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12 MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Pret À Parler
Fran Neagle-Haley, L6S
On Tuesday 31 January, the Lower
and Upper Sixth French students
attended a soirée at Provender,
a contemporary brasserie in
Wanstead, for an event Mrs
Whalley had named “Pret à Parler”
We didn’t really know what to expect but
knew It would be an excellent opportunity
for us to practise our French speaking outside
of the classroom in a more relaxed and fun
atmosphere. At first it was a little strange
speaking French to our friends but this has
given all of us much more confidence in
speaking without worrying about making
mistakes. After having ordered our food with
the French speaking waiters, we began the
evening by playing ‘Who am I?’ where we had
to guess what celebrity/ character we had
been assigned by answering yes/no questions.
We continued speaking French for the rest of
what was both an educational and enjoyable
event. There was a real buzzy atmosphere
and everyone felt at ease. Thank you to Mrs
Whalley for organizing such an entertaining
and very different evening. Mrs Whalley has
suggested joining up with other schools next
time and we think this would be a wonderful
idea. We cannot wait for the next soirée!
North And Central London Spanish
Debating Competition
Sonali Arora, L6N
The Inter School Spanish
Debating Competition took
place on Thursday 26 January at
Westminster School, and a group
of Sixth Form Hispanists, including
myself, had the opportunity to take
part. In fact, the experience was so
remarkable that we returned home
victorious.
It is fair to say that we did not know what
to expect over the fewmonths before the
debate took place. An email fromMr Urreaga
mentioning the debate, and how thrilling
it would be, urged me, Dafyyd Prole, Eloise
Montanana and Aarani Balakumar to sign
up to represent Bancroft’s in this annual
competition. Finding out after preparation had
started that we would be competing against
the likes of Westminster, Haileybury, North
London Collegiate School and even Eton,
added a load of nerves to our excitement. We
met up almost every day for the couple of
weeks before and practised debating against
each other. We had been sent the three
motions of the debate by Westminster School:
whether or not Fidel Castro’s dictatorship
destroyed Cuba; if assisted death is adequate
for everyone, and whether technological
advancements have given us great happiness.
You may think that the debate cannot have
been that hard if we knew the topics in
advance, but what we did not find out was
if we were supporting the motion or not. In
other words, we had to be ready for anything.
Following a complicated journey from school
to Westminster (please bear in mind our
misfortune of a tube strike) and witnessing
Aarani’s somewhat bewildering use of
Google Maps to get us to a local Starbucks,
the debate began. After a few rounds of 90
second speeches, “lucha encarnizada” (the
intense debating) and inventing summaries,
Dafyyd and I were pleased to find out that
we were through to the semi-finals, against
North London Collegiate School. We were not
particularly ready to spend the next twenty
minutes in an isolated room by ourselves,
without the help of our phones or our
teachers, to prepare for a title which we had
just been given (in support of competition
amongst children). Immediately after we
finished writing, the semi-finals began and,
although incredibly intense and heated, we
made it to the finals. This meant returning to
the isolated room to prepare for the final topic
(that we should not have complete freedom of
expression) before walking into the final and
witnessing who we were up against…Eton!
Nevertheless we did the best we could and
defeated them to win the overall competition.
It would be an understatement to say that this
experience was incredible, it truly was one of
the most rewarding things I have ever done. I
recommend anyone to take part in a debate
if possible. You do not need to worry about
having the best language or debating skills, it
is simply an opportunity to meet new people
and have fun. Our greatest thanks go to Elena
Morales and Mr Urreaga, not only for letting
us compete but also for giving up their time to
help us prepare, ensuring that we did the best
we could and did not give up. Without their
support, I could not imagine us getting this far.
¡Muchas gracias por todo!