A76176 Bancrofts Insight Newsletter Spring 2020 P3

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MO D E R N F O R E I G N L A N G UAG E S
It’s Nicer in Nice –
North London Collegiate French
Debating Competition
It is universally acknowledged that the best way to learn a language
is to go to the country where that language is spoken. Attending
France Langue in Nice for a week, meant I was totally immersed in
French. Living with a family, who could not speak English, meant that
I was listening and speaking French all day, every day.
I was on the French study trip to Nice from 27 October until 2
November with ten other pupils from the Fifth and Sixth Form.
Every morning we attended educational and fun French lessons.
They mainly focused on improving our spoken French, although
there was some writing involved. At the end of the course we
received a certificate, praising us on our progress.
Every afternoon we experienced an excursion to many of the
finest areas in the south of had a guided tour of Nice
which is located in the French Riviera and is the second largest
city on the Mediterranean visited the Old Town and
the market place. We visited beautiful Antibes which included
a visit to the Picasso Museum. I was fascinated by the luxury
yachts moored at the Port Vauban Marina - a very fashionable
and affluent area.The next afternoon we visited the Museum
of Modern and Contemporary Art in the heart of Nice which
contains 1300 works from 300 artists. In the evening we watched
Maléfique: Le Pouvoir du Mal at the had an excursion
to Monte Carlo with a guided tour. Although it was raining, Monte
Carlo was by far my favourite resort with its famous casino,
On Thursday 14 November,Vishaali Ganesh, Daniella Bradley,
Leya Dayal and Jemima Henderson participated in the North
London Collegiate French Debating competition. Our
competitors were Berkhamstead School, Haberdashers’ Aske’s
Boys School, Henrietta Barnett School and University College
School.The competition consisted of three tricky motions:
“Liberté, égalité, fraternité: une fiction française”, “La mondialisation
mène inévitablement à l’uniformisation culturelle” and “Il n’y a que les
Etats qui puissent sauver la planète”.
Once we arrived, we were given fifteen minutes to prepare the
motions, after which we were taken into separate rooms to begin
the debate. Before the debating began, the judge told us whether
we were arguing for or against the motion.The format consisted of
a one minute introduction, five minutes of “lutte acharnée” (a back-
and-forth-style argument) and concluded with a final statement
from each team.This was repeated for each of the motions against
both schools. After a successful first round for both Bancroft’s teams,
we unfortunately did not advance enjoyed the friendly
competitiveness and the experience enabled us to gain invaluable
skills which we plan to use in our next debating competition.
Jemima Strong, 5W
Vishaali Ganesh, L6W and Jemima Henderson, L6E
harbour and breath-taking scenery. It is Hollywood in France! The
next day we took a short journey to Menton andVentimiglia which
meant we actually crossed over the Italian border. In Menton we
visited the cemetery of the Old Chateau, negotiating a maze of
streets to the top of the Colla Rogna hill. In Ventimiglia we enjoyed
a pizza while watching the energy of the street market which ran
along the sea front. Before departing on Saturday, we went to
la plage in Nice and enjoyed a traditional had free time
to explore, eat ice cream and buy gifts.
Luce and Jean, the family I stayed with, were extremely kind and
hospitable.They fed us well, made us comfortable and encouraged
us to speak French all the time.This trip was enjoyable and
improved my spoken French tenfold.Thanks to Miss Grossmann
for organising and to Mr Young for accompanying us. C’était super!