South West MFL Speaking Competition Regional Final

On the cold and rainy morning of the 29th June, two students, together with Miss Cossey, went to the University of Bristol to participate in the South West Modern Foreign Languages Speaking Competition Regional Final. They competed in French and Spanish against students from across the South West. The day began with interesting talks from Dr Steve Wharton and Professor Robert Vilain (the Routes South West Consortium project co-directors). Then a presentation was given by Paul Kaye (the language officer of the European Commission in the UK), who talked about the importance of learning languages, especially in an uncertain future. The morning started with the KS3 non-native speeches, which Lucia took part in. This was followed by the KS3 near-native speeches. The same process continued throughout KS4 to KS5. Our girls' speeches were ended with very appreciative rounds of applause. The break was accompanied by delicious food and a live performance of the song ‘Paradise’ by two girls who were the winners of the pop video competition last year. The afternoon started with the exciting prize-giving. Participants were all delighted that Lucia received the runners-up prize for her Spanish speech about her hometown. Also congratulations to Michela for a super speech in French and her presentation skills. As the prize-giving continued, there was also an award for Miss Cossey for her contributions to the Routes into Languages Project. The afternoon was followed by the prize-giving for the MFL pop video competition, which included many songs produced by different age groups; the videos and the songs were really catchy! It was a brilliant day, and everyone had fun listening to different languages and songs. Thank you to Miss Cossey who took our students on the trip and for encouraged them throughout.