Argument Construction & Logical Fallacies Lesson in San Francisco
c/o Eloquence Academy
Last month, San Francisco Regional Director Abhimanyu Sharma hosted a public speaking and argumentation workshop for 20 transitional elementary school students at the GeniusKids Child Development Center (“GeniusKids”) in Fremont, California.
Founded in 2001, GeniusKids is an award-winning early learning and enrichment program dedicated to developing confident, articulate, and creative young minds. Guided by a slogan of “never 2 little 2 learn,” GeniusKids embraces an Accelerated Learning methodology at a young age. Their unique in-house curriculum blends social, academic, and life-learning skills to prepare children for the challenging, fast-paced world ahead. GeniusKids has been franchising since 2011 and now maintains over 30 learning centers, a majority of which are in California’s Bay Area and Pennsylvania.
The one-hour session coalesced around the central question: What is an argument and what defines a “strong argument”? Even at these formative ages, understanding argumentation—if not in an academic debate context—can serve as the foundation to effective listening, reasoning, and communication. To this end, Abhimanyu carefully tailored his curriculum, utilizing age-appropriate anecdotes to ensure that each concept resonated with the students’ growing curiosity and cognitive abilities.
Abhimanyu began by skillfully describing the elements of a strong argument, including the presence of a claim, warrant, and impact. Abhimanyu then covered common logical fallacies like ad hominem or strawmen’s theory, while providing advice on how to check for and avoid committing each fallacy. Following the lesson, Abhimanyu read various English essays and former debate cases aloud, asking students to justify whether the argument was a strong or weak one. Dialogue, debate, and discovery unfolded, complete with a snack basket of apple sauce and fruit gummies. The students accurately identified every argument, demonstrating a perfect grasp of the material!
We are grateful to the GeniusKids team and are proud of what their students accomplished.
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Eloquence Academy, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and 509(a)(2) public charity dedicated to increasing equitable academic debate opportunities for rural and historically underserved students. The Academy offers debate classes, summer camps, workshops, tournaments, in-school programs, and online resources for 2,200+ students across 35 states and 15 countries. Ultimately, EA aims to prepare youth for college readiness, career engagement, and community impact through the transferable skills gained from debate. Follow EA on Instagram and YouTube at @eloquenceacademy.
