Pupils who speak English as a second language defy the odds to win a debating competition

Pupils who speak English as a second language have defied the odds to come first in an inter-school debating competition.

Kitchener Primary School youngsters Ibado Hussein, Banna Ari-Ali and Farah Abdo were announced as the winners of an English-Speaking Union tournament, in which 10 local schools took part.

“I was so proud I could have cried,” said Jan Musto, literary co-ordinator at Kitchener Primary in Riverside, Cardiff. “I am absolutely over the moon.”

The three 10-year-old girls debated about whether parents should be able to choose the sex of their baby.

They were awarded a trophy and medals after the competition, and received special congratulations in their school assembly the next day.

Kitchener Primary School, whose motto is “We all live together in Riverside,” has around 93% of its pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Of those, only 10% speak English as their first language.

Altogether there are 23 languages spoken in the school and many of the pupils arrive at the school speaking no English at all.

Ms Musto said: “We do an awful lot to enhance literacy. We encourage the children to stand up and speak in front of an audience to build their confidence.

“We discuss things all the time and encourage talking with partners in class. We try to incorporate drama and speaking and listening activities. Our children need to understand the language before they can write.”

The debating competition, which took place at Howell’s School in Llandaff, was open to Year Five pupils.

Ibado, Banna and Farah were selected to represent Kitchener Primary at the debate after an internal competition at the school.

Banna, whose first language is Kurdish, said: “I was the first to say a word.

“I felt very excited but when I saw everybody I felt a bit nervous.

“When I had to introduce Farah to answer questions I felt calm because everyone wasn’t looking at me all the time.”

Ibado, whose first language is Somali, added: “When I started my speech I started to stutter but after I started a couple of sentences I remembered my words.”

The girls were asked questions about their debate topic. Farah said: “There were two but they were quite long questions.

“I felt ok with them because I could learn them and they were easy to learn and not very hard words.”

Nick Wilson, deputy head at Kitchener Primary, said: “It is an outstanding achievement.

“The children have worked so hard and they had the confidence to stand up in front of a large audience and speak about a tricky subject.

“Our focus for the last term has been developing oral skills in English.

“It is a testament to all the hard work the teachers and students have been doing.”

walesonline.co.uk