I have to thankful Michael & Ann help us to find the best congress debate coach Mr. Feldman in the south California . He Is very responsible , Kind, Knowledgable, fun ,that's why join Kudos's class will make you love the debate so much . They have other coaches r also fantastic , join the classes before the spaces r gone . read more

Kudos Education - Speech Training Near Me - San Marino, California

I attended Kudos from 2016 to 2022, spanning second grade to eighth grade, and I now serve as a judge for their middle school debate tournaments. If you're seeking a school that can help you or your child establish a strong foundation in public speaking skills and confidence, I wholeheartedly recommend Kudos. Kudos initiates the younger students with storytelling classes, which helped me become more eloquent able to express myself better. These classes played a significant role in boosting my self-confidence and shaping me into a leader within my middle and high school's student government. For the older kids, Kudos provides opportunities to develop competitive skills, including acting, debate, and mock Congress. During the time I competed with Kudos, I formed lasting friendships and won awards. Of course, the support and encouragement of Kudos teachers, especially Mr. Feldman, Mr. Seymour, Mr. Pepper, and Mr. Schaupp also contributed to my success. Their patience and expert guidance, along with each class's comprehensive and cohesive curriculum is representative of the quality education you will get with Kudos. Overall, if you're a parent looking for an extracurricular activity for your child or a way for them to come out of their shell, I can 1000% endorse and recommend Kudos for you. read more

My daughter has always liked to argue with me since she was little. One day I saw a Kudos flyer in my mailbox, so I decided to let my daughter join the Walnut branch to learn how to argue professionally. My original intention was to let her learn how to talk to people, but I didn't expect that my daughter would love fall in love with debate. Throughout the past three years, she has achieved good results in debate competitions. I am happy and also very pleased with the way my daughter communicates with people now. I sincerely thank Kudos, especially Michael, he is a very kind person and gifted coach. I asked my daughter, you have to go to debate class every weekend, do you feel tired? she said "no, I am happy and having fun". I think this is the best and most authentic evaluation from her. Thank you Kudos! read more

Be aware that if you dare to write a negative review that they will continue to harass you to tell you why they are right and you are wrong. I did not sign my son up for debate class so that I would have to learn how to debate with them after class is done. Yelp is a public free speech forum to where we can express our opinions and our content or discontent. read more

I have attended Kudos Education for 4 years now, and I truly could not recommend anything better. I compete in Congress, and our coach, Evan Feldman, is incredible. He is dedicated and often stays after class to help his students--unpaid! He travels with his students and stays with them all weekend during tournaments. Furthermore, he is incredibly knowledgeable and educated in the area. He was a competitor in Speech and Debate all throughout college and has won many awards in varied events. As for the staff and organization overall, everything runs very smoothly. They respond promptly to phone calls and emails, as well as working with your schedule when you want 1-on-1 meetings with your coach. Overall, Kudos teaches important skills, but not only that, they do it better than any other business in the market. Could not recommend more. read more

I have judged Kudos students in a few competitions and I was very impressed. They were professional, articulate and confident. It was clear that they were prepared and had done excellent research when they argued their points. I would recommend any parent to enroll their child in a program. The skill of being able to speak calmly and confidently in front of a group of people is a life tool. Children today need this type of skill which will benefit them in many ways as they become adults. read more

Kudos has really helped me as a person. The plenitude of coaches I've had throughout the years here have taught me to better myself and help my teammates. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to make it to finals in middle school Tournament of Champions. Shoutouts to Kudos! read more

From a young age, I participated in the summer camps offered by Kudos, which greatly developed my writing skills and math proficiency. I joined the Congress competition team in 6th grade. Since then, under the instruction of Mr. Evan Feldman, I was able to thrive in a positive environment and learn all the skills for public speaking. His knowledge and passion for speech and debate is demonstrated every class, dedicating endless of his personal time to better us and help us prepare for important tournaments. In addition, the administration is always enthusiastic and ready to help. Thank you Kudos for providing the best environment for success!! read more

I walked in to get more class information today for the coming year and the lady who gave me a class introduction was fantastic! She explained to me how the class is being designed for 1st to 8th grade, how the materials are professionally prepared for each campus during the year, It is very clear to me that this institution cares about what they teach. FYI, My friend took her son to attend storytelling class and that helped his son came out of the shell tremendously! The lady also showed me all the tournament students and their progression which is quite impressive considering how young these kids are! read more

My seventh grade son has been taking debate and other classes at Kudos for over two years. His critical thinking and communication skills has improved significantly, so did his confidence and awareness of current events and policies. Laura and her team has been very helpful and professional in charting the development path and suggesting courses suitable for my son. We found that Kudos is one of the oldest and most decorated debate and speech schools in the area and a lot kids they've trained have gone on to attend highly ranked colleges. In today's world where SAT is no longer a key part of the college admission process, we thought competitive debate could be a good way to demonstrate skills in various important areas so gave it a try. No regrets! read more

My 14-year old daughter has been attending this class for about 2 months and has attended 1 competition already. She has been debating about everything I've said now. Everything she doesn't like that I say. Mr. Feldman is an amazing but scary (not in a bad way, kinda in a way that makes his students do their homework) teacher and I appreciate him. I can really see that he actually puts a lot of effort into his job and students. I hope that one day my daughter becomes a lawyer. Overall, I love this Kudos program and give it a solid 10/10 stars. I stan Mr. Feldman too. :) read more

As someone who is very familiar with the speech and debate community in California, I've been very impressed with the quality of students, coaches, administrators and parents at Kudos. Universities are de-prioritizing standardized tests, and placing more value on other skills and involvement. But speech and debate is not only critically important for university admission, but also to help navigate our increasingly fractured and online world. Kudos helps students find their voice, think critically about all sides of an issue, and become their own best advocate. read more

It's super fun and the videos are super funny and all the stories are funny and Our teacher Mr. Feldman is super funny and I like all the breaks read more

To be frankly honest, if I can give this academy a negative 5000 star I would. And Mr. Wheeler and Laura I would like you to know if I can sue you for emotional abuse I would. From grade 5- grade 9, I was baited into the academy, by well laura as you guys have already seen in the comment section. Through my 4 years here, I was severely bullied by the teachers and verbally harassed. I was told my accent will lower my speaker score, how I was never good enough at debate, and how I never contributed to the team because I didn't have any big wins. Multiple times, I was asked to practice speech by myself with a chopstick in my mouth facing the wall while the entire class is still happening. This caused me years of mental illness and at one point I even had to stop debate because this affected my confidence and speaking skill so much. When I made it to one of the biggest debate competitions in Salt Lake City trying to prove myself to the coaches, instead of telling me congratulations on being the only team that moved up. Mr. Wheeler walked away after telling me that he is surprised and is not going to help me because quote "wow you are the last person I expected to win and I'm not gonna help you for this round cause you are probably going to lose" No one from the academy updated my mom on my success (keep in mind they literally have a newspaper that is dedicated to updating parents on student progress) and laura even told many parents that I simply moved up to national that year because I got lucky and the competition was rigged. I was told that I shouldn't have gone up and was taking opportunities from their top team aka. favorite students. therefore after I had this conversation, I moved my ass and left the academy. I really loved debate when I started, and frankly I was pretty good at it too. But after being at Kudos, because of the constant belittling and bullying, I didn't want to put in work anymore for a bunch of "teachers" who supposedly cared about me. They truly made me hate speech and debate not because of the activity itself but because of the horrible memories and emotions that connect with it. I want to warn anyone who wants to join Kudos, if you want to send your kids to a sexist, racist, and unethical academy and receive an insecure, not confident, unhappy and depressed kid who 100% hates debate, then you've found the right place. If not, then run far away from Kudos. Lastly, to Kudos, (this is my personal speech to them) Hi Laura and Mr. Wheeler, words cannot express how you've ruining debate and my confidence. You've turned a previously enjoyable activity to hell for me. I hope you the worst, I hope no students ever come to you and that you'll never get a chance to ruin another child's dream. You don't deserve to be a coach and Laura, I hope you go bankrupt and lose all the money that you've made sucking on children's souls. Lastly, I came on to yelp to say this after 4 years of healing and working on myself I've realized that I don't need Kudos to build confidence and that I wasn't the one that sucked, it was them. Toodles. read more

My daughter attended Kudos' speech and debate classes for 2 years now. Thanks to Kudos' training, she went from a somewhat shy girl who gets nervous when speaks in front of her classmates to a preteen that can confidently present her ideas/work to the panel of judges in a competition. It's really amazing to see how much kids can learn and grow in 2 year. During the past 2 years with Kudos, Laura gave me lots of feedbacks regarding my daughter's progress and offered her insights as to what our next steps could be. Michael also helped a lot for all the logistics and is very responsive. Highly recommended for students who want to improve their speech/debate skills. read more

From my personal experience, Kudos was a great place to learn and grow as a public speaker.

In my many years of interacting with Kudos students I have found them to be extremely kind and talented students. They are coached incredibly well, and their debate skills have a strong local foundation that will carry with them the rest of their lives. I have been consistently impressed with Kudos kids and know that students like them are the movers and shakers of the future. read more

If i could give negative stars, I would. I am a student at Kudos, and it sucks. Im not even kidding, My parents signed me up for a summer class, from 9-4. We didnt get the link until after one hour the class started. We called, and checked all of our emails, yet they still did not answer. Until about an HOUR after we called, they insisted that they sent the link two days before, and called me late. LATE! They didnt send the link, the adminstrater staff gets paid too much to do this. read more

This is my true review on the administrative staff, not the teachers. I signed up for my two kids a few Kudos classes over the summer.  I am very disappointed at Kudos' lack of organization.  My 8th graders never got the zoom links for his three classes.  We had to email and call many times to get the zoom user name and password over the phone.  The worst thing is we were never told that there was study material that we needed to pick up.  After the classes ended for the summer, my 8th grader mentioned that he never received any study materials over the two weeks although Kudos staff insisted that the material has been emailed to me. I even drove to the TC school to pick up the binders but the staff refused to give us the study material binders. I found out other parents shared the same negative feedback on Kudos after talking to parents in our community. I complained to the school principal but she could not prove that Kudos emailed us the study material. In fact she was very nervous that I "spread misinformation about Kudos." She even demanded that I must disclose the names of the parents whom I talked. How ridiculous her response was. I have no financial incentive to ruin a school. People talk especially parents share experiences of local schools. That is human nature! I know why the reviews have been mixed despite of Kudo's big budget on advertising.  Kudo's lack of organization ruined their reputation as well as our kids' learning experience. The way principal handled my negative experience made my already negative feedback even worse. Kudo's disrespect of parents' time as well as students' time is not acceptable. read more

While I can't speak to the organization as a whole, I am familar with their premier Congress coach, Evan Feldman. Mr. Feldman is an excellent Congress coach who's deeply passionate about his students. He goes above and beyond preparing for major competitions. The results are evident; his Congress students consistently outperform major academies competing with Kudos at the Southern California Junior Forensics League and other national competitions. I've observed Mr. Feldman teaching private classes, where he approaches his craft with passion, wit, and empathy for student success. read more

My son attended one summer camp in 2021. He attended "Harry Potter and Manga" class, by Mr. Colin Kraemer. Only after two sessions, we decided to retrieve, because the class is EXTREMELY boring and doesn't teach anything! The expense for each session is $90+ for three hours. So we decided to switch to "Young debater" by Mr. Joseph Kahn. This class is better, at least the teacher taught some tricks and techniques. Today is the camp's last session: the competition. We waited from 1:30 until now 2:40 pm, the competition still hasn't come to our turn, and we have no idea when it's our turn. The school and teacher didn't tell us anything about the schedule! Almost all kids I saw from the two classes are Chinese, the school targets the Chinese community as Chinese parents are very generous about kids' education. I really regret our experience with Kudos. The class doesn't worth the price. Even the office assistance is very poor. Do not waste your $$$ and time on Kudos. If you don't count the last session (the competition can take only 10mins for each kid), every session is $110+! Think about what you got and what you paid, the camp is a rip-off. read more

My 10 year old daughter first attended Kudos virtual summer camp for Speech and Debate with Mr. Alex Schultz due to the pandemic. The teacher was knowledgeable and experienced and also created a fun learning experience for the kids. I was very impressed. My daughter made such big progress with writing and speaking during the summer that I signed her up for the following fall and spring semester as well. My daughter has grown super confident with public speaking, and having fun while at it as well! During the debate competition in July, I had an overview of their instructors and noted they are all excellent quality teachers and I will feel comfortable having any of them as my kid's teacher. Kudos also offer a variety of other classes such as English and Math, US history and constitution, etc. In fact, I have my daughter signed up for the once weekly US Constitution class as she has shown some interest in American history at this time. I also look forward to the in-person debate classes starting this fall as she has never experienced the classes in person. I'm sure she will benefit even more from it. I recommend Kudos to all kids who have extra time on their schedule as writing and debate are invaluable skills they can use in every aspects of any career they decide to pursue. read more

Kudos Education - Samantha was 12th place during July 2021 Kudos debate competition. Kudos sent out a nice trophy and medal recognition. - Speech Training Near Me - San Marino, California

Perfect! My daughter like it. We already stay here for one year, we plan to stay here until high school. Principle Laura is a very nice lady. The teachers all good with experience. _Betty Mom read more

My friend James recommended this place to me for my kids. Despite the negative reviews, I still decided to try it out since my friend said it did wonders for his daughter. It's been a few months and my two middle schoolers are both enjoying this place. They are both improving and I'm excited to hear their upcoming speech performances. read more

I attended Kudos for 3 years (6th to 8th grade), spending many of my weekends during middle school there. I've taken both speech and debate classes. Overall, my experience has been nothing but phenomenal. I was taught to speak more persuasively, argue more effectively, and think more deeply. Looking back, Kudos was instrumental to my high school successes--debate and beyond. Laura has been incredibly nice to me. I remember she bought me food several times when I forgot money at home, and even when I misbehaved in class (yes, I was a brat growing up), she always struck the right balance between discipline and kindness--a trait that's incredibly rare to find in educators. Scott Wheeler, one of the coaches there, became my mentor. He inspired me to start debating and helped me achieve national success. He's not only a brilliant debate mind, but also passionate about teaching. Ultimately, Kudos gave me invaluable skills that helped me succeed in all areas of my life. I would recommend Kudos to anyone looking to improve their public speaking skills or enhance their persuasive power. In fact, Kudos created such a strong foundation for me that I went on to become the first team in history to win the National High School Debate Tournament twice. But hey, you don't have to believe me because their achievements speak for themselves: Multiple national championships in a variety of debate events. Named the School of National Excellence in Speech and Debate for 5 years in a row. Scott Wheeler is the first coach in history to receive the Ted W. Belch award (best policy debate coach in the nation) in two consecutive years. And that's just the beginning! Kudos is the best of the best. Seriously, there's no better place to learn Speech and Debate. read more

Kudos is truly one of the best speech and debate schools out there! Before coming to kudos, I was a very shy child, not participating in class. Under the guidance of kudos's teachers, however, I flourished and got many medals and trophies after only a few years! I am so grateful to kudos for unleashing my confidence and letting me have the courage to make my voice heard. - Emmy read more

My 8th-grade daughter has been going to Kudos' debate and speech classes for two years and what an experience! Her critical thinking, reading and articulation skills grew by leaps and bounds. She also enjoyed the competition side of things and has won a few awards which did wonders for her self-confidence and stage presence. The competition schedule and prep time can take away some family time but it was a worthy trade off. Laura and Anne were helpful the entire way, paid attention to my daughter's progress and did frequent check-ins. Highly recommended. read more

BE VERY CAREFUL OF THIS ESTABLISHMENT! If I can give negative stars, I will!!! I called the Walnut branch, spoke to Laura and inquired about their summer program. Including my son, a total of 6 kids signed up for their summer special, pay for the whole day classes and get 2 additional critical thinking classes for free. Laura is VERY GOOD at saying anything to get you signed up. WE THEN FOUND OUT SOME OF OUR KIDS ARE TOO YOUNG FOR THE CRITICAL THINKING CLASSES! Laura REFUSES to make any changes or give us any credits. We had to miss class due to last min changes. I called and spoke to Anne since I was unable to find Laura, she said it's ok, they'll let us do make ups. When I texted Laura to arrange for make ups, she refused. She was EXTREMELY RUDE on the phone, totally different from when she tried to get us signed up. She said she's busy and told us to stop bothering her. We wasted $150.00 dollars PER class that we CANNOT make up! DO NOT GO TO THIS ESTABLISHMENT!!! read more

It's been 2 years since my son first enrolled at Kudos, and it's been very good experience! I feel they have a unique program that's very beneficial to kids if they are interested in public speaking or need help in that area. My son first attended at 4th grade, and now after the beginning and advanced level he has been invited to compete in middle school tournaments with teacher's recommendations. We're quite excited for him! I noticed some changes happen, such as he taking more interests in reading more books and news, and discuss some social matters with us, before he mostly just interested in games and cartoons. He's also more active in leading class activities and discussions. He found some skills and confidence during the time at Kudos and I thank the teachers for encouraging him. I think this is a valuable education and will recommend Kudos to other parents! read more

Kudos is a great place for kids to learn communication skills, although it's not immediately obvious but over time I've noticed some changes in their way of speaking and interacting with others. Also the staff and Ms. Diana in Irvine has been a great help and very encouraging to kids, making learning fun for them. At this age there are a million things kids can learn but I feel this skill is very important and I'm happy to see them enjoying the classes and improving. In terms of learning communication and speech and debate I would wholeheartedly recommend Kudos! read more

From one to five stars, I would rate this -1000 if i could. I went here at 7th grade, they have rented out a place called AIMS academy, the place looks like a Indian sweatshop and not a place to learn for children. The tables are lower than my knee and writing on it hurts my back like Mike Tyson boxing me. The 5 stars review is all written by the coaches there. DO NOT GO AND WASTE YOUR $$$. After 7th grade I went to Nova42, not promoting them or anything, but a far better academy. read more

I've attended Kudos Education from sixth to eighth grade, and I wouldn't give up my experience at Kudos for anything else. The program has helped me both in the classroom, the college application process, and most importantly, in the real world. Speech and debate teaches students how to critically think and persuasively advocate for their beliefs, and Kudos is one of the premier institutions (at least in the middle school level) to help its students with speech and debate. Laura hires some of the best coaches in the nation. For example, Scott Wheeler, one of the debate coaches, was named the best policy debate coach in the nation. I worked extensively with Mr. Wheeler during my time there, and he was patient, intelligent, and helpful. I began my speech and debate career doing dramatic interpretation, and Mr. Wheeler was the one who saw my potential in debate and encouraged me to pursue debate. Since then, I've done speech and debate both in middle school and high school. Even though the classes are a little bit on the expensive side, the skills that a child develops as a result are invaluable and will help them for the rest of his or her life. read more

They have have won National "School Of Excellence in Debate Award" for the last 5 years. 2017 State Champions Calif. in Public Forum, Top 4 in Lincoln Douglas debate, Semi -finalists in Extemporaneous Speech. Their record speaks for itself read more

Be careful. The owner or office manager really have a way of convincing parents to sigh up their kids. If you donot have time to read on. I will give you a shorter version. They will ask for a full Spring sessiin tuition without refunds & they will not repond to you in a timely fashion unless they can make more money out of you. And they did not keep an effective communication about my kid's progress. Even after my friend told me about the program doesnot really help. (She was asking around among her friends. ) I figured every kid is different & my kid really needed some sort of help in debates(more in needs of public speaking). What did not work for other kids, may not apply to my kid. So I convinced my kid to join the program. Please note this, during the same time, I also signed him up for two more courses, Advanced Grammar & Writing. Kudos does not help much is coming from my kid, while he thought the other two programs were helpful. Most aftershool programs has two almost equal length of Fall & Spring session. Kudos has longer Fall session than Spring session & you have signed up at least for the whole Fall session & pay upfront. If you donot like the program, your kid got stuck with it for the whole Spring session. Yes, no refund but they said you will have credits for unattended courses School got notified of. At this point, I am waiting to see whether that is true. I have to sigh up my kid for two days Critical Thinking to use my credit. I sent an email & left a message to owner/office manager with no response so far. You tell me should I recommemd Kudos to others?! This is the first time I ever write a review, and a negative one. It doesnot come in line with my personality. However, I really think many parents might be taken advanteged of, since Kudos is in the "convincing" bussiness. Watch out! Oh, for students with debating to be their extracurricum activities, I am not sure whether Kudos can help though! It will be a big risk to take though unless you have tons of money. You have to pay a bigger check for whole Spring session, which I think it's a sneaky sales technique. Good luck if you decide to join. read more

I don't think this is worth the cost. My son went to the speech and debate class. I never got any feedback from the teacher. There's supposed to be an evaluation at the end of the term but when I inquired about it, I didn't get any response. When a group lesson of 14 kids costs about $45 a class, I do expect to get feedback from the instructor. I think once a semester is not too much to ask. Public school send home three report cards in a school year. Too bad the only time they are willing to talk to me is when I pay, or inquire about additional classes. Well, actually another lady who is not the owner do talk to me, but with an attitude. I really don't recall doing anything to annoy her. read more

Great program, my daughter likes it, and her speech skill improves a lot after one year training. She likes to do presentations now, very confident talking in front of classmates. Thank you Kudos! read more

If there's one business that's changing the landscape of speech and debate for the Asian community it will be Kudos. Both my kids and friends' kids have reap immense benefits from their classes. Not only do they have highly qualified teachers with passion, they have consistently raised the bar in training middle school kids to go on and win national champions. My older child was not interested in debate until after a couple classes and his school teachers noticed a huge difference in his ability to organize and courage to speak in front of the class, from then on he gained more interest and will now attend competitions in the future, talking about a change! I don't know of any other leadership program around the area that has the same expertise, it's a one of kind and very usable skill for your kids to gain. Prices are reasonable and the staffs are knowledgeable and courteous. Kudos is a great school and deserves the 5 stars! read more

My two kids started going to Kudos 4 years ago. We love this place! The modern kids go to so many after school activities, there are music, sports, language, tutoring... you name it! But if I can only keep one thing that they are doing after school, I will definitely keep Kudos. Speech and communication is such a powerful tool and Kudos does such a great job. I love Laura and Ann, they are very nice to kids and so encouraging. Both of my kids learned a great deal. My son is not very comfortable with public speech and he decided not to go there any more. We try to be liberal with his decision but I keep talking to him and try to persuade him to go back. he admits that he learned a lot there though. My daughter just loves Kudos. She starts to use the technique she learned at school and tries it at home. We only regret that we sent her there when we lose our arguments with her-LOL, this starts to happen more and more. We are happy to see this results. I never write any reviews on anything, regardless it is restaurant or product. This is my one and only review in history. And yes, this is how much we love this great school. Thank you Kudos! read more

My daughter started her journey of public speech here and I never regretted choosing KUDOS. Their faculty and staff really listened to the kids and knew how to dig out the potential! Ms. Laura and Ms. Ann are great! read more

As you sign up for this program, the people in the institution will tell you that this program is very good and will greatly improve the communication skills of its students. However, it is clear that Kudos not only prepares very poor materials to teach their students, but tells these students who have NO experience to make up their own topics for the teacher to direct as practice debates. When Kudos Education invites your child to their Tournament Preparation Classes, they say that they will enlist your child in the competition for that topic after getting admission fees. However, Kudos Education will not really register you in the Debate Tournament, stating that their contract doesn't say that they HAVE TO sign you up for competitions. So Kudos will then suggest that you to pay AGAIN for another Tournament Preparation Class for another topic. In all, I feel that my money was cheated by Kudos. read more