ISDS Young Learners’ Academy

ISDS Young Learners' Academy

The Young Learners’ Academy is designed as a comprehensive programme for students (in grades 7/8) who are yet to enter the world of public speaking and debate. It consists of 5 Modules delivered over 4 weeks with each week including live online sessions and take home assignments.


Introducing the ISDS Young Learners’ Academy

The Young Learners’ Academy is designed as a comprehensive programme for students in grades 7-8 who are yet to enter the world of public speaking and debate. It combines and elevates our content from the ISDS Budding Speaker Launchpad and the ISDS Junior Academies with a debate competition at the end to provide a holistic overview of engagement with debate.


What do students learn?

The Young Learners’ Academy consists of 5 Modules delivered over 4 weeks. Each week includes live online sessions and take home assignments. We expect that students will spend 8-10 hours each week on course-related activities.

  • Week 1: Developing speaking skills and confidence
  • Week 2: Introduction to the WSDC format
  • Week 3: Argumentation
  • Week 4: Responses
  • Week 5: Evaluation

The detailed articulation of the structure and contents of the course can be found here


Session Details

Session Title Date & Time
1/ Essential Principles of Public Speaking Nov 4 ’24 (Mon)
6:00-8:00 pm IST
2/ Crafting Impactful Speeches Nov 6 ’24 (Wed)
6:00-8:00 pm IST
3/ Delivering Impactful Speeches Nov 8 ’24 (Fri)
6:00-8:00 pm IST
4/ Practice Makes Perfect – Speech Delivery and Feedback Nov 11 ’24 (Mon)
6:00-8:00 pm IST
5/ Introduction to WSDC Debating Nov 13 ’24 (Wed)
6:00-8:00 pm IST
6/ Setting up Debates and Building Policies Nov 15 ’24 (Fri)
6:00-8:00 pm IST
7/ Generating Claims and Analysing them Nov 18 ’24 (Mon)
6:00-8:00 pm IST
8/ Argumentation Practice  Nov 20 ’24 (Wed)
6:00-8:00 pm IST
9/ Building and Delivering Rebuttal Nov 22 ’24 (Fri)
6:00-8:00 pm IST
10/ Rebuttal Practice Nov 25 ’24 (Mon)
6:00-8:00 pm IST
11/ WSDC Debate Tournament Nov 27 ’24 (Wed)
TBA

 



Why should you attend?

As with all ISDS programmes, this is a great gateway to learning to communicate in a structured manner from some of India and the world’s best. However, this programme is unique in 5 ways:

  • This is ISDS’ only integrated programme for junior students – concepts from across our workshops are interwoven to make this programme to give students the flexibility to apply the communication and debate skills they learn in any setting
  • This programme simulates a competition environment in a safe space for the students in the final module to give them their first taste of competitive debating similar to internationally acclaimed tournaments
  • Each trainer works with a small batch of students (~12) to maximise personal attention and absorption of feedback
  • The best performers at the Young Learners’ Academy receive a direct invitation to later rounds of our selection process for the Indian National Debate Squad, and access to exclusive content Masterclasses
  • Attendees with 100% attendance enter a wider ISDS student community channel where they can connect with other students from across the country to learn more about debate and practice


Registration Details

  • Dates: November 4 – 27, 2024 (Mon, Wed & Fri)
  • Timings: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM IST
  • Location: Online over Zoom
  • Eligibility: School students in grades 7 & 8 studying in India
  • Cost per student: Rs. 15,000/-
  • Team cost for students applying in teams of 3 (Team need not be from the same school):  Rs. 40,500/- (Rs 13,500/- per student)

 

Registrations Closed