Twelve-year-old Penny Tsolakidou will be awarded a gold medal at her school assembly for coming first in the Language Perfect World Championships 2013.
The championships, also referred to as the Language Olympics, is the largest online language-based competition, with more than 12 countries and 1,050 schools around the world competing in this year’s competition.
Students in the competition are asked to translate words from a foreign language of their choice into English and vice versa, with an emphasis on correct spelling. The more they answer the more they win.
The Benowa High School student says it was her first time taking part in the online competition and achieved an impressive score of 10,143.
Aimed at motivating young people to learn a foreign language, the competition was started in New Zealand by the then 15-year-old high school student Craig Smith, with the help of his brother Shane.
According to the brothers, students need a challenge to help motivate them to work hard and study.
Miss Tsolakidou, who attends St Anna’s Greek School on the Gold Coast, is very enthusiastic about learning Greek, saying “I love everything about the culture”.
Following her great achievement and looking to the future, Miss Tsolakidou has been a little overcome with the stardom at school. “I love all the attention,” she tells Neos Kosmos.
With the aim to perfect her language skills to one day teach Greek, the Language Perfect World Championships will no doubt be seeing more of this bright student.
For further information about the competition visit www.languageperfect.com/worldchamps/SiteShell.html