First prizes awarded in cross-border oratory competition
This year, eleven young secondary school students from France and Germany on either side of the Rhine, chosen after qualifiers, were invited to provide, in the language of their neighbouring countries, their point of view as to the following question they were assigned: ‘You’re being invited to think about the improvement of Franco-German cohabitation in the Rhine border region. What measures would you take?’
The final took place in Strasbourg, capital of the Grand Est region. Rector of the University of Strasbourg, and the French Consul General in Stuttgart, Gaël de Maisonneuve, were present as guests of honour and welcomed this initiative to develop learning of the neighbour language to fluency, wishing the young people the best of luck with their commitments.
The finalist had provided a number of proposals: the creation of places in schools for Franco-German interaction, training ‘language ambassadors’ or setting up teacher-led online seminars … The young people were able to present all these initiatives engagingly and with talent, thereby winning over both audience and jury.
The first prize in the Oratory Competition was awarded by the Honorary Consulate to Paul Caruyer, student at the Wagenburg Gymnasium school in Stuttgart, and Valentin Buche, student at the Collège Jean Sturm in Strasbourg.