Between the 22nd of April and the 3rd of July, teams from 14 schools geared up for the arrival of the world’s most famous race in Yorkshire by participating in the online competition, Le Tour de France virtuel, created and developed by the Dept. of Language and Linguistic Science, University of York. This project, which was led by Dr Angela O’Flaherty, took place over 8 weeks. Each week, teams answered a series of questions in French on the geography, culture and history of various regions on the 2014 Tour de France route and completed creative tasks based on the theme of the Tour. The standard of entries was extremely high and the judges were impressed by the hard work, language skills, creativity and teamwork of all involved.
The competition culminated in a day of language activities and an award ceremony at the University of York on the 3rd of July, where ‘Les Rouleurs fous d’Ilkley’ from Ilkley Grammar School were crowned overall winners and took home the ‘maillot jaune’. ‘MDR’ from Wakefield City Academy and ‘Les Mellow Vélos’ from Crawshaw School placed 2nd and 3rd respectively. Individual prizes were also awarded for the creative tasks. The best team picture prize was awarded to All Saints RC School, with Manor Academy receiving an honourable mention. ‘Les Mellow Vélos’ from Crawshaw School won best team name, with an honourable mention to ‘Mille fois mieux’ from Millthorpe School. Millthorpe also came up with the best slogan. South Holderness Technology College were the winners of the best jersey (and even modelled their self-designed jerseys on the day!) and St Martin’s Ampleforth designed the best musette. Ilkley Grammar won the best poster with an honourable mention to Beverley High School. Congratulations again to all the winners!
We would like to thank all the teams who helped make Le Tour de France virtuel such a fun, experience and also their teachers for supporting them throughout.
