Mr Kelly, English teacher at the LFCG, teamed up with Catherine Healy of the Lycée Français Jean Monnet in Brussels (LFJM) enrolling his class in her speech contest project.
Mr Kelly’s 3eme pupils took part and demonstrated amazing public speaking talent in front of a webcam!
Nicola Creighton, from the Lycée Français d’Irlande (LFI), one of the impartial judges of the competition, gives her feedback on the winners’ performances.
“[…] All of the winning students had a very high level of English, so I wasn't focussed so much on non-native competence. Their pronunciation and intonation was extremely good, as was the matching of speech to gesture and body language more broadly, though some students excelled in the latter.
1st place ex aequo Not only was Iyed (3°7) inspired by Watson's speech but he said he had changed his own behaviour as a result of hearing it. That is the greatest impact a speech can have, and the way he delivered his made it ring true: there was such maturity, authenticity and seriousness in how he spoke that it was impossible not to be stopped in one's tracks. But as a listener, I also had the sense that he had made the speech his own: he spoke authentically and with total conviction, as though those were his words and thoughts. His delivery was sovereign and compelling, with excellent pacing, intonation and gesture. Outstanding!
1st place ex aequo Mailen's (LFJM) performance was equally remarkable. Her material was a challenging choice, which she contextualised very well in terms of her own interest in it. She is to be commended for having the courage to speak about such a difficult topic and confront her listeners with it. She brought the matter home to us in a compelling way, using authentic body language and excellent pacing and intonation. Highly impressive!
Soren (LFJM), in second place, gave us a delightful rendition of Charlie Chaplin's Great Dictator speech, which is no mean feat, given its relative remove from us compared to the other students' material. Soren's version was throbbing with life and animated with conviction. He gave us well-paced drama and even with occasionally histrionic intonation he carried it off with aplomb. Marvellous!
Eve (3°7) and Nora (LFJM) roll up for joint third place. Eve performed 'If' by Rudyard Kipling with remarkably original delivery and contextualised it beautifully, impressing on the audience the place this poem had in her grandmother's and her own life. Touching!
Nora's performance of Adichie's speech 'We Should All be Feminists' was extremely good in gesture, tone and pacing, and it got better along the way, becoming thoroughly natural from the middle onwards, when it felt like Nora was really settling into her abilities and relishing the chance to share those ideas with us. Compelling!
Special Jury Awards
Uma's (3°8) original performance of 'Still I Rise' was very brave - not easy to stand up and rap in a space where most others are 'only' speaking! There is another dimension to adding rhythm and music and that was very much appreciated. Bravo!
Tara (LFJM) tackled a difficult topic, depression, and gave the sense that she owned the words and thoughts she delivered. Her seriousness was impressive and her body language was very measured and appropriate to the material. Authentic!
Fleur (3°7) gave us 'How Did You Die?' by Edmund Vance Cooke and packed a punch with this unsparing poem. She used the full range of gesture and tone to convey the poem's unflinching message. Challenging!
Well done to everyone who performed. It was a joy to participate and thanks again, Catherine, for inviting me to be a member of the jury, it was an honour.”
Mr Kelly, English teacher at the LFCG, teamed up with Catherine Healy of the Lycée Français Jean Monnet in Brussels (LFJM) enrolling his class in her speech contest project.
Mr Kelly’s 3eme pupils took part and demonstrated amazing public speaking talent in front of a webcam!
Nicola Creighton, from the Lycée Français d’Irlande (LFI), one of the impartial judges of the competition, gives her feedback on the winners’ performances.
“[…] All of the winning students had a very high level of English, so I wasn't focussed so much on non-native competence. Their pronunciation and intonation was extremely good, as was the matching of speech to gesture and body language more broadly, though some students excelled in the latter.
1st place ex aequo Not only was Iyed (3°7) inspired by Watson's speech but he said he had changed his own behaviour as a result of hearing it. That is the greatest impact a speech can have, and the way he delivered his made it ring true: there was such maturity, authenticity and seriousness in how he spoke that it was impossible not to be stopped in one's tracks. But as a listener, I also had the sense that he had made the speech his own: he spoke authentically and with total conviction, as though those were his words and thoughts. His delivery was sovereign and compelling, with excellent pacing, intonation and gesture. Outstanding!
1st place ex aequo Mailen's (LFJM) performance was equally remarkable. Her material was a challenging choice, which she contextualised very well in terms of her own interest in it. She is to be commended for having the courage to speak about such a difficult topic and confront her listeners with it. She brought the matter home to us in a compelling way, using authentic body language and excellent pacing and intonation. Highly impressive!
Soren (LFJM), in second place, gave us a delightful rendition of Charlie Chaplin's Great Dictator speech, which is no mean feat, given its relative remove from us compared to the other students' material. Soren's version was throbbing with life and animated with conviction. He gave us well-paced drama and even with occasionally histrionic intonation he carried it off with aplomb. Marvellous!
Eve (3°7) and Nora (LFJM) roll up for joint third place. Eve performed 'If' by Rudyard Kipling with remarkably original delivery and contextualised it beautifully, impressing on the audience the place this poem had in her grandmother's and her own life. Touching!
Nora's performance of Adichie's speech 'We Should All be Feminists' was extremely good in gesture, tone and pacing, and it got better along the way, becoming thoroughly natural from the middle onwards, when it felt like Nora was really settling into her abilities and relishing the chance to share those ideas with us. Compelling!
Special Jury Awards
Uma's (3°8) original performance of 'Still I Rise' was very brave - not easy to stand up and rap in a space where most others are 'only' speaking! There is another dimension to adding rhythm and music and that was very much appreciated. Bravo!
Tara (LFJM) tackled a difficult topic, depression, and gave the sense that she owned the words and thoughts she delivered. Her seriousness was impressive and her body language was very measured and appropriate to the material. Authentic!
Fleur (3°7) gave us 'How Did You Die?' by Edmund Vance Cooke and packed a punch with this unsparing poem. She used the full range of gesture and tone to convey the poem's unflinching message. Challenging!
Well done to everyone who performed. It was a joy to participate and thanks again, Catherine, for inviting me to be a member of the jury, it was an honour.”