2010 ACTR National Post-Secondary Essay Contest

Lisa Little lclittle at BERKELEY.EDU
Fri Jan 8 21:16:24 UTC 2010 

Sorry all!  First time I've done this (and I promise not to do it again).

Lisa Little wrote:
> 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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