Les Joutes Oratoires
18 March 2024 - Academic
At the end of February, Tacha (LVI) and Nadia (LVI) took part in the Regional French Debating competition, the Joutes Oratoires, which was held at RGS High Wycombe. They had worked extremely hard preparing their debates on the dangers of video games, the relevance of the Olympics, and the threat of Artificial Intelligence to art, not knowing until a minute before each debate whether they were arguing for or against each motion.
Competing against pupils in Year 12 and Year 13, Nadia and Tacha debated with eloquence, conviction, humour, and sometimes force, they were an impressive team. They triumphed in the first rounds and went through to the final where they had 15 minutes to prepare a debate on la gastronomie française without the aid of computers, phones, or Mme Nott!
After a heated debate against a formidable team, Tacha and Nadia were proclaimed the winners! This win meant they moved through to the National Final at the Institut Français held this month.
A week before the final, they received their motions. Once again, they didn’t know whether they were arguing for or against capping energy tariffs and making public transport free, until shortly before the debate. They were wonderful ambassadors for the School, and after very narrowly losing their first debate, they took on board the comments from the judges and went on to win their second debate. They did not quite make it to the final, but Tacha was awarded the ‘coup de coeur’ certificate for her quick-witted and at times amusing responses.
This is a remarkable achievement for both Nadia and Tacha, and the French Department is extremely proud of their success.
Mme Lucy Nott
Head of Modern Languages
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