Four high schools from Montreuil in competition and the final on May 20th… For three years, the eloquence competition, launched by the city of Montreuil, has aimed to develop and strengthen the oratorical skills of young people.
In April 2019, Assia Kachkach, 18, a senior student at Jean-Jaurès high school, won the final of the first eloquence competition in the city of Montreuil.
“It’s passing through the corridors of high school that I saw a poster announcing that an eloquence contest was organized within the framework of the high school”says Assia. “A few weeks earlier, I had seen Yvan Attal’s film ‘Le brio'”. “This film tells the story of a young girl from the suburbs who is studying law in Assas and who is confronted by a racist teacher who will then help her to participate in an eloquence contest”she explains. “I had just watched this awesome movie”emphasizes the girl, “and it clicked in my head, I said to myself that I wanted to try the adventure, and that’s how I registered”.
You discover a lot of things about yourself.
During a preparation workshop for the eloquence competition, the young girl had an experience that marked her a lot: “We had to prepare a plea on the case of Jacqueline Sauvage, a woman victim of domestic violence who killed her husband with three gunshots. When I got up and spoke to defend this woman, I I felt that my word had a weight, that I had managed to deliver on a very intimate theme in front of people I did not know and it was a memorable and enriching experience”.
The workshops and master classes she followed afterwards taught her a lot. “I learned that talking with your heart was super effective, that talking about yourself was also talking to others and that you were always proud of yourself when you spoke up to share an opinion you had. “she adds.
“Speaking up is very important”she analyzes. “We call it public speaking and it’s a power, I’m sure of it. Knowing how to speak and knowing how to express yourself is a real weapon and it’s used every day, in fact it’s used all the time! “she says enthusiastically.
From January to April, teachers from the Jean-Jaurès, Eugénie-Cotton, Condorcet and horticultural high schools organize rhetorical workshops with their students to train them in eloquence and argument. These workshops take place at the rate of one two-hour session per week. To support the teachers, outside contributors are called upon: there are actors, musicians, comedians or oral expression coaches.
Finally on Friday May 20, 2022, it will be the big day. That of the final where in a playful spirit, the best of each high school will compete in a verbal contest.
What is essential to offer, in my opinion, to the young people of this country, is training in rhetoric.
In addition to the weekly workshops given in high schools, three major lessons called “master class” are organized for allow high school students to benefit from the experience of Clément Viktorovitch, teacher and journalist, experienced in public speaking techniques.
“This competition was born from an idea of the mayor of the city, Patrick Bessac, who wanted to offer all high school students in his town a training in eloquence”explains Clément Viktorovitch, doctor of political science and television columnist.
“I have been working on questions of rhetoric and argumentation for almost 15 years”, he continues. “And the first thing I said to the mayor was that eloquence training is good, an eloquence contest was not bad, but in reality, what is essential to offer, in my opinion, to the young people of this country, it is a training in rhetoric”.
“Eloquence is the art of speaking well, of capturing the attention of your audience and it is absolutely essential. We know today that speaking has become a professional skill”explains the teacher.
For Clément Viktorovitch, rhetoric is a broader skill: “It’s the art of arguing, of defending one’s thoughts, one’s point of view… We thus train young citizens who will be able to participate in public debate and who will be able to assert their voice and their contribution”.
Participating in the public debate is precisely what the winner of the 2019 eloquence competition did. She spoke at a rally organized by the town hall against the arrival of Éric Zemmour in Montreuil.
To defend the ideas of diversity of acceptance of the other, she spoke in front of hundreds of people gathered on Wednesday February 9 in the main square of the city, in front of the town hall. “Diversity is what makes France what it is and it is surely no coincidence that it rhymes with fraternity”, she says with a big smile.
“I was asked to give a speech that echoed the situation and it was with pleasure that I was able to do so”she confides, satisfied.
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