With help from contact teachers in the different schools and members of our team (notably Michela Vella and Ayrton-Didier Brincat – thank you both), Linguistics Olympiad Clubs in three of the Sixth Forms (SAC, Verdata International School, VIS, and Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School, GCHSS) served this function. This year’s competition consisted of two rounds, a Team Competition and an Individual Competition. An Award Ceremony for all students was held on 12 April 2024. The four students who scored highest in the Individual Competition got to form our team, Maltilinguals, to BrasÃlia.
The adventure stepped up for the Malta team of seven on 22 July, when we left for BrasÃlia. The week-long programme was jam-packed with activities such as a Wikidata IOLab, a City Tour, a Juline Party (a version of festas de São João originally a celebration in honour of St John the Baptist), and excursion to Salto do Itiquira, a meeting with Indigenous Leaders, lectures on the languages of Brazil and Brazilian Sign Language, an IOL Jeopardy-style Quiz and a Farewell Party. Individual (6h to work out 4 puzzles) and Team (4h to work on a long and extremely challenging problem) contests took place on days 3 and 6.
One of the Malta students, Carlo Rossi, got an Honorary Mention for his performance in the Individual contest, whilst our team broke through the intricacies of the Lexicostatistical team problem: an incredible achievement indeed for us as first Time participants! The presence amongst us of his Excellency John Aquilina from the Embassy of Malta in Brasil during the Closing Ceremony of the IOL, and hosting for lunch by him and his wonderful team on our last day in BrasÃlia was a great honour.
We are all fired up to build on the experience we have acquired in the course of organising and preparing Sixth Form students to take part in the local LOM competition and in the prestigious IOL contest being held in Taiwan. We are impressed by the way in which our students have engaged with the Linguistics Olympiad ethos and hope for support of the ILLT’s efforts on the part of the local Sixth Forms. We can only go so far without financial support – special thanks this year goes to the MEYR. Here’s hoping that we will continue to get the support we need to take this initiative to new heights in the interest of Maltese students.
For information on next year’s LOM, please get in touch with Prof. Alexandra Vella.
