Primary and Secondary students came together on Friday 10th of May, when French students in Years 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10 took part in the annual Berthe Mouchette French Poetry Competition. Year 9 students at Melton also participated in the competition on Wednesday 8th of May.
This competition, held annually in Victoria for 130 years, marks the 8th consecutive year in which Heathdale has taken part. It involves students learning a poem by heart (with a different poem for each year level) and reciting it to the examiners live on Zoom. With the Olympic Games in Paris this year, all poems centred around the theme of sport. The poems recited by our students were:
Year 4: "Mon vélo est blanc" by Anne Sylvestre
Year 5: "Nos langues dansent la danse de la terre" by Wanir Wélépane
Year 6: "Super Skate" by Rika Zarai
Year 9: "La vie c’est comme un match de foot" by Les Enfantastiques
Year 10: "Dépasse tes limites" by Blacko
The students spent weeks preparing for the competition. After reciting their poems, they were rewarded with a French morning tea consisting of a bottle of the iconic French drink, Orangina, and some French biscuits.
While we won’t know our results until June, the competition provided students with experience using some of the French they had learned in the classroom in an unfamiliar environment — a valuable skill. All in all, it was a great day of French culture, hopefully putting everyone in the mood for the Paris Olympics!