submitted by froehlic@augsburg.edu
The Minnesota Urban Debate League is a program of Augsburg University. We provide academic competitive debate programming to more than 1,200 Twin Cities students. We’re seeking remote volunteers for the 2023 Spring Semester!
We know that one of the reasons debate helps students improve their literacy is that students are engaging with all four foundational skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Because many of the students we work with are English language learners, one of the most powerful tools we have to help rookie debaters learn is auditory supplements to our written packets. With these recordings, students at all skill levels will be able to follow along with the text as they read, learn evidence while doing other tasks like doing chores or riding the bus, and rapidly improve their literacy and information retention.
How You Can Help
We are seeking volunteers to record our evidence packets at a conversational pace (120 words per minute). Help us record evidence for the following programs:
• East African Debate: Record nonfiction evidence about a topic central to the East African Debate community in the Twin Cities (TBD), written in English. Recordings needed by March 1st.
• Financial Literacy Leadership Debates: Record nonfiction evidence regarding the advantages and disadvantages of banking at a large national institution versus a small, local credit union. Recordings needed by April 1st.
Volunteers need to be able to speak slowly, clearly, and with energy. No special recording equipment is required, although we do ask that you record in a quiet space with minimal distractions. We can edit your audio for you.
Interested? Please contact Rebecca at froehlic@augsburg.edu to let us know, and/or fill out this form: https://forms.gle/j3KeHjxUjpsuvmic6