Seven of our highly motivated Year 10 Senior School linguists were named winners of a regional Modern Languages Debating Competition held at King Ely School in May.
Miles A, Emily B, Ottie D, Etty H, Ella O, Meg P and Charlotte S travelled across the region to take part in the event against Norwich School, Stephen Perse, Culford School and King’s Ely.
Two teams entered the French competition, and one team entered the Spanish competition. The pupils worked very hard to prepare and polish their debates in French and Spanish on the following topics:
In French:
- School uniform has no place in the 21st century.
- Holidays with friends are more enriching than family holidays.
- Extreme sports should be banned.
In Spanish:
- Cars should be banned in all towns and cities.
- Writing by hand should be compulsory in all schools.
- Online education is the future: Schools are obsolete.
All teams debated with confidence, skill and wit to get through the preliminary rounds. The finalists Ottie, Miles, Charlotte and Ella then had 10 minutes to prepare a surprise motion. They combined their linguistic flair and quick-thinking in a closely fought final debate and were rewarded with the winning title in both the French and Spanish events.
Director of Modern Languages at the College, Juan Sedeño commented on the pupils’ successes saying: “By taking part in a debating competition in a foreign language the pupils have not only made excellent headway on their GCSE speaking exam preparation, but also enjoyed a truly stimulating and motivational experience, both during the hours spent preparing, as well as on the day of the competition! Well done to all who took part.”
