Plymouth College pupil and star diver, Tom Daley, 18, took to a different type of platform when he competed in a foreign language speaking competition. The 10m platform Olympic bronze medallist won the Key Stage Five Non Native Speaker section of the South West Routes into Languages.
Held at Pilton Community College in North Devon and involving 12 schools, Tom had to give a 3-minute powerpoint presentation in Spanish about his dream - to win an Olympic gold medal and to become a TV presenter. Competitors were judged on fluency, level of language and presentation skills.
"There were about 6 or 7 of us in my category and everyone did really well," said Tom. "It was quite nerve-wracking giving a presentation in Spanish in front of all those people - I was definitely out of my comfort zone! I just focused and once I got going it wasn't too bad. It was also nice to be representing my school.
"I travel a lot and being able to speak a second language has proved really useful. I've been working hard on improving my fluency so when I'm competing in countries like Mexico I can do my interviews in Spanish now."
Due to complete his A level Spanish this summer, Tom is now through to the Southern final (national semi-final) of the competition in June.
Photograph: Tom Daley (centre) is pictured with Plymouth College Spanish Assistant, Sara Liras Medina (left) and Plymouth College Head of Spanish, Philip Randall (right).
