Prep for Extemp (Part 1)

Doing a single Extemp speech takes the time of doing three other speeches at a tournament, but the time spent on Extemp, both in and out of tournaments, is often not as focused as it could be. Through this series, we will be looking at a few tips for Extemp prep. We will look at the prep that takes place outside of competition, the 20 minutes of prep before your speech, and in a post this summer I will share advice for Extemp clubs.

Being a news junkie may not be the answer

When I started competing in Extemp, I thought that the way to prepare was to read the news. I had a vague idea that headlines alone wouldn’t be very helpful, but most of my effort was spent just reading popular news articles that had little to do with the topics Extemp questions usually ask.

From there, I tried to improve my Extemp prep by reading more widely. I would try to follow events from all around the world and include more obscure topics. This helped, but I had a new problem: my research was miles wide, but an inch deep.

I grew the most as a speaker on current events from activities other than reading the news

Reading news stories is the first step in analyzing current events. Following the same story for an extended period of time can help you understand the bigger picture. But Extemp is about news analysis. Being able to analyze the news well requires a deeper understanding of the world than you can get from surface level news reports. So how can we do that? I have two main suggestions.

Take classes that help you understand the world

There are several classes that have been tremendously helpful for improving my understanding of current events. AP US History through HSLDA Online Academy, a course designed by Dr. Spinney at PHC, is extremely helpful in understanding not only the history of the United States, but also in developing a Christian worldview and understanding of both past and present. Dr. Spinney says that “history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Understanding history, through this course and others, is extraordinarily helpful when we can see how current events “rhyme” with it.

Another very helpful class for understanding current events, especially in our current times, is economics. At least half of my Extemp speeches at my most recent qualifier used material I learned in my Macroeconomics class. The news articles you read during prep time can give a surface level understanding of the economic issues, but they often reference other important concepts that a good economics class will unlock the meaning of.

In general, classes that relate to history, government, and economics will often be very helpful in understanding our world and current events.

In-depth research

Beyond classes, it is also very helpful to perform research on your own. Team Policy Debate helps students push past surface-level research. It is one of the few areas where high schoolers find themselves spending 5-10 hours researching and writing about a single topic on a regular basis. Even a single year of Team Policy can help you learn about many topics and parts of the world. Thanks to researching and debating about Saudi Arabia in Stoa TP last year, I was much better prepared for two different Extemp speeches this year relating to Saudi Arabia.

If a year of Team Policy seems too daunting, never fear, LDers and speech-only students can also do in-depth research! Pick a topic that seems to be in the news regularly and spend a few hours researching what is happening, the history behind it, what is likely to happen, and why people on each side are advocating for different views. This will be very helpful not only for speeches on that topic, but also for a variety of speeches related to that topic.

Here are a few helpful news related sources:

The Council on Foreign Relations has a variety of helpful “Backgrounders”--articles that focus on a variety of topics and helps with understanding the deeper background behind current events. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounders

Albert Mohler has a daily podcast on how a biblical worldview applies to current events. Although he often talks about topics that do not come up regularly in Extemp, his podcast is a good way to observe excellent news analysis. https://albertmohler.com/the-briefing

Although it is important to dig beneath the surface, keeping up with the basics behind different current events is also very helpful. For concise news summaries, I recommend The Sift from WORLD News. https://wng.org/sift

Remember: these are places to start. I encourage you to dig further and find more ways to learn about current events. If you are looking for more news sources, contact me at Josiah@RhetoricLLC.com, I would be happy to help!

This will prepare you for understanding current events for life

Don’t feel like you need to do all of these things to do Extemp. You can still learn a lot from competing in Extemp while doing none of these things. You can also start with just one or two of these ideas and grow significantly. However, if you apply these suggestions, they can help you understand not just the current events of this year, but current events for the rest of your life.

Part two of this series is coming soon!