Kilmore’s St Patrick’s Primary School is once again taking part in the Alliance Française Berthe Mouchette Competition and has so far recorded its most successful year to date.
Eight students across grades three to five have been selected to take part in the finals this month, following the previous benchmarks of one finalist in 2021 and two finalists, including a third-place finish, last year.
The school entered about 50 students into this year’s competition, making up a small percentage of the 6300 total registered entrants across years three to 12.
St Pats’ French teacher Quentin Berlatier said he was proud of the work and strength of the school’s French program.
“We really enjoyed going last year and one of our students came third, so it was great to see little St Patrick’s Primary School [go to] the city up against all the big private schools,” he said.
“It just really shows by the numbers that are participating and the numbers that are practising that all of their families are putting in a lot of effort at home.”
This year’s event is the 129th edition of the Berthe Mouchette Competition, with finalists selected following a Zoom conference call that required participants to perform their French piece to an assessor from the Alliance Française de Melbourne.
Grade five students Lily, Grace and Jordan were selected in this year’s finals, while grade four featured returning competitor Chloe along with Cattleya and Mikayla.
Grade three students Arlo and Keshana will also take part in the finals, which are set to be hosted via Zoom on August 20.
Despite the success, Mr Berlatier said he felt more students could have been selected but was impressed with the French skills of all of school’s finalists.
“We’re just so amazed with how some of them sound, there’s some that didn’t get through that I just thought ‘you sound better at French than I do’,” he said.
“It’s so amazing how they can just pick up the accent without any trouble whatsoever, whereas when you try to teach French to an adult they sound very Aussie when they’re speaking.
“It’s very impressive and I’m flabbergasted that we got eight through to the finals, I think they sound amazing and there’s every chance we’ll do well.”
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