Welcome to Quo Vadis Speech & Debate Club!

QV Mission Statement:  Provide an opportunity for students to develop skills in public speaking and debate so that they can communicate effectively in a manner that glorifies God.

QV Leader: Jenni Honegger (jennihonegger@gmail.com)

If you have any questions about QV, please feel free to email me and ask!

INFORMATIONAL MEETING:  Monday, June 5, 2023 at 7pm at Kossuth Street Baptist Church – Room 201, 2901 Kossuth St, Lafayette, IN 47904

Online registration link will be open and available after the informational meeting. Registation is open through August 14 and will close at the mandatory parent/teacher orientation meeting on that date.

Your oldest child must be at least 12 years old by 9/1/23 to join.

___________________________________________

PLEASE READ THIS WEB PAGE ALL THE WAY TO THE END BEFORE REGISTERING!

Reading this information will help you decide if QV is a good fit for your family. Scroll back up and click the “Register Here” button AFTER you’ve read the whole page.

______________________________________________________________________

We will meet on Mondays from 1:00-4:30pm at Kossuth Street Baptist Church from August 21 - December 11, 2023 (no class on Labor Day and November 27).

Cost is $30/family + $10/debate student payable at the mandatory parent/teacher orientation meeting on August 14. The $10 debate fee helps offset the extra expense of the practice tournament on December 9.

Students can participate in either speech or debate or both.

	1:00 - 2:30 pm		2:30-3:30pm	3:30-4:30pm
Age 4-8	Beginner Speech		Gym	Games
Age 9-11	Junior Speech		Gym	Games
Age 12+	Speech		Debate (or possibly Pre-debate)

Gym/games for ages 4-11 - offered as parents are willing and available to help supervise.

Pre-debate will be offered for 12-13 year olds intimidated by the prospect of debate only if we have an available instructor.

Children under age 4 stay with their parent. A nursery room with toys is available for moms with their young children.

 

MANDATORY Requirements:

· At least one parent must be present at Kossuth with their students during club. This is not a drop-off activity. Students do well when their parent comes to club and learns along with them. Do not sign up if you cannot commit to attending as a parent.

· Weekly work outside of club meetings is expected and students agree to do their best to complete it to the best of their ability. We do not write speeches or do debate research during class. Class time is used for practice and critiquing. If a student is not prepared, they will have nothing to contribute and it will be a waste of everyone’s time.

· Check your email faithfully. Email is the primary means of club communication.

· Parent/teacher orientation meeting Monday, August 14, 2023 at 7pm at Kossuth Street Baptist – Room 201. We will use this time to explain the club format and expectations so that everyone is on the same page when club meetings begin the following week.

· Round robin speech event Monday, December 4, 2023 at Kossuth Street Baptist. All speech students will need to memorize and present their speeches twice to parent judges and receive feedback. This will start at 11am instead of our usual 1pm start time and will include a break for a bring your own lunch.

· Practice tournament Saturday, December 9, 2023 at Kossuth Street Baptist. This is an all-day tournament running from 8am to 7pm which is organized and hosted by our club and includes other debate teams from around the Midwest. We require the participation of at least one parent (preferably both if possible) from each family on-site all day for this tournament.

 

Expectations & Philosophy:

· We are a Christian communicators’ club. All teaching will be with the goal of equipping effective communicators for the cause of Christ, not just producing polished speakers. All members agree to abide by a Commitment to Biblical Conflict Resolution. In addition, all teachers and coaches (including student mentors) must sign our Statement of Faith. For copies of these documents, please email the club leader. Copies of these statements will also be available at the informational meeting and the parent/teacher orientation meeting.

· This is a club for families who are serious about developing effective communicators. This is NOT just a speech class. While you can give high school speech credit after your child completes our club season, you will be frustrated if you come into the club expecting a speech class. While some instruction will take place, the majority of the time students will be speaking, doing activities, or watching other speeches. Debate will be more of a traditional classroom setting through about half of the semester. About halfway through, weekly class debates will begin.

· As a club, we are committed to traveling and competing as a team at an NCFCA (National Christian Forensics and Communications Association) tournament each year (dates TBD). NCFCA is a national Christian speech and debate league which offers several three-day tournaments each year for homeschooled students all over the Midwest, often with a special one-day add-on speech event for children younger than 12. These tournaments begin in January and run through June. Students must be members/affiliates of NCFCA to compete in these tournaments. Affiliation with NCFCA and registration for NCFCA tournaments have additional costs determined by the NCFCA and are separate from and in addition to the cost to join QV. Affiliation/membership in NCFCA and/or participation in NCFCA tournaments is not required for QV. However, as a club we encourage and support competition in NCFCA tournaments. Competition is not an end of itself, but it is a very effective tool to hone speaking and debate skills. There is nothing like being judged to encourage students to strive for excellence. Tournaments also are fun and students often make new friends at tournaments. Of course, whether a student competes at NCFCA tournaments must be for the parents to decide (other than our club’s tournament on December 9 which is required). We hope all QV families will join us for this fun and educational team event!

______________________________________________________________________

 

SPEECH OPTIONS

BEGINNER SPEECH

(Offered as instructors are available.)

Ages 4 – 8: Provides a fun way for younger students to become comfortable speaking using games, weekly show and-tell, and other fun activities.

 

JUNIOR SPEECH

(Offered as instructors are available.)

Ages 9 – 11 - Focuses on becoming comfortable with short speeches. Students are taught about the basics of a well written speech. Students will prepare and give 2 speeches over the course of the club meetings. These speeches are not long or complicated, but they will require parental help at home and effort in memorization. Each student will receive class materials written just for this age group and just for QV.

 

SPEECH

Ages 12+ - Focuses on different types of public speaking. We will meet as a large group and discuss that week’s focus skill and watch examples. Then we will divide up into smaller groups of mixed ages for practice and critique. Students are expected to prepare and give multiples speeches over the course of the club meetings. The majority of the prep for these speeches will be done at home. At the weekly club meetings, if a student does not have a prepared speech they are ready to present to the group, they will be required to give an impromptu speech. Parents should come prepared to judge and give constructive critiques each week. The goal is to get the students speaking and practicing and receiving feedback every single week.

 

HERE is a link to the NCFCA page where you can see examples of the different types of speeches we practice in QV.

______________________________________________________________________

 

DEBATE OPTIONS

PRE-DEBATE:

(Offered as instructors are available.)

· If your child is 12 or 13 and the idea of debate is overwhelming, then your child might benefit from joining this group. This fun group will stress learning logic and research skills and take part in light-hearted debates on subjects which students of this age will enjoy. This is a prep course for taking debate in the future and will do some joint activities with the older debaters to acquaint them with the world of competitive debate. The Pre-Debate group will use The Fallacy Detective by Hans Bluedorn. This book is required and can be purchased online for around $17.

· Short weekly research and prep is required.

 

TEAM POLICY DEBATE (TP):

· During a round of Team Policy Debate, a team of two debaters will advocate a resolution by proposing a specific plan to accomplish the goal stated in the resolution while another team of two debaters will oppose the topic. Public policy debate is about matters of public policy such as might be debated in a legislative setting or a community meeting. A winning debate team will clearly present a problem and provide a plan to solve this problem (or will clearly show that what their opponents presented isn't a significant problem or that their plan will not solve the problem). Everything in debate must be backed by reliable evidence. Definitions of terms are often important.

· For a few weeks at the beginning of the semester we will split up into two groups – novice debaters and more experienced debaters. During these weeks, the novice debaters will receive direct instruction in debate format and theory and will be helped to write a case so that they can begin debating in class very quickly. We have a goal of weekly debates being the standard and the students will learn by doing.

· Parents should come prepared to judge debates and give feedback.

· Often we will pair a novice with an experienced debater. Please don’t be hesitant to debate because you don’t know who your partner would be. People can pair up differently for different club debates and tournaments. There is a mandatory evidence-sharing ring for all policy debaters.

· Novice debaters should plan on spending 30 minutes a day to prepare for the weekly debates. More experienced debaters will probably spend up to 1 hour a day to research and prepare for debate.

· The current NCFCA Team Policy Debate Resolution (2023-2024): Resolved: The United States Federal Government should significantly reform its domestic transportation policy implemented by the Department of Transportation.

 

LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE (LD):

(Offered as requested and/or as instructors are available.)

· Lincoln-Douglas debate resolutions are constructed to create a clash of competing values rather than the adoption of a specific policy. This is an individual (not a team) event. Instead of presenting and solving a specific problem, as is done in policy debate, LD debate deals with valuing one concept over another concept. A winning participant may present evidence but will define their value, present its major premises, and give justification to convince the judge that their value should be given precedence over the opponent's value.

· LD debate is generally best for debaters who have had at least 2 years of team policy debate and/or for older students age 16 and up.

· The current NCFCA Lincoln Douglas Resolution (2023-2024): Resolved: Rationalism should be valued above empiricism.

· We recommend the following resource for LD: Lincoln-Douglas Debate by Seth Halvorson and Cherian Koshy at https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/Lincoln-Douglas-Debate-Textbook.pdf This is a document online that may be legally printed for educational use.

 

NCFCA provides samples cases for Team Policy and Lincoln Douglas Value Debate in documents called source books. These materials can be downloaded after affiliating (purchasing a membership) in NCFCA. These are highly useful for novice debaters and give experienced debaters ideas for cases.

______________________________________________________________________

 

***NEW in 2023/2024***

Tournament Prep Sessions

Some experienced QV families have expressed an interest in extending the regular QV season into the winter/spring in order to better prepare for NCFCA tournament competition. In an effort to meet this need, we plan to offer optional “Tournament Prep Sessions” beginning in January 2024 after our regular QV season ends. Tournament Prep Sessions will have a different format than our regular QV season. The focus will be on taking what we’ve learned at the practice tournament and building on it in a focused way to keep the momentum and motivation going into the NCFCA tournament season. Tournament Prep Sessions will be optional, and the format will depend on which families are interested in participating and what their individual needs and goals are.

 

More info will be announced to QV members in the fall.

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

 

Congratulations, you made it to the end! If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.

If you are ready to register, the registration link is at the top of this webpage. We would love to welcome your family to the QV team!

 

______________________________________________________________________