CORPUS CHRISTI (KIII NEWS) — When most people hear the term speech and debate they think of the movie the great debaters...
While that is a portion of it, speech and debate is quite elaborate.
"You'll also see student performing monologues," Tasha Jones, Tulso-Midway debate coach. "You'll see students giving speeches they've written themselves; original oratories. You'll even see students do duet acting where they are working with a partner to do a seen "
Students can compete in speech and debate in middle school all the way through college.
But Victoria Beard, a debate coach from Houston said those same skills can translate into everyday life.
"I feel like it not only helps them be a better public speaker, but also to help them think for themselves, be their own advocates, stand up for themselves," Beard said.
Many coaches believe the same thing.
That's why they attended this year's Texas Speech Communication Association conference, to learn more to help their students.
There were discussions covering all sorts of topics.
"There's over 25 different panels and educators get to choose the one that fits them the most or their wanting to learn more about," Jones said.
Out of those panels Beard says she learned something new she can implement with her kids.
"I attended a digital learning classroom kind of thing, so I learned about a new app," she said.
The convention concluded Saturday, but speech and debate competitions happen every weekend.
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