A man called Frank Smith once said: “One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.”

Some of our second language learners, namely the senior French students, took part in the recent Language Perfect World Championships.

The students were challenged to learn and revise as many words as they could over a period of 10 days. This year we had really pleasing results – 6 students participated, learning thousands of words and expressions, mostly in French, but they were free to try other languages too!

Roncalli College gained second place for French in New Zealand out of the 47 schools with under 50 French students – we were beaten only by Wanganui College with their 42 students!

Individual certificates went to the following students:

Jess Guiney earned over 600 points - Credit Award

Neve Brown earned nearly two thousand points – Bronze Award

Gold Awards are for students who earned over 3000 points, answering around 7000 questions – these were gained by to Charlotte Clarke and Morgan Oudemans.

Finally, Rebeka Brown gained an Elite Award, answering 22 500 questions and earning over 10 000 points. This placed her in the top 0.2 % of 350 000 competitors from around the world. Well done Rebeka!

Congratulations – félicitations - to all these students for their perseverance and determination!

I can assure them and other language learners that one day, doors will open to new horizons because of these early steps in tackling a second language.

Mrs S Thomas