THUNDER BAY — Students from St. Patrick and St. Ignatius High Schools competed to go to provincials in the Concours d’Art Oratoire on March 26, a 40-year-old French public speaking competition.
The event, hosted by the Canadian Parents for French, ran for its second year in the region with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board.
“It’s a national competition. Each province runs it and there are tens of thousands of students that take part in it,” said Hannah Persichino, who ran the competition.
“It’s a celebration of bilingualism and multiculturalism and student voice and choice. And it also promotes equity and diversity. So the big role of it is giving students a platform to speak about subjects that they’re passionate about.”
Christina Tassone, a Grade 11 St. Patrick High School student, won second in the immersion category. She began practicing with her French class for the competition earlier this year when it held an in-class competition, which selected a class winner to practice one-on-one with the teachers.
“It’s honestly a really amazing event to get all the core French and French immersion students from around the city to basically come together and just have a big celebration on being bilingual,” said Tassone.
"Because learning a second language, it’s hard, but it’s really an amazing thing and it’s just so much fun and it’s just amazing that we can all come together to celebrate that."
It could be a struggle sometimes learning a second language, she added, there are going to be tough times because it’s a challenge.
“But really, I think it’s so worth it because the reward is like no other and hard work pays off. And learning a second language, it’s honestly so fantastic and it is such a big accomplishment," said Tassone.
Last year, watching the competition, Tassone explained that she thought she could never do something so nerve-wracking, but role models showed her that people can do hard things and those things are what make them grow in life and make them better.
She said it feels great to be a role model for kids coming into high school.
“You could just show them that, even though it’s hard, we’re overcoming that fear and the more that you do it and the more that you practice, the better that you get. And it’s just a really great thing and I think it’s fantastic that we’re role models for the younger generation,” said Tassone.
Tinika Payne, a Grade 12 student from St. Ignatius High School, won third place in the Francophone category. She agreed it was amazing that they were able to come together as a community to celebrate their Francophonie.
"It’s just so awesome that we’re able to be bilingual and it’s celebrated by our peers,” said Payne.
Similar to Tassone, Payne had an in-class competition with all her peers and once the competitors were picked, she said they really focused on memorizing their speech and perfecting it.
“Bilingualism is honestly amazing and it’s a blessing. And I think that anybody who’s been thinking about learning a second language for whether it’s traveling purposes or career purposes, you should definitely pursue it,” said Payne.
“It’s just so amazing and communication is one of humans’ best blessings. And I think that when you know more than one language, you’re able to communicate with a vast amount of people.”
Payne added that it's amazing what they're doing and that younger generations are able to get exposed to these kinds of competitions early on.
“I’ve participated in a lot of clubs from my school. I’m currently the BIPOC (SAC representative) and so we’re all for reaching out to the younger generations so that once they do get into high school, they can feel prepared and confident,” said Payne.
The competition concluded with a draw to give one of the students another chance to win as voted by attendees.
