Oundle pupil debaters, Flora Smith (17) and Lucy Cairns (16) recently won the Lower Sixth Form French competition in the Independent Schools Modern Languages Association Eastern Regions Modern Foreign Languages debating event held at The Perse in Cambridge.
Teams debated in pairs against another pair, with each member of the team giving an introductory speech for two minutes (using notes as little as possible), before the more challenging section with four minutes of ‘lutte acharnée’ (open debate) in which the gloves were off and the moderator controlled proceedings. Finally, one debater summed up for a minute, often by pointing out the flaws in the opposing argument, before the judges reached a decision based on criteria such as quality of French, spontaneity, variety of argument and the ability to react to and skewer specific points made by the opposition.
Flora and Lucy reached the Final by debating motions such as ‘Male/female equality has already been achieved’ and ‘Brexit should happen as soon as possible’. The Final was an unseen motion that they had just fifteen minutes to prepare – ‘l’art ne sert à rien’. (Art serves no purpose).
Head of French, Scott Jessop commented, “The Oundle girls fought off competition from eight other independent schools and the standard of French and overall debate was very impressive. They carried the day by arguing that art was an abstract middle-class indulgence in an ever more polarised world, fending off howls of protest from their opponents! The competition is excellent for developing oral skills as it makes the candidates think on their feet in authentic French and the girls reacted well to being pushed well beyond their comfort zone.”
The girls will compete in the National Finals later in the year.