We are delighted to be able to report that after four hours of intense debating we managed to regain the crown of the Spanish Debating Competition. The event took place at Whitgift School on Wednesday 27 January. A total of 24 teams entered, representing many of the top independent and selective state schools in the country and the standard of the competition was higher than ever.
Gaia Pipitone and Simon Cremer performed extremely well, arguing persuasively on a variety of prepared topics, from ‘Las nuevas tecnologías acabarán con el estudio de las lenguas’ to ‘Es hora de que Cataluña se independice de España’. After defeating a long line of teams on their way to the final, they then had just 15 minutes to prepare their arguments on the final ‘unseen’ topic which was whether the death penalty should be introduced in Europe to tackle terrorism.
Animated, articulate and confident, both Gaia and Simon spoke with conviction and maturity, and the judges, amongst them the Spanish Embassy’s Education Adviser, were hugely impressed both with their linguistic ability and their ideas. Their prize for winning the event is an all-expenses paid language course in Salamanca with Mester language academy.
Given that both Gaia and Simon study Spanish at Standard Level this is a remarkable achievement and they should be justly proud of themselves.
