Languages News
Alliance Française Berthe Mouchette Competition
Finalists for Nossal!
This year our VCE French students once again participated in the annual Berthe Mouchette Competition run by the Alliance Française de Melbourne. While students were able to complete the written exam in school and between school lockdown periods, the oral component was conducted via an online zoom conference.
It is with great excitement that I announce Andrea Thaithong (Year 11) as state finalist in the oral exam section and Joel Whitcher (Year 12) as a state finalist in both the written and oral exam section. Andrea has shared her experience below:
The Berthe Mouchette competition proved to be one of the most memorable moments that I had when I competed in 2017. Naturally, I was very thrilled to find out that the Unit 1/2 French class would be participating in the very same competition this year. It is held by the Alliance Francaise de Melbourne and consists of participants ranging from Year 3 to Year 12.
Students in Year 3 to Year 10 are assessed on their recital of a French poem while students in Year 11 and 12 are evaluated on their general conversation skills as well as a poetry recital or a discussion of a theme studied in class and a written exam. The peculiar situation of this year meant that all participants were assessed via Zoom call (which to my dismay, meant that we couldn’t visit the actual Alliance Francaise where they handed out Pain au Chocolat and Chocolat chaud to students. Quel dommage!).
Upon hearing the news that Joel and I were competing in the state finals, I was overjoyed but also intimidated. The finals consisted of a four-minute general conversation with two assessors. Overall, I had a good experience with my two assessors, Sara and Jean-Paul. The conversation went smoothly and shifted from the topic of my family to my experience of learning French. I have found this competition to be good practice for the real VCE oral exam and I look forward to competing again next year to see if I improve!
Félicitations Andrea and Joel!
Yvonne Sly
Languages Domain Leader