On Tuesday 1^st February, four French A level students (myself, Eden, Jude and Eli) went to Saint Paul’s School for Girls in Hammersmith for a French debating competition. 

There, we competed against many other prestigious schools for example: Hampton, City of London, Westminster, and Eton. Through the course of the evening, each pair took part in three debates. We had been given the motions (which were: ‘The Global Success of K-pop Does More Harm Than Good’; ‘An Elected President Is Preferable To A Parliamentary Monarchy’; and ‘We Have A Moral Obligation To Renounce All Food That Contributes To Climate Change’) a few weeks prior and so were able to prepare arguments for both for and against. We had to prepare arguments for both sides as we were only told at the start of the debate which side we would be on. 

On the train journey there, we were all extremely nervous, frantically reading through our notes and practising with each other.  I think most of our fear stemmed from the unknowing as we had never been to the school before or competed in another language.  We were particularly worried as we didn’t know how our level of speaking would compare to those of other schools.  We are also very inexperienced when it comes to debating in English, let alone in French! Despite our nerves, we tried to stay as calm as possible and focus on rehearsing our points. 

Shortly after we arrived, we were given a welcome talk where we were told how the debates would run and were given a list our competitors. Each team was made up of two people.  From our school, Eden and I were on a team together and Jude and Eli were a pair.  All the debates took place simultaneously, with the four competitors in each room and one or two judges as well as any teachers who wanted to sit in. The debates lasted for around 15 minutes each and consisted of: a two-minute introduction from each member of both teams, a four minute “lutte acharnée” (free debate) and a minute long summary from each team.

Once we got into the debate, we realised that nerves were not warranted.  In fact, our level of French was just as good as the other schools, and we were able to understand and respond suitably. Once we immersed ourselves into the debate, we suddenly felt a lot more confident, and as though we were able to respond easily without much of a second thought about how to structure our sentences, it all came quite naturally.  On the occasions that we did get a bit stuck, we helped each other out by continuing the other person’s sentence. It felt very reassuring to have Eden by my side and we felt like a true team when we could sense the other person’s struggle and were able to help them out. 

At the end of our three debates, we were invited for refreshments and to hear which teams qualified for the next round.  We caught up with Jude and Eli and got to talk about the debates/our experience.  Unfortunately, Eden and I did not qualify for the next round, but the judges did emphasise how difficult it was for them to decide.  We believe our main downfall was relying on our notes too much and using them as a safety blanket. The judges however, commended our teamwork and the points we raised both in our introductions and the free debate.  Jude and Eli, like us, were commended on the quality of their arguments. Although we didn’t manage to qualify, we have learnt a lot from the experience and cannot wait to go next year and hopefully qualify for the next round using our newfound knowledge!

Although we were very nervous during the weeks preceding the debate, we all thoroughly enjoyed the experience and agreed we would recommend it to anyone. I am proud of us for facing our fears and going out of our comfort zone to debate in an entirely different language with people from some of the best schools in South London, most of whom were a year older.  We are very grateful to our teachers for helping us prepare, reassuring us and pushing us to go. It was an exciting, valuable, and interesting experience. 

-Jess McLaughlin, Year 12