Over the course of five weeks students will learn the basics of debate by teaching them how to become better at public speaking, critical thinking, logical reasoning, and argumentation. By the end of the course they will be better at forming arguments, taking notes, listening to others, and effectively advocating their beliefs through speech. Each class includes both a short lecture followed by an activity to help students learn the skill being taught during the lecture portion of class so that way students learn by participating. Students excited about learning to debate will excel in this course, and students who are curious but shy will be encouraged to come out of their shells. Each week will give students the opportunity to receive feedback and improve upon their performance, culminating in a mini-tournament in the final week.

This course is the ideal starting course for students who are interested in debate but have very minimal to no prior debate experience. Each week is designed to get students excited about debate and public speaking with encouraging and constructive feedback. A breakdown of the course is as follows...

Day One: Introduction to Debate and Mini-Debates.
Day Two: Learning how to Impact and Weigh Arguments
Day Three: Audience Adaptation and Persuasive Speaking Skills
Day Four: Asking and Answering Questions to Win
Day Five: Mini-Tournament

Students interested in a more in depth debate experience should enroll in our 10 week introductory course. After completing this course, we recommend our five week intermediate course before enrolling in any of our advanced courses. Please note that in all our classes we deliberately create a diversity of instructors for feedback so that way students can learn how to adapt to different audiences and judges. We also create continuity in our instructor base so that way we can also provide feedback concerning ongoing improvement. We maintain at least a 1:6 ratio for students. Our larger sessions utilize multiple instructors and breakout rooms to match students based upon comparable skill and age. If there is a specific instructor you would like to work with please reach out after registering and we will do our best to accommodate.