Comprehensive In-School Coaching Program Across British Columbia
c/o Eloquence Academy
During the 2025-26 school year, Eloquence Academy hosted in-school coaching programs across British Columbia.
The Canadian National Debate Format (CNDF) is the most popular event on Canada’s national high school debate circuit. Our team members Ayden Chung, Kayla Jung, Rex Park, and Megan Webster led a series of 10 sessions, which combined public speaking development, topic analysis and preparation, and competitive practice rounds. Furthermore, since CNDF focuses on impromptu argumentation, lessons included general lectures on politics and economics—foreshadowing prospective topics and imparting students with a broad base of knowledge transferable beyond debate. Ultimately, the goal was to expose CNDF’s distinctive nature and prepare students for the January BC Regional Tournament and Canadian National Debate Tournament.
The three partner schools were BC Forensic League Association; Chilliwalk Secondary School, within the Chilliwalk School District; and North Surrey Secondary School, within the Surrey School District (SD36). Collectively, these institutions serve over 3,500 students in grades 8 through 12. They represent comprehensive geographic and demographic reach across the province.
The sequence of programs was conceived by our regional chapter in Vancouver, and Vancouver Regional Director Jonathan Zu played a leading role in managing the efforts. In particular, Jonathan dedicated countless hours towards authoring an original curriculum in CNDF that was both pedagogically effective and aligned with the standards of our curriculum for the various speech and debate events in the United States.
We are grateful to the teams at BC Forensic League, Chilliwalk, and North Surrey, and are proud of what their students accomplished.
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Eloquence Academy, Inc. is the world’s largest youth-led 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 has offered live debate programs for 3,600 students, partnerships with 122 schools and nonprofit organizations, and online debate resources for 16,084 students. EA has prepared students across 50 states and 102 countries for college readiness, career engagement, and community impact. Follow on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
