City teen talks his way to the top
Top-notch French-speaking scholar Alistair Keay-graham has won a national competition and scored a trip to New Caledonia.
The 16-year-old is the year 12 winner of the National Concours Oral assessments. He was one of 14 year 12 students who qualified for the final test, after earning first or second in their region in a written French exam.
During the test, Alistair spoke in French about himself, answered questions and carried out a conversation in a scenario where he had lost his train ticket.
He began learning French in year 9 at Palmerston North Boys’ High School because taking another language or music was compulsory, and has loved being able to speak and think in a new tongue.
‘‘I chose it because it’s spoken around a lot of the countries of the world. It’s really cool to be able to read things and really understand it, and then when you get the chance to speak to people here at Alliance Francaise [the French cultural and language centre], you can speak with them and understand what they are saying, and you know you have really worked for that. It’s a really cool feeling.’’
Alistair has no family connection to the French language. His proficiency has come from his efforts at school and extra study at home. Conversational French is harder than reading or writing, he said, as you are on the spot to formulate your sentences quickly.
‘‘My French teacher always says immerse yourself as much as you can in language, even watch a movie in French with subtitles, read a book in English and try to translate it in your head, and try to think about things in French – just your idle thoughts.’’
A three-week school field trip to France earlier this year made a big difference to his speaking ability, Alistair said. He is looking forward to more practice during his trip to New Caledonia, where he is excited about spending time on the beach.
Alliance Francaise administrator Isabelle Poff Pencole said Alistair’s French is ‘‘very fluent’’ and the Palmerston North branch is proud to have a local winner.
Alistair hopes to continue sitting French Ministry of Education exams next year and to earn a university entrance grade to study law in France.