ACTR's National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest

Tue Nov 28 05:26:35 UTC 2006

Dear Colleagues,

I invite you and your students to participate in the Eighth Annual ACTR
National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest.  We had a fabulous contest in
2006 with 650 participants representing 52 universities and colleges.

Participation in the russian essay contest is an excellent way

-to have your students compete nationwide with their peers
-to raise the visibility of your Russian program
-to compete in a fun, field-wide event.

The contest is for students at all levels of Russian (1st through 4th-year),
and there are categories for heritage learners.

The deadline for registering your students is January 29, 2007. Official
registration forms will be available in the Winter 2006 ACTR Newsletter or
visit us in the exhibit hall at the upcoming AATSEEL conference.

If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Patricia Zody
Chairperson
***********************************************************************
8th ANNUAL ACTR NATIONAL POST-SECONDARY RUSSIAN ESSAY CONTEST

Students taking Russian in accredited colleges and universities are invited
to participate in the eighth annual National Post-Secondary Russian Essay
Contest sponsored by the American Council of Teachers of Russian.

All students must pay a registration fee according to the following
schedule: 1) Students whose teacher is an ACTR member - $3.00 per
registration and 2) students whose teacher is not an ACTR member - $4.50 per
registration.Please note that students may not register themselves, but can
only be registered by a teacher.

To register your students, please send a registration form (below) and one
check made out to "ACTR" to Patricia Zody, Center for Language Studies,
Beloit College, 700 College Street, Beloit, WI 53511. All registrations must
be received by January 29, 2007. Registrations received after the deadline
will not be accepted.

When registering your students, please consult the criteria below to select
the appropriate level.

Teachers whose students are participating in the contest will receive
directions and the essay topic in late January 2007. Students will write
their essays between Feb. 1 and Feb. 15, 2007 at a time selected by the
instructor at each institution. Students should not receive the essay topic
until the time scheduled to write the essay. Judges will review the essays
in March 2007 and winners will be announced by April 16, 2007.

Please note that students cannot use any books or notes and may not work
together. Essays must be written legibly in blue or black ink. The time
limit for writing the essays will be one hour. The essays must be written in
blue or black ink on lined paper provided by teachers. Pencil is not
acceptable (as it won't photocopy). After the students write the essay,
teachers will make four photocopies of each essay as per the directions and
then send the originals and three photocopies to Patricia Zody within 48
hours of the test date. All essays will be evaluated anonymously: no essay
will be identifiable by the name or institution of the student who wrote it.
Gold, silver, bronze and honorable mention ribbon awards (certificates) will
be presented for the best essays at each level.

Here are sample essay topics from previous contests:

³What Is Your Dream?²
³An Important or Funny Thing Happened When²
³A Person (Real or Fictional) Who Is Important to Me and Why?²
³My Life Changed When²
³My Favorite Place²
³When I Relax²

All categories and levels of students use the same essay topic.

Teachers may not substitute students for those registered by the deadline.
No refunds are available for students who don't show up for the essay
contest.

Essays will be ranked according to levels as follows:

Category 1: Non-Heritage Learners (those learners who do not and did not
ever speak Russian in the home. Please take the time to calculate the number
of hours that your students have studied Russian to place them in the proper
category.)

Level One: students who at the time of the essay contest will have had fewer
than 100 contact hours of instruction in Russian (whether in college alone
or in college and high school). (Please note that heritage learners of any
Slavic language, including Russian, are not allowed to participate in this
level and category of the contest.)

Level Two: students who at the time of the essay contest will have had more
than 100 contact hours, but fewer than 250 contact hours of instruction.
(This is mostly students in second-year Russian.)

Level Three: students who will have had more than 250 contact hours, but
fewer than 400 contact hours of instruction. (This is mostly students in
third or fourth-year Russian.)

Level Four: students who will have had more than 400 contact hours of
instruction. (This is mostly students in fourth-year or fifth-year Russian.)

Category 2: Heritage Learners

Heritage Learners (1) - students who speak Russian with their families and
who have NOT attended school in Russia or the former Soviet Union and have
to learn reading and writing skills after emigration.

Heritage Learners (2): students who speak Russian with their families and
who have attended school for fewer than 5 years in Russia or the former
Soviet Union and may have had to relearn reading and writing skills after
emigration.

Heritage Learners (3): students who speak Russian with their families and
who have attended school for 5 or more years in Russia or the former Soviet
Union and have not had to relearn reading and writing skills after
emigration.

Judges will evaluate essays according to content (the ability to express
ideas in Russian and communicate information about the topic) and length,
lexicon, syntax, structure (grammatical and orthographic accuracy), and
originality or creativity.

Awards will be announced in the ACTR Letter and the AATSEEL Newsletter. The
best gold ribbon essays will be published in the ACTR Letter.

Teachers with questions about the essay contest should contact:
Patricia L. Zody
Director, Center for Language Studies
Beloit College
700 College Street
Beloit, WI 53511
(608)363-2277
cls at beloit.edu

REGISTRATION FORM FOR NATIONAL POST-SECONDARY RUSSIAN ESSAY CONTEST
Name of Institution:
Name of Instructor:
Address:
E-Mail Address:
Telephone:
Fax:
Name of Each Student Participating in Test, Category 1 or 2, and
Level (according to guidelines listed above).

Send to Patricia Zody, Center for Language Studies, Beloit College 700
College Street, Beloit, WI 53511 before January 29, 2007.

Official Registration Forms can also be found in the Winter 2006 ACTR
Newsletter.  If you would like to receive a registration form by mail or
electronically, please contact me at zodyp at beloit.edu

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