Pupils Excel in Languages' Poetry Competition
Senior School linguists put their skills to the test in our annual Modern Foreign Languages poetry recital competition.
Senior School linguists put their skills to the test in our annual Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) poetry recital competition. Over 40 students from our First to Sixth Forms recited set poems in Spanish or French – often from memory – in front of an audience of their peers and a panel of judges comprising Prep and Senior teachers fluent in French and Spanish. With each competitor already a heat winner, pupils were judged on the accuracy of their pronunciation and memorisation as well as the quality of their interpretation of poems, by authors such as Federico García Lorca and Arthur Rimbaud.
The judges were very pleased with the quality of the entrants, with Señora Eickhoff remarking that pupils are really flourishing in their second language. Mme Bonnaud was particularly pleased with one Third Former's excellent interpretation of the translated poem Quand ils sont venus by Martin Niemoller. Another highlight was one Sixth Former's use of gesture in 20 poemas de amor y una canción desesperada, which featured a kiss blown to the audience - a real crowd pleaser!
Mme Hassall said: “Winners will be announced soon by the Headmaster, but in the meantime our congratulations are extended to all those who mustered the courage to compete and who demonstrated such fantastic linguistic ability.”
Poetry Recital Highlights - Watch Below