Speech & Debate Coach
At iLEARN Education, we believe communication, critical thinking, and argumentation are essential skills for students' academic and personal growth. We are seeking a passionate Speech & Debate Coach for our Irvine location to help students in Grades 1–12 become confident speakers, critical thinkers, and successful competitors.
The ideal candidate has a strong personal background in competitive speech and debate, enjoys working with students, and is interested in helping develop a growing competitive program. Prior teaching or coaching experience is preferred.
This position may begin on a part-time basis, with the opportunity to grow toward a full-time role based on performance, availability, program growth, and mutual fit.
Primary Responsibilities
- Teach public speaking and debate classes for students in Grades 1–12, from introductory through competitive levels.
- Assess students' communication, argumentation, and debate skills and establish appropriate coaching goals.
- Teach topic analysis, research, case construction, argumentation, rebuttal, cross-examination, and competitive strategy.
- Conduct drills, mock debates, speaking exercises, and tournament simulations.
- Prepare students for local, regional, state, and national speech and debate tournaments.
- Coach competitive formats including Parliamentary Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Public Forum, Speech Events, and related formats, with Parliamentary and LD experience especially valued.
- Attend weekend tournaments, provide on-site coaching support, and serve as a tournament judge when needed.
- Track student progress and competition results and provide constructive feedback for continued improvement.
- Collaborate with the iLEARN team on curriculum, tournament preparation, team development, and program growth.
Qualifications
- Personal competitive speech and debate experience required.
- Strong understanding of argumentation, research, case construction, rebuttal, cross-examination, and competitive debate strategy.
- Ability to coach students across different age groups and skill levels, from elementary beginners to experienced high school competitive debaters.
- Strong communication, presentation, leadership, and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to provide clear, constructive feedback and motivate students to improve.
- Availability to coach and attend weekend speech and debate tournaments throughout the school year.
- Ability and willingness to serve as a tournament judge when needed.
Preferred Qualifications
- Prior teaching or speech and debate coaching experience.
- Demonstrated personal achievement in speech and debate competitions, particularly at the regional, state, or national level.
- Experience with Parliamentary Debate and/or Lincoln-Douglas Debate.
- Experience preparing students for competitive speech and debate tournaments.
- Track record of helping students earn tournament placements, awards, or other competitive recognition.
- Experience working with students in Grades 1–12 in a teaching, coaching, or mentoring capacity.
- Interest in taking on additional coaching, leadership, or program responsibilities as the position grows.
Growth Opportunity
This position may begin as a part-time coaching role. For a strong candidate who demonstrates excellent teaching ability, reliability, leadership, and long-term commitment, there may be an opportunity to expand hours and work toward a full-time position as iLEARN's Speech & Debate Program continues to grow.
Pay: $22.00 - $35.00 per hour
Work Location: In person
