Houstonfest

News and Updates

Important Dates

Mar. 5, 2010: Houstonfest Scholarship applications due

Mar. 10, 2010: Gail Cope Scholarship applications due

Jan. x, 2011: Early-bird registration ($8) must be postmarked and online registration must be submitted by 11:59 p.m.

Jan. x, 2011: Regular registration ($10) must be postmarked and online registration must be submitted by 11:59 p.m.

Feb. 5, 2011: Houstonfest, Lanier Middle School, Houston

Feb. x, 2011: State early-bird registration due (submit online registration and mail payment; payment must arrive by Feb. x)

Feb. x, 2011: State regular registration due

Feb. 26, 2011: Texas State German Contest, University of Texas at Austin

Rules: Oral Testing Events

Directed Dialogue:

Two entries per school per level: Level 1, Level 2. The judges will ask the contestant questions on his/her level of understanding (things generally covered in first-year and second-year textbooks). Judges will grade on pronunciation, degree of fluency, knowledge of topic, and grammatical correctness. Download critique sheet.

Extemporaneous Speaking:

Two entries per school per level: Level 3, Level 4, Advantaged Level. The contestant will draw a topic at the beginning of his/her time slot. The topics will not be technical and will pertain to daily life. Different contestants will receive different topics, but the topics will be of approximately equal difficulty. After drawing a topic, the contestant will have a maximum of 10 minutes to prepare. He/she may write during this time, but no books or dictionaries may be used in preparation, and NO notes, even those made during the preparation period, may be used in the speech. Speech time: Level 3, 1-3 minutes; Level 4, 2-4 minutes; Advantaged Level, 3-5 minutes.

Download Level 3-4 critique sheet.

Download Advantaged critique sheet.

Sight Reading:

Two entries per school per level: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4. Contestants read aloud a prose selection that they have not seen before. The contestant may look at the prose for up to 1 minute before reading it for the judges. The judges will stop the contestant after 2 minutes, regardless of how far he/she has read into the selection. Download critique sheet.