Competitions

For the competitions below, the following number restrictions apply, unless otherwise stated in the description:

• Spanish Individual competitions: Each school is allowed two students per competition.
• French Individual competitions: Each school is allowed two students per competition.
• German Individual competitions: Each school is allowed three students per competition.
• Chinese Individual competitions: Each school is allowed three students per competition.
• Japanese Individual competitions: Each school is allowed three students per competition.
• ASL Individual competitions: Each school is allowed two students per competition.

Additional Info About ASL Competitions
	Video Transcript: "Hello! Welcome to World Language Day!  Are you excited?!  My name is Anand Raj. I want you to go through the links and see what you would like to do presented in ASL, poetry, or art representing ASL culture.  Select the link that interests you the most and participate! See you here soon!"

• WHO AM I? – LEVEL I (All Languages)

  The student will have one minute to describe him/herself to the judges. Possible topics include the student’s interests, family, daily routine, etc. Students will be judged on fluency, preparedness, thoroughness, pronunciation, and vocabulary. No notes will be allowed.

• WHO AM I? – LEVEL I  (Heritage Spanish Speakers Only)

  The student will have one minute to describe him/herself to the judges. Possible topics include the student’s interests, family, daily routine, etc. Students will be judged on fluency, preparedness, thoroughness, pronunciation, and vocabulary. No notes will be allowed.

• SHOW AND TELL – LEVEL II (All Languages)

  The student will bring an object and describe it. The presentation should be limited to 60 – 90 seconds. Students will be judged on fluency, preparedness, thoroughness, pronunciation, and vocabulary usage. No notes will be allowed.

• SHOW AND TELL – LEVEL II (Heritage Spanish Speaker Only)

  The student will bring an object and describe it. The presentation should be limited to 60 – 90 seconds. Students will be judged on fluency, preparedness, thoroughness, pronunciation, and vocabulary usage. No notes will be allowed.

• SKIT – LEVEL III (All Languages)

  Each school is allowed TWO entries of two to five students from each language. The students will perform a simple and original presentation. The presentations should be limited to five minutes. Students will be judged on fluency, blocking, dramatic interpretation, projection, pronunciation, memorization, originality, and thematic content.

  PLEASE NOTE: Students are not allowed to read in this activity.

• PREPARED SPEECH – LEVEL IV (All Languages)

  The student will prepare and deliver a memorized speech on one of the three given topics, with the purpose of informing and entertaining the audience. The student will speak for 2-3 minutes.  Going over or under the time limit will negatively impact the student's score.  Students will be judged on fluency, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and delivery. 

  Topics for 2024:

  • Lost in Translation: Mistakes and misunderstandings in language learning. Talk about a humorous incident of mistakes or misunderstandings you have experienced in using the target language.
  • Holidays: Talk about a tradition in a holiday of your target language culture. What is its meaning/significance? What is celebrated? Who celebrates? What does one do to celebrate this holiday?
  • Pop Culture Talk: Introduce a significant popular musician, actor, film, song, or artist from your target language culture. Who are they and what did they do? Or what is it? What is significant about them/it? How are they/it representative of the target language culture?
• EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEECH – LEVEL V (Spanish Only)

  The student will be given a topic upon which to expound. Students will be given two minutes to prepare. No notes will be allowed. The student will speak for two to three minutes and will be judged on fluency and pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and delivery.

• EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEECH – NATIVE SPEAKER (Spanish Only)

  The student will be given a topic upon which to expound. Students will be given two minutes to prepare. No notes will be allowed. The student will speak for two to three minutes and will be judged on fluency and pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and delivery.

• SONG/DANCE/DRAMATIC CULTURAL ENTERTAINMENT – ALL LEVELS (All Languages)

  Each school is allowed TWO entries of two to twenty students from each language. The performance should reflect the culture of a foreign country and should fall within the categories of singing, dancing, a presentation, or a dramatic excerpt from a play in the target language. The performance should not exceed 10 minutes and must be memorized. No speakers or microphones will be allowed.

  Students will be judged on cultural authenticity, fluency, pronunciation, delivery (projection, blocking, style), dramatic interpretation, quality of memorization, and overall smoothness of presentation and technical execution. For dance or musical presentation where no language is spoken, the performers should introduce their performance in the target language and demonstrate the cultural authenticity of that performance.

• ART COMPETITION: PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS, POSTER ART, SCULPTURES & PIÑATA* COMPETITION – ALL LEVELS (All Languages)

  Entries will be judged on quality of craftsmanship, creativity, cultural relevance, and originality.

  *Note: Piñatas are for SPANISH ONLY. If a school has a student who is entering a Piñata, they are allowed ONE piñata entry, as well as one other artistic entry from Spanish.

• VIDEO – ALL LEVELS (All Languages)

  Videos using Padlet are focused on storytelling through video creation. Videos should be interesting and aim for enough interest to have viewers respond with a comment. Videos should be 1-2 minutes in length.

  Videos under 1 minute or longer than 2 minutes will be disqualified. Entertainment value and the quality of the video will be taken into consideration, but most importantly, the use of the language you are learning in both quantity and quality of speech will be judged. Take into consideration your viewers, particularly envision a native speaker of the language who may also be in your age group that wants to engage with you and the content you created. Videos may be at level I, II, III, IV, V, or that of native speaker. Do not mix levels in one video. Videos will be judged on fluency, pronunciation, delivery, blocking/choreography, and originality. In addition, the quality of recording will be considered.

  Each school is allowed to send four videos per language. Choose the level(s) of students – level I, II, III, IV, V, or that of native speaker, but do not mix levels in one video.  A link to upload video entries will be given upon registration.