French-speaking students from Williams Lake once again had an opportunity to participate in a province-wide speaking competition on May 4.
Students from both Columneetza Junior Secondary School and Lake City Secondary School made the trip down to Surrey to participate in the competition, which had the students present a three to five-minute speech in French and then responded to questions from the judges.
The students were able to choose nearly whatever topic they might imagine, so speeches ranged from the educational to the experiential.
The 2024 B.C. and Yukon Concours d’art oratoire (called the Speak Off in English), was open to grades 6 through 12 and took place at the Simon Fraser University Surrey campus.
Colin O’Keefe, Grade 7 French immersion teacher at Columneetza said he had learned a lot from going last year, and this year he took five students down for it, after two students attended last year.
The Williams Lake students were some of the top speakers from Grades 7 through 11 in Williams Lake and one even earned a medal at the competition.
Holden Dell, a Grade 7 student spoke on reducing, reusing and recycling, talking about putting the emphasis on reusing and reducing rather than recycling. Holden won second among the Grade 7 French immersion students.
Holden said he had been practicing a lot for the question and answer section of the competition by having his classmates ask him lots of questions.
“I didn’t actually think I was going to win because there were a lot of good people out there,” he said of his fellow students at the event.
Bryar Graham was the Grade 8 speaker who went and said the event went well for her, when she presented her speech on why she thinks university should be free.
Bryar said she was very grateful she was chosen to go and she gained confidence in her French speaking.
Arianna Edwards, in Grade 11, spoke on animal conservation.
“I thought it was really fun and I got to meet a lot of nice people,” she said of the competition.
Hannah Webster, a Grade 10 French-speaking student, presented her speech on why she didn’t like being a 15-year-old girl. O’Keefe said many other students listening were nodding along as Hannah spoke.
Hannah also said the event was a really cool learning opportunity, and a good way to see what is out there.
“I totally like that I’m able to have the opportunity to learn another language and to have that opportunity in school,” she said.
Noemi Searls, another French teacher at Columneetza also traveled to Surrey with the group.
“It was so cool and it was so exciting to hear them using their French,” she said of the Williams Lake students.
Searls said she thought the Williams Lake students were just as good if not better than the students they competed against and she is looking forward to applying everything she learned in preparing students for competition next year.
READ MORE: Williams Lake French immersion students compete at Speak Off in Surrey
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