Last month, Plymouth Whitemarsh High School hosted the annual James J. Doyle Oral Proficiency Contest—a competition focused on students’ speaking skills in languages such as Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and German. The Montgomery County Association of Teachers of Foreign Languages (MCATFL) runs the contest.
Five Haverford students participated: Fourth Former Adam Brown in Chinese II, Fourth Former Delaney Joseph in Chinese III and Spanish II, Fourth Former Thomas Lentz in Chinese III, and Sixth Formers Robert Goens and Martin Okonkwo in Chinese IV.
For each level of Chinese, a maximum of two students compete, meaning even before the contest takes place, Haverford teachers select students interested in participating.
The two-round competition itself is only a few hours long. Success requires serious dedication from students and teachers alike.
With years of experience with the contest, Mandarin teacher Ms. Yi Lee helped students with their preparation and performance. However, students had only two weeks to prepare.
“We did a lot of extra after-school practices,” Ms. Lee said. “We only had two weeks and maybe about five after-school practices this time.”
Fourth Former Delany Joseph thinks the limited preparation time presented challenges.
“It was difficult for me because spring sports were just around the corner, and the lessons leading up felt a little crammed,” Joseph said. “We didn’t even know if Haverford would compete until two weeks before, so it was definitely stressful. But everyone stayed focused and figured it out.”
During the competition, multiple rounds occur at different times to account for different languages and levels. During interview rounds, other contests provided a fun break from competition.
“In the preliminary round…the judges have a one-on-one conversation with each student for three to four minutes,” Ms. Lee said. “While that is going on, there are also trivia contests as a whole school. The whole thing takes about an hour [before] the judges finalize the scores and announce who can enter the final round.”
“At the final round for each level there are two people only, so basically if you get into the final round, you won something,” Ms. Lee said.
This year, however, the MCATFL expanded the second-round contest. Students were not only interviewed for a longer period, but also challenged to narrate a story in the language they were learning based on a picture they were shown. The second round was also open to public viewing, adding to the pressure.
Ultimately, the challenges did not stop the Haverford contestants, as Fourth Former Adam Brown and Fourth Former Thomas Lentz won gold medals and Fourth Former Delaney Joseph and Sixth Former Martin Okonkwo won silver medals.
“I’m just really proud of my students, and I really enjoy working with the ones that volunteered to do this contest,” Ms. Lee said. “They’re really just the best of the best.”
Lentz described his experience with the contest positively.
I realized that I should remain confident… and that hard work pays off. But the countless phrases that I couldn’t understand taught me that there is still much more to learn.”
Delany Joseph
“Ultimately this competition was a good exercise in speaking another language, and it helped me be more confident with my comprehension and speaking,” Lentz said. “If you’re trying to learn another language better, doing it in a conversational setting is one of the best things that you can do.”
Joseph feels similarly.
“I realized that I should remain confident,” Joseph said, “and that hard work pays off. But the countless phrases that I couldn’t understand taught me that there is still much more to learn.”
