The French debating competition in the UK
The Joutes oratoires lycéennes is a French debating competition open to all sixth formers (or equivalent) which gathers every year several hundreds of young French learners, all sharing the same interest in practicing languages in a creative and challenging way.
Regional heats are organised across the country and allow to identify regional winners. The quarter final, the semi-final and the national final are organised at the Institut français du Royaume-Uni during the Mois de la Francophonie and bring several months of regional heats to a close. What a great way to enhance one’s capacity of critical thinking as well as one’s knowledge and understanding of the French-speaking world!
Participating in the Joutes oratoires lycéennes enables students to gain confidence in speaking French and to address current and captivating topics such as the environment, the Francophone world, etc. Participants learn to develop control of the language system and build coherent arguments, directly in French, interacting with their fellow contestants on the spot. They will also engage with French on a more daily basis, listening to the radio and coming up with idioms used by French speakers. In other words, they will become familiar with this language and have fun with it!
Winning contestants are awarded prizes such as book tokens or cinema vouchers to discover further Francophone cultures.
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