DS15 signed up for Speech/Debate at school next year...

[Ginevra]

I confess I am nervous for him.  :leaving:  He is currently in 9th grade and at a private school. He is doing acceptably well in English (making a B average), but those good grades belie how hard it has been for him to learn to write comprehensively. I "warned" him that Debate is not just getting up and babbling about your POV; that he will be required to WRITE out the speeches to fit into a particular form; persuasive speeches, informative speeches, etc. He is not worried at all...but I am. 

 

Is there anything I could work on with him over the summer, or else later in an after schooling capacity when he begins the class? Or should I just let the chips fall where they may when the class begins? 

[JeanM]

Do you know whether he is planning to do speech or debate? My older ds has done debate for two years now. He's struggled a bit, but he's still planning to do it again next year. For debate at least, we had absolutely no clue as to what it was/how it worked. It helped ds a lot to watch some youtube debates, just to get an idea of how it works. If your ds is interested in debate, I can find some more resources for him. In our state, there are two kinds of debate, public forum and Lincoln-Douglas. They are significantly different and would require different types of prep.

 

And I might add that you might get more responses on the high school board.

[Tree Frog]

My dd did extemporaneous debate for 4 years, which required very little writing, but a lot of remembering, and a couple of tries at PF. I agree with JeanM to check out the youtube videos; there are many different types of debate. Speech is a whole different ballgame, one I don't know much about.  

[Guest]

Thanks! I will look at them. It is both speech and debate in one class. They learn skills for writing and creating a speech and then also learn argumentation.

 

And yeah...high school board would have been the better spot.

[Kiara.I]

I think I'd just let the chips fall where they may.

The debate I did in high school did NOT require pre-writing speeches--after all, you had to be able to answer your opponent's points!  So if you were the first speaker, yes, it helped to have your points written out . But anything after that required rebuttals, and you can't pre-write those, you jot them down during your opponent's speech and hope you can speak lucidly when you stand up.

 

For things like speech, since it's a class I'm assuming they'll be walked through the process of it?

 

 

I guess if there's anything you might want to work on (besides writing work that you've already been doing with him?) it might be something like Toastmasters.  Here's a topic; speechify.  5 minutes.  Go.

[JeanM]

Thanks! I will look at them. It is both speech and debate in one class. They learn skills for writing and creating a speech and then also learn argumentation.

 

And yeah...high school board would have been the better spot.

 

Ah, somehow I missed that this was a speech and debate *class*, not a competitive team. In that case, I really wouldn't stress about it over the summer. Or if your ds knows the teacher, he could ask if there is anything he can do to prepare.