Imagine that you’re giving an interview for a job you really want, you’d have questions thrown at you from left and right. What would you do if you didn’t know how to answer and you were afraid? Are you a student who loses their self confidence when they speak up and have something to say to a large crowd? Then, Speech and Debate class at DHS is for you! Speech and Debate, taught by Ms. Vallejo, is a class that helps students to build up self confidence and enter the real world.
“You get to give speeches, watch speeches, and analyze speeches,” Ms. Vallejo says.
Speech and Debate can transform a student from a scared and anxious speaker to a self confident and well speaking orator by the end of the year.There are a lot of students who are able to speak up and those who are afraid to. Speech and Debate helps build up confidence when making speeches in the class and debate on a wide range of topics. In order to see mistakes, Ms. Vallejo films students during the speeches and debates.
“If you watch yourself, you can change what you need to work on,” Ms. Vallejo mentions.
That makes total sense, because by looking at oneself, a student can make changes how they are speaking or how to stop moving or fidgeting with things like hair or objects close by. Students get to do a range of fun speeches in class.
“We do informal speeches, demonstration speeches, informational speeches, cultural literacies, persuasive speeches, personal speeches, and even a poetry slam.” Vallejo says.
That’s a lot of speeches to do in one class semester! Then from second semester it’s all debating. Students who are affected by speech and debate can be ready for their future job interview. One student, Brayden Benzien, took the class to become a self confident student.
“During research time, given a topic and you need resources to find our points for our arguments,” Benzien says. “It builds researching skills to look for answers.”
Students do their own research and find out main points for their speeches they give to the class. If you are trying to build up your self confidence and trying to get ready for the real world, you need to know facts and know things on the top of your head.
“This class is an academic elective and real life application to present yourselves,” Ms. Vallejo mentions. “I’d like to see it expand on campus, and someday become like other classes evolving [from] regular to advanced.”