against schools from other Asian countries.  Each team entered two debates.  Although they only won 1 of the 4 debates they entered (remember they are among the youngest and most inexperienced in the senior division), more importantly they left the debates in great spirits and feeling proud of their accomplishments.  

After dinner and a social hour, where I found them walking around the dining hall talking with new friends from around the world, they watched the debate showcase in a theatre with all the participants.  The showcase was a live debate with the best debaters from the tournament, which was very interesting to watch and certainly taught them some new lessons about how to debate and improve in the future.  Lavy got up in front of the audience and made the entire audience laugh (several times).  

Tomorrow, the entire group will be heading downtown to a Shanghai theatre to conclude the tournament.  There, they will take part in a knowledge-bowl, where they will each have a remote control and answer questions against other teams, followed by a closing ceremony.  

Please remember that we land in Tel-Aviv on Thursday, 24 June, at 3:30am.  If all goes well we will arrive in Haifa at around 6 in the morning.