Stanford National Forensic Institute

Speech & debate is a very powerful activity which teaches students many skills which are in high demand in the contemporary world: public speaking, research skills, writing and logical thinking!  Students in this session will learn the bedrock theories and methods necessary to enter the world of competitive speech & debate.  There will also be a brief introduction to the major standardized formats of competitive debate which are offered at high schools around the nation.

The goal of this session is to cover some of the foundational basics which normally require a sizeable portion of time for beginning students during one of our 2-Week Core sessions.  While these are critical skills to learn, the time that's necessary to learn these skills restricts the amount of progress that beginning students can make in our other programs.  After completing this session a student will be prepared to enter any of our subsequent debate sessions at a level beyond novice/beginner and will be prepared to make a more informed choice about which type of debate would be the best fit for their academic and competitive interests.  

This program represents a great opportunity for students to try debate and to learn the necessary skills without committing to a particular type or format for multiple weeks.  Students in the 1-Week Introduction to Argument & Debate are prepared to continue onto the 2-Week Core Public Forum Program, the 2-Week Core Lincoln Douglas Program, or the 2-Week Core Congressional Debate Program immediately after the conclusion of the session.

For students interested in competitive speech events rather than debate events, please see the information on our 1-Week Introduction to Competitive Speech program.

We also offer several longer Beginners’/Intro Flex Packages which allow students to continue into the specific debate format of their choice immediately after completing the survey component of the 1-Week Introduction to Argumentation & Debate session:

• The 2-Week Beginners' Flex Package combines the 1-Week Introduction to Argumentation & Debate session with the student's choice of our 1-Week Public Forum Workout, 1-Week Lincoln-Douglas Workout, or 1-Week Congressional Debate Workout programs.  Students enrolled in the 2-Week Beginners' Flex Package will learn the basics of debate and will be able to choose which type of debate they would like to work on after the survey component of the first week.

• The 2-Week Beginners' Parliamentary Program combines the 1-Week Introduction to Argumentation & Debate session with the 1-Week Parliamentary Debate Program.  Students enrolled in the 2-Week Beginners' Flex Package will learn the basics of debate in first week, and then will be able to join the 1-Week Parliamentary program one level up from the "beginner" group a starting student would otherwise be placed in.

• The 3-Week Beginners' Core Flex Package combines the 1-Week Introduction to Argumentation & Debate session with the student's choice of our 2-Week Core Public Forum, 2-Week Core Lincoln-Douglas, or 2-Week Core Congressional Debate programs.  Students enrolled in the 3-Week Beginners' Core Flex Package will learn the basics of debate and will be able to choose which type of debate they would like to work on after the survey component of the first week.

• The  4-Week Beginners' Flex Package Experience combines the 1-Week Introduction to Argumentation & Debate session with the student's choice of our 3-Week Public Forum Experience or 3-Week Lincoln-Douglas Experience programs.  Students enrolled in the 4-Week Beginners' Flex Package Experience will learn the basics of debate and will be able to choose which type of debate they would like to work on after the survey component in the first week.

 

For students interested in competitive speech events rather than debate events, please see the information on our 1-Week Introduction to Competitive Speech program.

---

---

---