ACTR OLYMPIADA OF SPOKEN RUSSIAN (PROCEDURES)The ACTR Olympiada of Spoken Russian is a unique and enjoyable event. There is no other language contest like it in the United States. The ACTR Olympiada will give your students the opportunity
The ACTR Olympiada of Spoken Russian fosters teamwork and collegiality among Russian teachers in states and regions as well as throughout the United States and is an ideal vehicle for promoting the study of Russian in your school, the district, the state, and nationally. Working with one or more colleagues, chairs plan, organize, and administer regional or state contests. To share the burden of organizing this event and to ensure continuity from year to year it is strongly recommended that chairs involve at least two other colleagues from their area. Chairs will report the results of their Olympiada immediately following the competition. Chairs are invited to attend the annual ACTR Olympiada Committee Meeting held at the AATSEEL/American Councils Conference in December to review the Olympiada of the previous year and to discuss and modify rules for the Olympiada as necessary. Each regional contest should follow the format of the International Olympiada (see the materials on RussNet for more details): Commission 1: Speaking about yourself Commission II: Reading – discussion and recitation of a poem Commission III: Civilization Chairs may also wish to consider combining the Olympiada Contest with:
Enclosed in the January 2004 mailing you will find:
CATEGORIES FOR REGISTRATION Regular Most students will register in this category according to their level of study (e.g. Russian I students in Level 1, etc). These are students whose knowledge of Russian was acquired in a United States classroom. Students whose first exposure to the study of Russian took place in a former Eastern Bloc country will register at the level commensurate with their total years of Russian study in their home country and in the United States, (e.g. students with two years of Russian in Hungary plus two years of Russian in a United States school register on level 4). Students who speak or understand another Slavic language will register one level higher than their current Russian course level, (e.g. a student who understands or speaks Bulgarian and is currently enrolled in Russian II will register on level 3 in the Olympiada). Native Speakers This category is for students from homes where Russian is the principal spoken and/or heard language, and for students from bilingual homes, (e.g. Russian/Bulgarian, Russian/English). If no Russian course is offered in his or her school, a student may participate one year, but must be sponsored by a teacher or staff member from the school and will pay a participation fee of $15.00. NATIONAL FINALISTS Each state/region participating in the Olympiada in a given year will have at least one National Finalist. Certain states/regions will be allotted additional finalists based on the number of upper-level (3, 4, 5) participants (not registrants) competing in the contest. States and regions may also designate one finalist in the native speaker category for each ten or fewer native speaker participants. These finalists must be upper-level students (unless the school attended does not offer upper-level courses) and must have lived in the U.S. for at least three years. UNITED STATES TEAM From its pool of finalists each state/region will nominate its best student(s) to the U.S. Team. The final team will consist of 15 students nationwide from the regular category, plus up to five from the native speaker category. The Olympiada Chair, working closely with American Councils staff in Washington, DC, will make the final determination of team member slots. Team member nominees from states/regions with a relatively small number of upper level participants may be required to take part in individual telephone interviews to determine final team member slots. These interviews will be conducted by experienced native speakers of Russian from the American Councils office in Washington, DC. Such interviews will be scheduled within the same period of time to facilitate a fair judgment process. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR FINALISTS. PLEASE OBSERVE THESE RULES!! To become a member of the US Team students
PLEASE NOTE: One team member finalist per school. Finalists from previous years who have taken part in the Summer Program in Russia may not repeat the trip. However, they are free to participate in the state or regional Olympiada at the discretion of that chair. PLEASE NOTE: The allocation of team member slots is based on the upper level participation of the current year, so no determination of team member slots can be made until after all state/regional contests have been completed. It is important that all Olympiadas be completed and reported by April 26, 2004. Otherwise it may not be possible for students and American Councils to make travel plans for the summer in time for travel to be possible. SCORING Judges will use a range of 60 through 100 for scoring. Medals will be awarded according to the following scale: Below 70 points, honorable mention 70 – 79 points, Bronze 80 – 89 points, Silver 90 – 100 points, Gold If you are used to a scale of 1 – 10, multiply accordingly by 5 or 10. All contestants should get at least an honorable mention. MEDALS AND CERTIFICATES Each school will receive certificates and medals for participating students (the state or regional chair may elect to provide a complete list of participants and winners for individual schools, but the individual school must do so if the chair is unable to do so). Each student will receive an honorary mention certificate or an award certificate according to the decision of the judges. Please provide a complete typed or printed list of participating students and results for each school. Send to: George Morris 3109 Yale Blvd. St. Charles, MO 63301-0462 actrmbrs@charter.net Reporting results by e-mail is preferred for faster service on medals and more accurate spellings on certificates. Medals and certificates will be sent only to teachers (school address preferred). Please provide complete and accurate addresses. REPORTING RESULTS In addition to the individual school's results, send all paperwork and checks to Halina Danchenko. In order to determine team member allocation it is very important that you turn in the Summary Form for your state or region immediately after the competition, but no later than April 26, 2004. List the names of all finalists in descending order of performance and include contact information for all. PLEASE NOTE: Checks for student registrations from individual teachers in your state/region cannot be accepted. Everything concerning the contest must come directly from the Chair. The registration is $4.00 per student. There is no additional charge for medals and certificates. Please provide complete contact information for school administrators. We intend to write to principals (headmasters) and superintendents (presidents) to inform them of results and participation by their teachers and students as we did last year. ******Reminder: This is the year of the International
Olympiada in Moscow to be held prior to the Vladimir homestay. More detailed
info will be included in future****** |