Early in July, our Spanish class had three students, Tia Deb, Villiamu Yandall, and Zara Fraser, participate in the interschool Spanish debating competition, hosted at Rangitoto College. We entered into the open division, which consisted mainly of Year 13’s, with our team having just one Year 12 and two Year 11’s. Despite the difference in age and experience, the Avondale “Arañas” did not back down from the challenge, causing us to work harder and push ourselves beyond our limits. We stayed after school for a couple Mondays prior to the day, and spent a lot of time practicing tenses and grammar, and learning how to debate in Spanish.
We went up against Rangitoto College, which was a full team of Year 13’s, but it was a very close round and we only lost by two points! We were able to participate in one more round and then watch the rest of the teams compete in the finals. We’re really grateful to our Spanish teacher - Señora Huerta - for giving us this opportunity to expand our Spanish language skills and participate in something the school has never done before. It was a really awesome experience, and even though we didn’t come away with a win, our team learnt a lot from it and I’m hopeful that we can do even more next year! - Tia Deb and Viliamu Yandall
