Four TSIMS students achieved joint fourth place in the annual Taunton School Junior Inter-House Debating Challenge, with all students participating in their second language.
Year 9 students Adriano Nogara and Kalani Tam and Year 10 students Louise Gillot and Artjom Astapenko made up the team which together won 41 points in the competition. The students competed in a number of categories including: Persuasive Speaking, Interpretative Reading, Impromptu and a general Main Debate.
The stand out performance came from Year 10 student Louise, from France, who achieved 2nd place for her interpretative reading of ‘Refugee Boy’ by Benjamin Zephaniah. Her passion and connection with the text showed a real understanding of the issues refugees face on a daily basis.
In addition, Year 10 student Artjom, from Estonia, came third in the Impromptu category, confidently arguing the value of ham and pineapple pizzas with only a minute to prepare!
In the Main Debate, which is always the highlight of this competition, Year 10 student Louise and Year 9 student Kalani, from Hong Kong, opposed the motion ‘Patriotism is a bad thing’ and placed 4th out of the 12 competing houses. This was a fabulous result as neither of these students had ever debated formally before.
At TSIMS, students have the chance to participate in speaking and presenting challenges as part of their academic and co-curricular programmes, as well as being involved in drama and creative arts activities. There is also a weekly debating club which is very popular.
Categories: International