To my 12 year-old son's school -- Notre-Dame-de-Sion in the 6th arrondissement -- to judge an English-speaking competition by lyceens (17 year-olds). They chose as their theme the London blitz, and put on a series of sketches. One brave girl even got herself kitted up as Churchill. Some of them then made short speeches in English about aspects of life under the bombing. The level -- I was pleased to note -- was high. Too many young French people have poor or non-existent English. I have helped coach neighbours' children who are studying George Eliot at university but can barely string a sentence together. These girls -- and it was almost exclusively girls who took part I am afraid to say -- were in the main excellent. Top prize went to Lorraine Saint-Remy, who delivered a beautiful speechlet on wartine britian. She wins a month on an exchange in Cambridge.