Our students competing at public-speaking competition

Students from the Lutheran Middle and High Schools enjoyed success in inter-school English language competitions during February.

Speaker’s Corner

This is a national public-speaking competition which is held every year at a high school in Žilina. There are four separate age categories for years 8 and 9 of middle school (12-14 years), juniors (14-15 years), intermediate (16-17 years) and senior (18-19 years). We entered one student for each of the first three categories.

Samuel Chalupka, a year 8 student from our middle school, finished third in his category with a speech about the importance of having goals in life.

Daniel Dulla, from year 2 of our high school, was the winner of the junior category for the second year running. He made two speeches at the event; the first, in the semi-final round was about ‘social illnesses’ (such as obesity and depression) and their causes. His topic in the final round was ‘Slovakia is a destination for all’.

Mária Šimová was our student in the intermediate category. Her speech in the semi-final round was about ‘how Slovakia should protect its sources of fresh water’. Although she did not progress to the final, it was a well-researched speech, with plenty of ideas on how Slovakia could address this issue.

Olympiada

This competition is organised on behalf of the Slovak Ministry of Education in a series of rounds, from individual schools, through regional rounds, and concluding in a national final. It tests all language skills, to a higher level than students are used to at school, and success in it earns students points for high school and university applications. We had two students participating in February’s regional rounds in Čadca.

Alžbeta Bieliková, a year 7 middle-school student, was our represetative in the 1C category. This category is for ‚bilingual’ students, including those who have an English-speaking parent, have lived abroad, or have a bilingual education. Alžbeta was placed 11^th out of 16 students, which is a very creditable performance, considering the advantages the other competitors had and that it was her first Olympiada. Her excellent performance in the school round also deserves to be remembered.

Dominika Trofimenková was our high school‘s representative in 2C1, a category for students who have a bilingual education or have lived abroad for up to six months. The category is not divided by age – students from 14-19 can be entered into it – so Dominika did exceptionally well to finish third out of eight.

Thanks to all the students named above for their performances and for representing the school. Thanks also to those who joined the school rounds of Olympiada and, in several cases, made it difficult to choose the two who would go to the regional round.

James Baxter,
English speaking teacher at Lutheran Academy

***