2014 National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest reminder

[Tony Brown]

Dear Colleagues,

I hope that this message finds you well and that you are enjoying the holidays.  Just a reminder to register for the upcoming National Post-Secondary Russian Essay Contest (see announcement below).  Happy New Year!

Best, Tony


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

All students must pay a registration fee of $5.00. Only teachers can register students (see below). Please note that one teacher at each participating institution must be a current member of ACTR. Be sure to indicate this person on your registration form. To register your students, please fill out a registration form (below) and write a check to “ACTR” and mail them to Tony Brown, Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages, Brigham Young University, 3093 JFSB, Provo, Utah 84602. All registrations must be received by January 31, 2014. Registrations received after the deadline will not be accepted. (Payment can be received later since we understand that approval for final payment may take several weeks at your institution.)  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 2014. Students will write their essays between Feb. 1 and Feb. 15, 2014 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 2014 and winners will be announced by April 15, 2014.

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 (pencil is not acceptable as it will not photocopy) and on lined 8.5x11 paper provided by instructors (no blue books).  The time limit for writing the essays will be one hour. After students complete the essay, teachers will make one (1) photocopy of each essay as per the directions and then send the original and a signed student declaration and waiver form that you will receive to Tony Brown 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 certificates will be presented for the best essays at each level.

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 the following guidelines.

PLEASE NOTE: Students in each category are divided into levels according to the number of contact hours of formal instruction in Russian (and degree of exposure to Russian for Russian heritage speakers). Please calculate the number of contact hours for each student participating in the essay contest according to the guidelines below.  To adjust for Study Abroad or other immersion programs, please identify the number of contact hours of formal language instruction (not other classes in the program), multiply that number by 2, and use the result in determining the total number of contact hours.

STUDENTS OTHER THAN RUSSIAN HERITAGE LEARNERS

Category A: Students who do not and did not ever speak Russian or any other Slavic language at home.

Category B: Heritage speakers of a Slavic language other than Russian.

Please take the time to calculate the number of hours that your students have studied Russian and assign them to the proper level.

Level One (1A, 1B): 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 speakers of Russian must be assigned to Category C (below), and heritage speakers of any other Slavic language must be assigned to Category B.

Level Two (2A, 2B): 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 in Russian. (These are mostly students in second-year Russian.)

Level Three (3A, 3B): Students who will have had more than 250 contact hours, but fewer than 400 contact hours of instruction in Russian. (These are mostly students in third- or fourth-year Russian.)

Level Four (4A, 4B): Students who will have had more than 400 contact hours of instruction in Russian. (These are mostly students in fourth- or fifth-year Russian.)

RUSSIAN HERITAGE LEARNERS

Category C: Students who were born to Russian speaking families and received most or all of their education in English.

Please take the time to calculate the number of hours that your students have studied Russian and assign them to the proper level.

Level One (1C): Students who may or may not speak Russian with their families, and who have NOT attended school in Russia or the former Soviet Union and who had to learn reading and writing skills after emigration. Those students who did not have any formal instruction in Russian before college and have had fewer than 60 contact hours of instruction in college.

Level Two (2C): Students who may or may not speak Russian with their families, and who have NOT attended school in Russia or the former Soviet Union and who had to learn reading and writing skills after emigration. Those students who did not have any formal instruction in Russian before college and have had fewer than 120 contact hours of instruction in college.

Level Three (3C): Students who speak Russian with their families, and who 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, and who have had fewer than 60 contact hours of instruction in college.

Level Four (4C): Students who speak Russian with their families, and who 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 Newsletter.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by email or by phone.

Best, Tony

Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages
Brigham Young University
3093 JFSB
Provo, Utah 84602
801-422-7012
tony_brown at byu.edu


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