Concours d’éloquence 2022 - French reading out loud competition

They competed successfully against schools such as Culford, The Leys, King’s Ely, Swavesey, and Soham. The Alliance Française was very impressed with the high standard of all entries. Our Year 7 student was fantastic, she started the competition with Le Petit Nicolas and did really well.

All the Key Stage 4 entrants were given a free day GCSE revision course at the Alliance Française. We are thrilled to say that both our Year 13 students, Amogh and Leon won the gold and silver prizes with their reading from ‘Boule de suif’ by Guy de Maupassant. They each won a free DELF exam entry which is worth £120 per person. We are really proud of all of our students. Here are some quotes (originally written in French) from some of the students who took part.

“In the first week of October, a group of students from the Stephen Perse participated in a French concours d’éloquence held at King’s Ely and organised by the Alliance Française in Cambridge. This competition was an opportunity for us to challenge ourselves by presenting a piece of French Literature to a large crowd, where we were judged for our ability to adhere to the rules and nuances of French tone and pronunciation. I chose to present an extract from ‘Boule de Suif’ written by the famous French author Guy de Maupassant.

I found this competition enriching in terms of interacting with a large number of people with whom I shared a common love of the French language and French culture. It was an opportunity to improve my own French pronunciation through my own oratorical presentation, and it was also an opportunity to learn from the way in which a huge range of literary works were presented by people from across the East Anglia region. It was incredible!

We were fortunate enough to secure the first and second prizes in the Key Stage 5 category, a proud moment for us and for Stephen Perse. As a result of this, we have been invited to participate in the DELF exam in the summer, which will be another great learning experience.” Amogh - Year 13

“It was fun to do the Concours d’éloquence. I enjoyed practising speaking French and performing. It was good and I learnt about speaking to an audience. The food and drink at the event was great. I am hoping to do the Concours d’eloquence in the future if it happens again.” Astrid - Year 7

“There was a very welcoming atmosphere and they had mozzarella sticks so it was a great event! It helped me with French pronunciation and has given me some very useful experience for the exams.” Henry - Year 11