Roosevelt Elementary School speech and debate competes in inaugural tournament

In the first year in the history of the group, the Roosevelt Elementary School speech and debate team recently went to it’s first-ever tournament. And its students won some trophies.
Georgia Singleton, a teacher at Roosevelt, said her students worked very hard to accomplish what it did.
“Just a few years ago they started an elementary league in this area,” Singleton said. “So we started a team to compete at the elementary level. This is the very first year we’ve ever done it. It’s just fourth and fifth grade, 17 kids. They come three days a week.”
Singleton said there were many types of events for the students to participate in.
“We have all kinds of events: duo, expository, spar debate and impromptu,” she said. “We just recently had a tournament two weeks ago at La Salle High School. We have tournaments in December and May.”
So, what goes into being on the speech and debate team?
“First they memorize, then they work on their interpretation, then they work on their blocking,” Singleton said. “They have characters and they have voices. It’s very much like acting. That’s what makes it interesting.
But there’s more, she added.
“They write the speech themselves,” she said. “It’s an informational speech. They write their own. But in impromptu they give them a little piece of paper with three words. They have two minutes to prep a speech and four minutes to do it on the spot. It’s not easy.
In addition, a lot of the work goes on outside of school hours, Singleton said.
“It’s three hours a week, but they practice a lot at home,” she said. “Most of the work takes place at their house.”
Singleton said by competing the group now knows what goes on for the next tournament.
“It was our first time so we didn’t know what to expect or the level of competition,” she said. “But they rose to the occasion.”
Singleton also said as many of the students are English learners, that’s what makes their accomplishments even more special.
“That’s the challenge,” she said. “Most of the other competitors are native speakers. But our students, most of them don’t have English at home. They might have a little, but some of them don’t have any. They memorize at home and practice. But they did great. I’m so proud of them. They did a great job.”
Placing at the tournament were Adan Martinez, Alyssa Trac, Isela Aparacio, Joan Tran, Evelyn Valencia, Joshua Nicholaisa, Luccia Yaccoub, Jennifer Thai and Nancy Le.
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com).

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