Xaverian Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) students have excelled themselves in taking first place in two of the three competitions for French, German and Spanish in the Northern Schools Debating Competition, hosted by Cheadle Hulme School recently.
Two of Xaverian’s teams surprised everyone, in only the second year the College has participated in the event, by winning the Spanish and German competitions and narrowly missing out in the French competition. Now in its 16th year, the competition is aimed at Year 12 and 13 students from sixth forms around Greater Manchester to use their MFL and debating skills and compete with other sixth forms in two preliminary rounds, with the highest-scoring students progressing through to the finals.
The Xaverian teams comprised Brooke Doyle from Ashton-Under-Lyne studying A Levels in Spanish, Biology and Chemistry, Avery Gunn from Woodley in Stockport studying A Levels in Classical Civilisation, English Literature and Spanish in the Spanish team, and Max Blackburn from South Manchester studying A Levels in German, Spanish, Mathematics and Further Mathematics, Finley Hettrick from Knutsford also studying A Levels in German, Spanish, Mathematics and Further Mathematics and Zaneta Sekula from Oldham studying A Levels in German, Law and Psychology in the German team.
Each round of head-to-head competitions was based on one of four statements in which both participating teams adopted a ‘for’ or ‘against’ position to debate the topic. Both teams scored enough points to reach the final where they were given the statement: ‘Life was better before mobile phones’ and both teams were tasked with coming up with arguments against the statement.
Finley, Max and Zaneta in this year’s German team, also formed the College’s German team as Year 12 students that participated in last year’s competition but didn’t progress through to the final. Finley commented:
“We found the two rounds a lot of fun. Our team felt less prepared for the rounds than the Spanish team, which may have helped us with spontaneity when debating which gave us an advantage in some of the debates, even if our arguments were not quite as strong as the arguments other teams had prepared but were a direct response to what our opponents said.
“I feel a lot more confident in my speaking skills and listening and understanding what is being said to me. Taking part in the competition was really good preparation for our final exams in the summer and where topics such as the ones we debated could easily come up in our speaking tests. I feel really proud of all of us in the way we worked so well together as a team, and to come out with two first places is amazing.”
On progressing to the final in the Spanish competition, former pupil of Marple Hall School, Avery said:
“We found our two debates exceeded our expectations and went surprisingly well. We felt our control of grammar and control of points and ability to follow logic in a foreign language proved to be stronger overall but both teams provided sufficient arguments to be good competitors.
“Learning languages at Xaverian has armed us with sufficient tools to reach that intermediate to advanced level in language and it’s proved itself to be really rewarding because it no longer feels mechanical to communicate and it’s really proved to me the value of a language as a whole. We all have our speaking exams coming up and, participating in the competition, will help us to overcome our nerves and approach the exams with more confidence in our ability.”
The achievement is the first time a state-funded sixth form has won the German competition and the second time such a sixth form has won the Spanish competition. The achievement of the German team is all the more impressive, particularly when it is considered that Zaneta, a former pupil of Saddleworth School and native Polish speaker, is hearing impaired and understood what the opposing team members were saying by lipreading.
The College’s French team narrowly missed out on a place in the final by winning their first two round matches but not scoring enough overall points to be one of the top two teams progressing to the final. The French team of Grace Cooke from Denton, Charlie Cotton from Stockport and Charlotte Taylor from Hyde were given the same statement and they argued convincingly to win by four points to three in both first-round matches in the French competition.
College Principal Tony Knowles commented on the students’ achievements by saying:
“We expected the students to perform well in the competition but to come back with victories in two out of the three competitions is a genuine surprise. The performance of our students has been exceptional and is a testament to their high levels of linguistic ability and debating skills as well as the commitment and dedication of our Xaverian MFL Teachers. I have no doubt the winning students will have bright futures ahead of them and they should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved against talented and skilled opposition.”
Both students are looking to continue studying and working with languages in the future. Avery commented:
“I’ll be participating in a year abroad in either South America or Spain, so I’ll definitely need a more versatile control of my language when it comes to impromptu conversations, so I think this competition, in forcing you to converse with strangers but also in circumstances that aren’t always under your control, will prove invaluable. In the future, I hope to go down the research or teaching route and complete a Master’s Degree, and then possibly progress onto a Doctorate, studying literature as a whole or comparative literature.”
Finley commented:
“I’m looking to start my career as a translator for the UN or the EU. I want to become fluent in Spanish and German, and learn other languages alongside these, working for government organisations translating documents or doing interpretations either live or behind the scenes. Experiences such as these are confirming in my mind that working languages is where my future lies, and I’m really excited about taking the next step.”
As one of the largest providers of post-16 education in the region, Xaverian College offers A Levels in French, German and Spanish, as well as a full range of other A Levels and Applied subjects. To find out more, visit xaverian.ac.uk – Learning Without Limits!
https://www.xaverian.ac.uk/