Three learners from Christel House South Africa — Euroy Treurnich, Cleo Noel and Rondene Petersen — have made their school proud competing in the prestigious Die Groot Afrikaanse Diktee Finaal, with Euroy placing third.

Grade 11 learners Euroy and Cleo, and Grade 12 learner Rondene, qualified for the final held on 10 October in the Adam Small Seminar Room.

The competition, modelled on the Dutch Groot Dictee held in the Netherlands and Flanders since 1990, challenges learners to rewrite a 200-300-word passage read aloud to them, testing listening skills, spelling, punctuation and command of Afrikaans.

Preparation

Participants are scored on how accurately they transcribe the text.

Competing against predominantly Afrikaans home language learners, Euroy, who takes Afrikaans as First Additional Language, claimed third place and won R1 000.

This year, DF Akademie claimed first place, while second place went Fairmont High School and Christel House learner Euroy clinched third place. His fellow teammates, Cleo and Rondene, only secured a place in the final round.

For Euroy, preparation was simple and authentic.

“I went over notes in my notebook and listened to Afrikaans music and shows,” he said. “I normally take part in competitions. In the competition they read a text aloud and we get a score for how accurate we are when we transcribe it.

“I had lots of social interaction leading up to competition, only prepared the night before. Not that hectic as I speak it and consume lots of Afrikaans media. I look forward to taking part in more competitions – it was lots of fun.”

Fellow Grade 11 finalist Cleo, from Manenberg, said her love for the language drove her to enter.

“I took part because I love Afrikaans and competing,” she said. “It was lots of fun, with the only challenge being the spelling like putting two words as one word.”

Beyond their comfort zones

She now hopes to take part in more Afrikaans competitions in future.

For Rondene, from Pelican Park, the final was a steep learning curve.

“I enjoy sleeping and music and being on my phone. Didn’t really prepare,” she said honestly.

“Found it quite challenging. Exposed to words I didn’t know and couldn’t spell. It was tough listening to pronunciation and trying to write and spell the word.”

Rondene, who dreams of becoming a lawyer, said the experience pushed her beyond her comfort zone.

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