Grade 3rd to 5th : Public Speaking
Grade 5th to 8th : Speech and Debate
Speech / Public Speaking
PS-Informative
Informing your audience requires organization. In this course, students will learn to hone their skills by learning to “brainstorm” ideas, choosing a topic they like, and organizing their thoughts by writing them down on paper before making a presentation. In this part of public speaking, students will:
- Learn to organize ideas
- Learn how to educate their peers
- Create a clear and concise speech
- Learn to be expressive
- Be confident
- Be creative and have fun
Students will learn different ways to deliver their speech effectively, clearly, within an organized manner.
PS-Persuasive
Convincing, and influencing peers is an effective way in communicating a position or a standpoint. It is important to convince people by learning the difference between facts and opinions. In this course, they will learn about the importance of “logos” and research. In this part of public speaking, they will also learn:
- Facts and Opinions.
- Effective researching.
- To organize a persuasive speech
- Use visuals
- Become aware of different propositions
Students in this course will learn how to collaborate and think critically about differing beliefs and values of people.
PS-Impromptu
Impromptu speeches are simply a range of short speeches combined to make longer presentations we use to communicate with people. These are called “Off the Cuff” speeches. In this course, students will learn how to craft a well-organized speech while being timed. These are important life skills used to create small talks in order to establish relationships. In this part of public speaking, students will learn:
- To generate ideas quickly.
- Conclude a speech in a timely manner.
- Present a speech with little, or no preparation
- Be engaging.
- Be creative.
- Use key words as prompt.
Learning impromptu speeches are great ways to learn how to use small talks that eventually evolve into long conversations.
Debate
Public Forum (Beginner)
This debating event are for beginners who want to compete and gain experience. The participants must understand basic structure, allotted times, and proper organization for their constructive speeches, crossfires, refutations, etc. They must also practice being polite, and respect other students in the tournament. This is a two-on-two event where participants have both their cases ready-made and debate the resolution already given.
Speech and Debate – Advanced
Creative Speech and Public Forum Debate
This event are for the experienced debaters who want to improve their skill sets and excel in debating. The participants should have ready-made cases and are well rounded with the structure of public forum debate. Students are expected to present their cases in a stellar manner and must abide by the same rules as the novice event, or perform better. The advanced class will be focused more on skill building for the students who have already learned the basics of the debate event. , Classes will be focused on how to take the skills students learned to a higher level of debate. These will include skills such as learning to:
- weigh arguments and impact them
- advanced research (META studies)
- crossfire skills
- higher level flowing
- extending arguments throughout speeches
- developing a confident and fluent tone
Students will be participating in speech events also in this class.
Our instructors are mix of adult instructors and high school interns. They divide their roles between teaching , discipline , editing speeches , observing the speeches and giving feed backs.
Check Achievements Photo Gallery
Awards & Achievements
Burnett Speech Tournament- May/2018
Zain Aslam Ranked 2nd along with a Director’s Award
Yasmin Hussain Ranked 7th for expository speech.
Bay Area Debate -Oct/2017
Ranking 5th overall Shreeya Kar and Steven Luo
Original Oratorical Speaker Ranking 2nd Tina Jojan
Burnett Speech and Debate Tournament – May/2017
Our undefeated Champions on Debate
** Pranav Palleti,Sanjit Shirol( 4-0)
Director’s award winners
** Varun Vemullapali,Kaaya Sharma
Burnett Speech and Debate Tournament – May/2016
Our undefeated Champions on Debate
** Aahana Chowdhuri, Shreeya Kar( 4-0)
Second places (3-1 , 3 Winnings and 1 Loss):
** Nandini Bangalore & Nikita Arun
** Ambar Kumar & Ashir Raza
** Ananth Sherwal & Siddharth Anantharaman
** Nazhah Mir & Indu Abhilash
Out of 97 competitors in Persuasive Speech
** Amy Stanley (8th) and Meghna (5th)
Speech and Debate Winners Harker Invitational – Dec/2015
** Meghna won 5th position out of 26 participants !!
** Shreyaa won 3rd position in Story telling !!
** Nandini and Nikita came into double octo-finalists out of 88 teams !!
Speech and Debate Winners Burnett Middle school Tournament- May/2015
Our undefeated Champions on Debate
** Anika Iyengar and Aarushi Mohan.
** Directors Award : Nikita Cardoza.
** Semifinalist Speech : Radhir Chenna.
Speech Winners Burnett Middle school Tournament- May/2014
Gurukulam Speech Team dominated at the May 17th Burnett Middle School Tournament. We got five awards out of 12 participants.
** Niyathi Sreekumar -2nd Place ,
** Sahana Noru – 3rd place,
** Riya Mogli 5th place on Autobiographical Narrative.
** Abhiram Wadekar – 6th place on Persuasive Speaking.
** Riya Mogli Directors Award for overall performance.
Grace Nguyen currently attends San Jose State University. During her high school years, Grace completed many Advanced Placement courses, among them being AP English Language. Furthermore, in Next Door Solution’s P.O.W.E.R (Proud of Wanting Equal Relations) Program, Grace and eleven other students worked to organize discussions about social issues through both in-school club activities, and extracurriculars. Grace was also an active member of the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and Junior States of America (JSA). Through these experiences, she learned of her enthusiasm for community service, as well as speech and debate. This drove her to join her high school’s Mock Trial team, and the Santa Clara County Peer Court, a program where teen jurors deliberate over interventions that would result in restorative justice for youth. Now at San Jose State University, she continues with Speech and Debate, and is excited to mentor students at Gurukulam. Literature is a major passion for her, and she wants to share that interest with the youth. Grace always tries to find enjoyable and relatable ways to build lasting, and stable skills within students. Be it catering to each individual’s needs, or connecting topics in class to subjects that can connect to their lives, Grace always aims to listen to her students and proceed accordingly.
Ms.S received her Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from UC Davis and has been doing planetary science research at Caltech/NASA-JPL for the past year. She is extremely passionate about studying and exploring space and is beyond excited to be joining the University of Southern California’s MS program in astronautical engineering this fall. While in high school at EVHS, Ms. S competed in both LD and parliamentary debate and also served as the team’s LD captain for two years. She then went on to be the debate captain for Debate at Davis and also coached a local high school team while pursuing her undergraduate degree. She is also very passionate about making the STEM fields more diverse and inclusive. She helped lead the UC Davis section of the Society of Women Engineers and worked to better the representation of women in engineering. She plans to continue doing outreach events to help women find a supportive and uplifting community in STEM.
