Report: Annual Spanish Debating Competition

The annual National Spanish Debating Competition took place on Tuesday 23 May at Rangitoto College.

Sixteen teams from a number of schools around New Zealand took part in the Senior competition which is for students in Forms 6 and 7, and 11 teams took part in the Junior competition which Form 5 students can enter. Each team comprised of three members plus one reserve.

Auckland Grammar School entered one team in the Senior and one in the Junior section. The senior team (consisting of Form 6 students M. A. G. Galloway and B. J. Lindsey and Form 7 students N. R. Evans and M. W. Tyler) narrowly lost their first debate by one point, but won their second debate.

The junior team (consisting of Form 5 students L. Hao, A. Maganlal, Y. Xue and G. Z. Yuan) won each of their three debates and advanced to the finals against Kerikeri High School. The team argued convincingly for the moot ‘Foreign languages should be a compulsory part of the school curriculum’ and won the Junior section of the competition. They were each awarded with a $100 gift card and a certificate.

Congratulations to the team and to Head of Spanish M. McNeill for her support and guidance of the teams.