Local French immersion students are off to the provincial level of Le Concours d'art oratoire.
Comox Valley Schools sent a release congratulating its students who excelled at Le Concours, a prestigious French public speaking competition organized nationwide by Canadian Parents for French.
The district-level competition saw winners chosen from among hundreds of participants from École Puntledge Park Elementary, École Robb Road Elementary, and Mark R. Isfeld Secondary.
Le Concours d’art oratoire challenges students to write and memorize speeches on topics of their choice, presenting them before judges who evaluate their expression, memorization, quality of French, depth of knowledge, and their responses to impromptu questions.
This year's district winners earned the right to represent Comox Valley Schools at the provincial competition on May 3 at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey Campus.
The winners this year are:
- Grade 6 Early French Immersion: Kate Szkwarek (École Robb Road) – Intelligence artificielle
- Grade 6 Late French Immersion: Hannah Bain (École Puntledge Park) – Le camping sauvage
- Grade 6 Francophone: Erika Gabourie (École Robb Road) – Le bilinguisme
- Grade 7 Early French Immersion: Lexi Kapalka (École Robb Road) – Les énergies renouvelables
- Grade 7 Late French Immersion: Asher Ozirney (École Puntledge Park) – Les raisons pour lesquelles l'OTAN devrait aider d'avantage l'Ukraine
- Grade 7 Francophone: Naima Douillard (École Robb Road) – Les devoirs
- Grade 8 Early French Immersion: Hudson Van Tongeren (Mark R. Isfeld Secondary) – Pourquoi tout le monde a besoin d’un animal (Hudson previously won first place provincially in Grade 7 last year.)
- Grade 8 Late French Immersion: Nellie Hund (Mark R. Isfeld Secondary) – Impact de Covid
- Grade 8 Francophone: Clara LeBlanc (Mark R. Isfeld Secondary) – Les bénéfices d’apprendre une nouvelle langue
- Grade 9 Early French Immersion: Zuri Koernig (Mark R. Isfeld Secondary) – Les dangers des concours de beauté pour les enfants
- Grade 9 Francophone: Béatrice Sauvageau (Mark R. Isfeld Secondary) – La réalité des femmes Afghane
This year's competition was particularly special as it marked the first year of collaboration with the revitalized Comox Valley Chapter of Canadian Parents for French, which had previously been inactive for nearly a decade.
"Congratulations to all participants and best of luck to our talented students advancing to provincials!" the release from SD71 says.
For more information about Le Concours d’art oratoire, visit: .
