We believe everyone benefits from debate

– that’s why we coach high school and elementary students, kids who are brand new to debate and experienced.

Our coaches are familiar with all styles of debate popular in North America and the world. These styles include Canadian, American, and international formats, allowing our students to compete at a wide range of debate circuits. 

Some of the major debate styles we teach at VDA are British Parliamentary, Canadian National Debate Format, Public Forum, and World Schools.

Public Forum

While there are many different American styles of debate, the most popular American style among Canadian debaters is Public Forum (PF). Major university tournaments like those of Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, and Georgetown use PF format. In Canada, Simon Fraser University also holds PF tournaments every year.

Some of VDA’s success in PF: 

  • Novice Champion, Junior Varsity Second Place Team, Novice 4th Best Speaker, and Middle School 5th Best Speaker at the 2021 Harvard National Forensics Tournament
  • Novice Champion, Novice Quarterfinalist, Junior Varsity Quarterfinalist, and Middle School 3rd Best Speaker at the 2021 Stanford Invitational Tournament
  • Novice Open Champion, Novice Open 1st Place Speaker, and Varsity Quarterfinalist at the 2021 Georgetown Spring Debate Tournament
  • Novice Champion, Junior Varsity Champion, First Year Novice 1st Place Speaker, and Junior Varsity 2nd Place Speaker at the 2020 Georgetown Fall Debate Tournament
  • Novice Champion, Novice Finalist, and Novice 4th Best Speaker at the 2019 Stanford Invitational Tournament

Canadian National Debate Format

Canadian National Debating Format is a hybrid style that combines the structure of parliamentary debate with some aspects of World Schools style.

CNDF is the style used for the Canadian National Debating Championships and all preliminary qualifier tournaments: Regionals and Provincials. UBC also holds CNDF tournaments multiple times annually for elementary and middle school debaters.

Some of VDA’s success in CNDF:

  • 6th Place team (youngest team advanced to BC Provincials) at the 2021 BC Provincials
  • Open Champion, Open Semifinalist, Novice Finalist, Open 3rd Best Speaker, Novice 2nd Best Speaker at the 2020 UBC Elementary School Tournament
  • Open Champion, Open 1st Place Speaker, Novice 1st Place Speaker at the 2019 UBC Elementary School Tournament
  • Semifinalist and 5th Best Speaker at the 2018 UBC Spring Elementary School Tournament

British Parliamentary

British Parliamentary debate is one of the most popular debating styles in the world. The style is commonly used at university and high school level debates. Every year UBC hosts BC’s largest high school tournaments in the fall and spring using BP style. Universities in Eastern Canada also host various BP tournaments annually.

Some of VDA’s success in BP:

  • Novice Champion, Novice Finalist, Open Grand Finalists, and Open Semifinalist at the 2020 UBC Summer High School Tournament
  • Semifinalist and 2nd Best Speaker at the 2020 UBC Spring Junior High School Tournament
  • Champion and Finalist team at the 2018 UBC Fall High School Tournament
  • Finalist and Semifinalist team at the 2018 UBC Summer High School Tournament
  • Champion team and 6th Best Speaker at the 2018 UBC Spring High School Tournament

World Schools

World Schools is a combination of British Parliamentary and Australia-Asian debating format. It is mainly used at World Schools Debating Championships tournament. Universities like Harvard and Simon Fraser University also hold World Schools debate tournaments annually.

Some of VDA’s success in World Schools:

  • Quarterfinalist and 2nd Best Speaker at the 2020 Semiahmoo Secondary School Worlds School Debate
  • Finalist, 1st Place Speaker, 1st Place Reply Speaker at the 2020 Team Mexico World Schools Invitational