2010 ACTR National Post-Secondary Essay Contest

[Lisa Little]

Dear Patricia:  I will try to get more students to do it this semester, 
but we will see.  (I can't remember the time period, but it is longer 
than our 50-minute classes.  Otherwise, we could have all the students 
do it as classwork.)

Best,
Lisa

Patricia Zody wrote:
> Dear Colleagues, 
>
> I invite you and your students to participate in the Eleventh Annual ACTR
> National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest.  We achieved our goal last
> year with 1,024 students from 65 universities and colleges writing essays.
> We hope that you will join us this year so that we can continue to highlight
> the growth in Russian language study across the United States. We would also
> like to see an increase in the number of participants competing in levels
> three and four of the contest, not to mention the heritage-learner levels.
>
> Participation in the National Post-Secondary 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 5th-year),
> and there are categories for heritage learners.
>
> If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  The
> deadline for registering your students is January 29, 2010.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Patricia Zody
> NPSREC Chairperson
> American Council of Teachers of Russian
> ***********************************************************************
> 11th ANNUAL ACTR NATIONAL POST-SECONDARY RUSSIAN ESSAY CONTEST
>
> Students taking Russian in accredited colleges and universities are invited
> to participate in the eleventh 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:
> Students whose teacher is an ACTR member - $5.00 per registration
> Students whose teacher is not an ACTR member - $7.50 per registration
> 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, 2010. 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 2010. Students will write
> their essays between Feb. 1 and Feb. 15, 2010 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 2010 and winners will be announced by April 15, 2010.
>
> 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:
>
> “What Is Your Dream?”
> “An Important or Funny Thing Happened When”
> “A Person (Real or Fictional) Who Is Important to Me and Why?”
> “My Life Changed When”
> “My Favorite Place”
> “When I Relax”
> “Write a letter to a figure from Russian history or a hero (heroine) from
> Russian literature./ Napishite pis'mo istoricheskomu litsu ili geroiu
> russkoi literatury.”
> “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own
> way.” (Все счастливые семьи похожи друг на друга, каждая несчастливая семья
> несчастлива по-своему.), Anna Karenina, Lev Tolstoy
> “Write about your favorite person or place (real or fictional)”
>
> 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 Web site, and the AATSEEL
> Web site. 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
> ACTR NATIONAL POST-SECONDARY RUSSIAN ESSAY CONTEST
> Name of Institution:
> Name of Instructor:
> Address:
> City/State/Zip:
> E-Mail Address:
> Telephone:
> Fax:
> List of Participants: 1) Name, 2) Category, and 3) Level
>
> Send to Patricia Zody, Center for Language Studies, Beloit College, 700
> College Street, Beloit, WI 53511 before January 29, 2010.
>
> Official registration forms can also be found in the Winter 2009 ACTR
> Letter.  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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