Birmingham youngster talks the talk!

A Birmingham youngsters proved he can talk the talk by winning a national language competition. Ten-year-old Vidy Reddy from the Blue Coat School in Edgbaston beat off 37 finalists from schools nationwide in a competition that attracted over 2,600 pupils.

Vidy finished two points ahead of the other finalists in the Junior Language Challenge final after a nail-biting five rounds of computer-based tasks in a race against the clock. What makes his victory all the more impressive is the fact that he was speaking fluent Zulu - a language he learned from scratch - in just one month!

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For after he came out ahead of 300 children selected to learn Vietnamese for the semi-finals, judges gave him a difficult language to learn in a short space of time to see how well he can cope with new challenges. After learning Spanish, Italian and French from the age of seven at Blue Coat School, his mind was very well equipped to cope with the task of learning a new language rapidly.

Now in its sixth year, the Junior Language Challenge aims to increase the profile of language learning in primary schools whilst raising over £6,000 for the Starfish Programme, which supplies educational materials to Africa. This was the third year running that The Blue Coat School had fielded a national finalist in the competition, coming third on every occasion prior to Vidy’s remarkable achievement.

Deputy headmaster of the school, Richard Lynne, said: “This is tremendous achievement from Vidy. We are thrilled by his success - a welcome endorsement of our initiative approach to language teaching and learning.”

Vidy added: “Winning the JLC has been an amazing experience and has certainly encouraged me to learn more languages.” His efforts earned him a trophy, medal, an impressive jewelled crown and a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Africa, the destination of which is not yet confirmed - it may even be Zululand!