LemonShark Studio

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“As a student of Lemonshark in fifth grade, it had helped me a lot throughout the one year of my debate career. When I started learning Lemonshark in fifth grade, Tony’s course really made me wanted to learn more and compete more in debate. Tony is my first debate teacher but laid down some of the most important knowledge for me about debate which is how to be a really good debater not a debater which sounds or seems impressive. I feel Tony’s courses aren’t long but extremely beneficial to students who do public forum debate and can also hook students interest to public forum. Tony can use teach the required knowledge of the topic to us in an effective and easy-to-understand way, not throwing a huge amount of evidence and letting us read. Which further proves that why Lemonshark would be an ideal place to start off an topic or start off learning debate. At the end of a course, there would definitely be some competition and mock debate which can let us have experiences debating a toipic before actually debating in NSDA which makes us even more prepared. In addition to this, every round of mock debates supported by Lemonshark would have Tony closely looking at it so he can give us some very good and very effective feedback on how to improve and what needs to be improved. He also can help us give very experienced suggestions to specific things like how to improve the wording of some blocks or our case, or as big as giving suggestion to speak orders or giving suggestions about which person should use which format of summary, rebuttal etc. All in all, Tony’s courses and suggestion is bery helpful for me in my debate career.

When I first competed in NSDA actually, it was a while after I took Tony’s course, I was a second speaker but did not know what to do in final focus, but Tony taught me in detail how and what is a final focus. I feel like Tony is a really nice teacher and would always be there when you need help. With his advice I improved from not breaking to semi-finalist then to regionals and TOC’s champion. I really appreciated and feel really lucky to have him as my teacher.”

“I started my debate career two years ago, the first formal debate constitution I had was Lemonshark, and my first formal debate teacher is Tony. He laid the foundation for my debate style and structure of the Public Forum debate. Although the classes were not long, only lasted for five days, but I learned a lot from them. Including techniques, rules, and customs at the debate. I have really benefitted from the courses.

In the classes, we had multiple forms of teaching. From teaching knowledge of ppt slides to group discussions and preparation for practice debates. We used many motions related to the competitions, either past motions or classic debate topics. These really helped our competition since it was all classic topics, and we learned ways of expression, methods of researching, and so on. This also helped us to understand what a real debate works like, helped me to get rid of the nerves before formal competitions.

Tony’s course really dragged my interest towards debate and he personally helped me a lot in improving my debate skills.”

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“Hi! I’m Tanya from YK Pao School. It’s has been such a pleasure to learn at Lemon Shark, where I had a great time practicing debate.

I was shocked when I first found out about Lemonshark. I could not believe a high-school student could create such an organization that had a goal to teach debate for students. At that time, I did not trust Tony because he was just a student and I doubted whether he could teach others well or not. However, I still attended the class. Tony was tall, really “big” and he looked humorous.

 With a full curiosity to Tony, we had the first class, and the second and the following.

Under the guidance of Tony’s teaching, we’ve learned about knowledge and skills that are useful in the debate round. We also learned about the partnership, getting better after making mistakes, and to never give up.

Even though Tony was our teacher, he was also our friend. He interacted with the students frequently and would communicate with us.

 I added Tony’s WeChat and I asked him about debate packets and evidence. He didn’t directly give me the answer but he gave me a lot of advice. And this advice helped me a lot during the debate rounds. Despite the point of learning and getting advice from Tony, it was so proud to get the WeChat of NSDA champion.

 I was a pretty shy person before went to Tony’s class. However, after went to Tony’s class, after I had a class with other students, I became more open. I tried to share more about my own opinion and be special.

 During every class, we were laughing and all of us were enjoying the atmosphere of learning. Tony made the class more creative. We played games, we had bubble tea and we had story retells. All of the things happened were a fairy tale. And I think that is just the advantage of Tony as the teacher. He knew what the students want and he knew how to let students learn during playing. A lot of parents would probably say if students were playing during class, this was just a waste of time. However, I would say Tony’s class could attract students and let students enjoy debating.

 In Lemon Shark, I learned and I enjoyed. I recommend students to try Tony’s class because you will be able to have a new style and a new experience of the class. In this class, it seems as there is no teacher but only friends.”

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“Hi, I’m Zona, currently a seventh-grader at YKPAO School. Lemon Shark is an imposing studio that affected me A LOT over the past year. Before joining Lemon Shark, debate for me is already a familiar word. Unlike some of the other students in Lemon Shark who might just start to debate, I had been debating for a while. At first, it was the exciting “argument” that attracted me to know more about this thing. But after hundreds of debate classes, learning more and more complex rules and skills of debating, the passion that originally motivated me weakened. I felt like I was somewhat stuck in a place where I started to think whether I should keep debating as I felt like I was doing something for others.

At the beginning of the last summer holiday, I joined the Lemon Shark debate camp. To be honest, I never thought before that there would be such It was not until that time when I realized how fascinating debate was in essence. When I first had Tony’s class, we all introduced ourselves and knew each other deeper. bunch of complex terms of debate into students’ s brain. However, starting from the middle of the first class, we all had a totally different mode of debate class. Instead of telling us how to flow effectively, Tony offered us a chance to try it ourselves. By watching some debate matches between native speakers in the U.S., our abilities to flow gradually improved. Besides, the learning environment in Lemon Shark is relaxing. Every one of us got along with each other in harmony including Tony. The atmosphere of learning in Lemon Shark is really encouraging and also comfortable for everyone to improve together.

Since then, debate for me is not just a “course”, forced to engage in by others, it’s a hobby, personal interest, or even one of my strengths. More importantly, Lemon Shark provided all of the students their great opportunities to communicate with experienced debaters who were so talented and skillful which is so precious and significant. So, I sincerely recommend people who like debate and want to improve their skills to join this camp and better communicate with debaters at the advanced level.”

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“Lemon shark was where I first interacted with NSDA-styled debate, and I really appreciate the teachers and fellow classmates here for the awesome time I had. Though the session was rather short and covered but a little more than two weeks, we were able to learn from it all the basics of the format, and were, at the end of the course, capable of having rather fluent debates among ourselves. In addition to that, the atmosphere of the class was enjoyable. I could still remember quite a number of incidents that evoked great quantities of joy, such as how the Siri on the teacher’s phone always flipped tails, or the games of wolfman just before the end of class. I learned a lot from the session, which included not only why rebuttal cards shouldn’t be written on cards, but also the roles of each speech and much additional information on the topic itself. Overall, it was a happy time for me, and I really enjoyed it.”

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“I’m Cindy, Lemonshark opened the door of debate for me.

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Unlike others, before going to Lemonshark, I had never debated before but strongly believed that I was already a very talkative person that could state my points and warrants clear. However, going to Lemonshark made me feel that there are really a lot of people who are truly talented, their ways of tackling different arguments and different contentions really made me feel surprised and we’re truly grateful that I attended the classes there. 

During class time, Tony taught us a lot of skills, including introducing the rules of debate, how to identify different judges and give different speeches, how to design a constructive speech, how to write CWI (Claim, Warrant, Impact), ways to do rebuttals, summary, and final focus. Not only for that, in class, we do different activities that are very interesting, but in the meanwhile, we could really train how we look at an issue and how to build a logical argument while there are not many pieces of evidence supported. We do random debate, looking at strange stories that have different ways to interpret, we find the best way to express ourselves and persuade others in the biggest extent.

I attend my first debate class in Lemonshark, the classes have substantial influences on me. For sure, I learned a lot of basic skills, and I became a second speaker from the class when Tony is separating people into small groups and try to do some practice debates. This was a great influence on me because from that time on, I tried to learn how to tackle with different arguments, how to turn the arguments against our opponents, and these skills helped me a lot in tournaments.

I had a wonderful time in Lemonshark. This is where I did my first debate in my life, and this is the start of being a debater. I appreciate this experience really much and sincerely hope that more students could join and have a deeper understanding of the debate.”

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“The debate is a really big challenge for me before I joined Lemonshark, I was often afraid to communicate in English in front of others, and I was often afraid that I wasn’t expressing each point fluently enough, so I was really afraid to use English to communicate in class, and same in the debate. But in last section in Lemonshark, Tony taught us that whether while rebuttal or crossfire we should be clearly conveyed, each lesson we have different training, from the constructive speech to the summary, From rebuttal to final focus, every single one is all-inclusive, of course, encountered the problem of drilling Tony will be very careful to help us explain so that we have benefited greatly.

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Leomonshark is suitable for different groups of students, and the content is very suitable for debate novices and untrained debaters, Tony will usually help us in class to integrate the understanding of the debate and the skills of the debate, as well as let us conduct mock debates. Tony showed us his latest debate in the United States, through this video and Tony’s careful explanation, as well as the depth of each argument he taught us, I gained a lot, after all, through such study, I feel that I am full of enthusiasm for the debate, At the same time, my confidence in the debate has been gradually built.

I think the most beneficial thing to me is the “random debate” session in class after we select teammates, Tony will randomly select a relatively simple argument, after the coin flip, we will usually have five minutes of discussion time and not allowed to use the internet or evidence packet, We rely on our own understanding of the argument itself to debate, this exercise our logic and eloquence a lot. Since joining Lemonshark, my ability to think improved, my point of view to each different problem will be more comprehensive, because while debate you have to prepare to both CON and PRO sides, sometimes, after the debate you have to argue the opposite side, last semester my writing, communication, have improved. After the debate class, I connected several skills in English, while writing those rebuttal speeches, I had a fixed model in my mind, and I don’t need to think about the format and the mode. My reading skills has also improved a lot because we usually have to check a lot of information and evidences, it is easier than before to grasp the main meaning. After training, when Tony mentioned an argument, we can have several points of view out in each different angle, the debate is really helpful in each different way.

After two sessions of Lemonshark debate training, I learned a lot of debate skills and the importance of teamwork. For me, the debate is a step of growth, but also a good opportunity to exercise my communication skills and logic.”

Welcome to the 4th LemonShark Debate Tournament! Today’s event follows six debate camps hosted throughout the summer.

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Resolved: When in conflict the spirit of the law ought to take priority over the letter of the law.

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After fierce competition, Cindy Ji & Ariel Wu won the competition!

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Martina Wu & Chloe Wu won the runner-up.

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Martina also won the title of best debater.

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Congratulations to all the debaters who participated in the competition today!

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Additionally, a huge thank you goes out to all of the volunteers, judges, and the Shanghai Ivy School for providing a venue for today’s competition!

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“Last year I competed in a Nation Speech and Debate Association (NSDA)tournament. NSDA was challenging, but also fun at the same time. I got to understand the basic structure and flow of debate. I found Debate interesting and hoped to strengthen my skills at the Lemonshark Debate Studio, it is organized by my brother, Tony He, First Place on the NSDA Scoreboard for China, I wanted to learn from him, so I went to the LemonShark camp last summer. Last Summer I did not focus in class and there was a conflict between me and my brother, which gave him pressure. When we had the tournament at the end of the camp, I did not do very well, which resulted in me to be more motivated in the debate.

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This Winter, I had a fresh start. In class, I participated more and had discipline. I respected my brother, and learnt new things in class every day, I gradually made big strides in progress. The camp turned out to be a major success in popularity and in quality on the final day of debate, I came in second place against an experienced NSDA debater. At the end of the camp, I felt like I have improved my debate skill into the next level, which was what I was aiming for when I first joined Lemonshark.

In Lemonshark, I felt like the area I improved most on was the proper way of researching evidence. We learnt about how your piece of evidence has an impact on people and learnt on what to remember while researching evidence and what to look for, and avoid. 

​Lemonshark delivers inquiring knowledge to students, to develop them into skilled debaters. Take me for example. Remembering that time when I went to a tournament with my brother last summer, I mainly relied on him and did not even know WHAT to say in the crossfire. After coming to LemonShark, my skills have improved a whole lot, meeting the goal that I had. Affirming our Framework in my speech, Asserting evidence during crossfire, weighing our points and our opposition’s points in the crossfire, this is Lemonshark.”