News and Updates
Special Rules and Procedures for the 2021 Remote Contest
Houstonfest Scholarships
Scholarships at State
Teacher-to-Teacher Tips
Tips for Pair Discussion
Photo Gallery
2014
Arrival at Heights High School
Lunch options
Plays will be performed at Houstonfest
Daily log of changes to
state-qualifier list
Important Dates
Sat., Jan. 16, 2021: Regular deadline to submit registration
spreadsheet in order to pay regular price of $10/student (payment does not have
to be mailed until 1/25).
Mon., Jan. 25, 2021: Final deadline to submit registration spreadsheet
for late price of $12/student and deadline to postmark payment.
Mon., Feb. 1, 2021: Proof sheet of entries sent to teachers for final
verification and changes.
Wed., Feb. 3, 2021,
8:00 p.m.: Deadline to submit changes (adds,
drops, substitutions). After this point, no more additions or
substitutions will be allowed.
Sat., Feb. 6, 2021:
Houstonfest (100% remote): some events conducted
"live" (online) that day, all others submitted digitally by 9:00 a.m.
Sat., Feb. 13, 2021:
Houstonfest online awards ceremony, time TBA.
Wed., Feb. 17, 2021:
State online registration due by 11:59 p.m.
for "early bird" price of
$10/student (payment does not have to be mailed yet). Also, deadline to apply for the
Mary El-Beheri Memorial Scholarship
and to submit entries for
promotional video contest
to State director Jennifer Christianson.
Mon., Feb. 22, 2021: State online registration due by 11:59 p.m. at
regular price of
$12/student.
Sat., Feb. 27, 2021: Texas State German
Contest (100% remote): some events conducted "live" (online) that day, all
others submitted digitally by 9:00 a.m.
Sat., Mar. 6, 2021:
State online awards ceremony, time TBA. Also,
Houstonfest Scholarship
applications due.
Fri., Mar. 12, 2021:
Gail Cope
Scholarship applications due.
Fri., April 30, 2021:
Gail Cope Teacher Grant applications due.
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Special Rules and
Procedures for the 2021 Remote Contest
(Teachers, don't panic when you see how long
this is -- just take a deep breath!
It's only so long because it has practically
all the details for how every event will be conducted at the remote version of
contest, and much of the information repeats over and over. The thought of
doing contest online may be overwhelming (and disappointing) at first, but we
hope you will find that it's not as bad as it might seem and that it should be
quite manageable. The upside is that it will cost a lot less (no buses!)
and there should be fewer schedule conflicts.)
Word document with
the information below
PDF document with the
information below
Draft
schedule of live online events (not included in Word and PDF versions linked
above)
Due to the
uncertainties and risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the regional and
State German contests for 2021 will be conducted entirely remotely and with a
substantially reduced slate of events. This decision was not taken quickly
or lightly. The state steering committee met for about 14 hours over two days
in June and July in addition to multiple meetings of subcommittees. While we
hope for a miraculous reversal of the current pandemic trends, it is far more
likely that life will not be back to "normal" by February. The committee has
made the call to go virtual now so that we can thoroughly prepare for an
online contest rather than assuming business-as-usual and having to scramble to
go virtual at the last minute.
Following
is a summary of the plan for conducting contest online. Of course, nothing is
certain in these difficult times, so the plan may have to be adjusted further.
We will keep you informed as we work out more details. For each contest, the
usual rules will apply unless specific exceptions are noted below.
-
The traditional contest days
(the first and last Saturdays of February) will remain the focal point of
contest events. This year, those dates will be February 6 for the regional
contests and February 27 for State. Events that will be conducted
"face-to-face online" will happen on those dates, and for all other events,
the deadline to upload digital submissions will be 9:00 a.m. on "contest day."
-
Judging will occur
remotely over several days. The fact that judges will not need to gather
physically in one place at the same time will expand our pool of potential
judges immensely -- for instance, people who live out of state. The goal will
be to have submissions available online to the judges by the Saturday
afternoon of contest day, and they will then have until 11:59 p.m. on the
following Tuesday (February 9 for regionals / March 2 for State) to evaluate
the student work and submit the results. As usual, two or three judges will
be assigned to each event, but they will be able to work independently of each
other on their own timelines except perhaps for some quick phone or email
communication at the final stage to break ties. The form for recording and
submitting results will be streamlined and user-friendly, with much
information such as student names and schools already pre-filled. Every
measure will be taken to minimize the tech expertise required of judges. It
should involve no more than receiving and sending an email or two and clicking
on a series of links to PDFs and YouTube videos to view the submissions.
-
After the results come back
from the judges, the organizers will take the next few days to compile the
results and record an online "awards show." The awards presentations
will go "live" at a certain time on the Saturday following the contest date
(February 13 for the regional contests and March 6 for State) --
socially-distanced watch parties, anyone?! -- but the shows will remain
available for later viewing as well. Results spreadsheets will be posted
shortly thereafter, as usual. In particular, we hope to have high production
values for the State awards video, incorporating some of the winning
performances and shooting it on the campus of Texas State University. It will
certainly be more than just uploading a winner spreadsheet or reading a list
of names.
-
The regional and State
contest directors will sort trophies, medals, and ribbons by school and
arrange one or more times/places for teachers to come and pick up their
winnings (both for regional and for State, although teachers may prefer to
wait until after State to pick up both sets of prizes at one time). State
T-shirts and patches purchased by your students will be also be distributed
this way.
-
Schools will NOT receive
individual critique sheets for each entry but will receive a master
spreadsheet, customized for that school, showing each judge's score on each
grading criterion for each student's entry along with some comments (although
probably fewer than in the past).
-
Because there will be a
one-week delay in finding out the results of the regional contests, the
early bird deadline to register for State will be Wednesday, February 17,
and the regular deadline will be Monday, February 22.
-
The promotional video
contest, the Mary El-Beheri Award, and the Gail Cope Scholarships and Teacher
Grants will continue as usual.
-
These events will be
DROPPED entirely for 2021 (but don't worry; they'll be back post-COVID!):
-
all written tests
except Timed Writing, namely: Advantaged Speaker Test, Culture,
Grammar, Listening Comprehension, Reading Comprehension,
Spelling, Vocabulary
-
all drama events
except Duet Acting, namely: Play, Puppet Show, Skit
-
all music events
except Contemporary Music (solo acts only) and Vocal Solo, namely:
Chorus, Classical Ensemble, Einzeltanz, Folk Dance,
Polka Band
-
Pass auf!
-
Scavenger Hunt
Many of the events on this
list are group events that would be nearly impossible to rehearse and perform
while maintaining social distance if we are physically in school and equally
difficult to rehearse and perform if schools are closed and everything has to
occur online. Singing and dancing in groups are particularly risky
activities. While it would certainly be possible to conduct the written tests
remotely, the measures we would have to take to ensure test security and to
prevent cheating would be onerous for the students, teachers, and contest
organizers. While it is possible to imagine a way to conduct most of these
contests virtually -- and the committee did discuss each one at great length!
--
the list of safety and anti-cheating precautions became too long when we
considered all the contingencies. In the end, and keeping in mind that
this will already be a very stressful year for teachers and students, we
decided it would be best to focus on a smaller group of events that are mostly
individual in nature, easy to conduct live online, and/or easy to submit
digitally.
-
all art events,
namely: Club Album, Crafts, Digital Logo Design,
Doll Costume, Gingerbread House (Traditional and
Non-Traditional), Needlework, Original Models, Photo Essay,
Photography, Poster, Shirt, Video
-
all oral tests,
namely: Directed Dialogue*, Extemporaneous Speaking*, Pair
Discussion*, Oral Presentation, Sight Reading*
-
Poetry and Prose
-
Contemporary Music (solo
acts only)
-
Vocal Solo
-
Duet Acting
-
Timed Writing*
-
Research Paper
- Events marked above with
an asterisk (*) will be conducted "face-to-face online" on the day of
contest. For the rest of the events, the products will be submitted by the
TEACHER online through Google Classroom. We gained some experience
with submitting a few items through Google Classroom last year, but this year,
Google Classroom will be crucial. Experience taught us last year that
teachers in schools which use the Google platform will need to access Google
Classroom through a private email address rather than a school email address.

Rules Addenda for Each Event
Arts:
With the exception of Digital
Logo Design and Video,
follow this general
procedure for submitting all art entries:
-
Document your entry in a PowerPoint or
Google Slides presentation; you may use other programs as well, but make sure
that whatever program you are using has the capability to convert the slide
show into a PDF file, because all submissions must be converted to and
submitted as PDF files.
-
On the first slide, include your name(s),
school, the name of the event (yes, sometimes there is confusion
as to which category the item belongs in, so make it crystal clear by telling
us which category you are entering), and the title of the project (if
applicable).
-
On the next slide (or several slides),
include images of your receipts (if required by the rules of that
event). Feel free to add explanatory comments.
-
On the next several slides, include
pictures of your entry. It is strongly encouraged to take pictures as you
make the item to illustrate your creative process as well as pictures of the
finished product. Take pictures from every conceivable angle. Take close-ups
of details that you want the judges to notice. However, always make sure that
there is at least one picture that shows the entire project. There is no
upper limit on the number of pictures you can include, although you also don't
want to completely overwhelm the judges. Feel free to type comments as well.
-
When you are finished with the
PowerPoint/Slides/etc. presentation, save it as a PDF file. A good
model for the file name would be your last name-school-event, for example:
"Smith-LubbockHS-TradGingerbread."
-
Send the PDF file to your German teacher,
who will upload it to the appropriate assignment in the Google Classroom.
Teachers: upload only ONE file (the PDF referred to above) to the
Google Classroom. We do not want multiple files per entry!
-
All submissions are due no later than
9:00 a.m. on contest day. However, it is advisable
to provide your work to your teacher well in advance of that so that he/she
has plenty of time to upload it.
Club Album:
Follow the general procedure above. For this year, you may make a
traditional physical album and document it by taking pictures of the cover and
each page, or you may make a digital album directly in PowerPoint/Google
Slides/etc. Don't forget to convert to a PDF!
Crafts:
Follow the general procedure above. The rules of this event require the
creation of a backdrop or diorama. That requirement is still in place this
year, and it must be a physical backdrop or diorama, not just some pictures
and/or information that you include in the digital presentation. Make sure to
include some pictures of your item in front of/inside the backdrop/diorama,
although you can also certainly take pictures of the item itself that don't
include the backdrop/diorama. If you have text on the backdrop/diorama, either
take very clear pictures of it for inclusion in your presentation or copy and
paste the text directly into the presentation; you want it to be easily legible
for the judges. Don't forget to convert to a PDF!
Digital Logo Design:
For this event, you do not need to follow the general procedure above. The
rules of the event allow you to submit the logo as a .jpg, .gif, or .pdf file.
Simply have your teacher upload the file containing your logo to the appropriate
assignment in the Google Classroom no later than 9:00 a.m. on the contest day.
Use this pattern for naming the file: your last name-school-DLogo, for example,
"Smith-LubbockHS-DLogo." Your teacher should also include the student name(s)
and school in the comments when uploading the logo to the Google Classroom.
Doll Costume:
Follow the general procedure above. The rules of this event require the
creation of a backdrop. That requirement is still in place this year, and it
must be a physical backdrop, not just some pictures and/or information that you
include in the digital presentation. Make sure to include some pictures of your
doll in front of the backdrop, although you can also certainly take pictures of
the doll itself that don't include the backdrop. If you have text on the
backdrop, either take very clear pictures of it for inclusion in your
presentation or copy and paste the text directly into the presentation; you want
it to be easily legible for the judges. Don't forget to convert to a PDF!
Gingerbread House
(traditional and non-traditional):
Follow the general procedure above. Take LOTS of pictures! Don't forget
to convert to a PDF!
Needlework:
Follow the general procedure above. The rules of this event require some
sort of documentation; make sure to include that in your PowerPoint/Google
Slides/etc. presentation. Don't forget to convert to a PDF!
Original Models:
Follow the general procedure above. The rules of this event require the
creation of a backdrop or diorama. That requirement is still in place this
year, and it must be a physical backdrop or diorama, not just some pictures
and/or information that you include in the digital presentation. Make sure to
include some pictures of your item in front of/inside the backdrop/diorama,
although you can also certainly take pictures of the item itself that don't
include the backdrop/diorama. If you have text on the backdrop/diorama, either
take very clear pictures of it for inclusion in your presentation or copy and
paste the text directly into the presentation; you want it to be easily legible
for the judges. Don't forget to convert to a PDF!
Photo Essay:
Follow the general procedure above. For this year, do NOT affix your
photos to a poster board. Rather, construct your photo essay directly in
PowerPoint/Google Slides/etc., making sure to include the text of the story
along with the pictures. Don't forget to convert to a PDF! (On a side note,
for future years when we go back to using actual poster boards, we have updated
the rules to reflect the correct size of poster boards (22"×28") and to specify
that the poster may not be larger or smaller than that size. But again, DON'T
use a poster this year!)
Photography:
Follow the general procedure above. The rules of this event require
inclusion of your original, unedited photograph(s) along with the final, edited
image. Include both of these in the PowerPoint/Google Slides/etc. (and it would
be a good idea to clearly label which is the original photo and which is the
final image so that there's no confusion for the judges). There is no need to
physically print, frame, or matte the photograph this year. Don't forget to
convert to a PDF!
Poster:
Follow the general procedure above. Yes, even though we are submitting
digitally this year, for this event, you will still use an actual poster board
(the rules have been updated this year to reflect the correct size of standard
poster boards, 22"×28", and to specify that the poster may not be larger or
smaller than that size). You must include at least one picture that shows the
entire poster, but you may also include close-ups of certain areas of the poster
that you want the judges to notice. Don't forget to convert to a PDF!
Shirt:
Follow the general procedure above. Don't forget to convert to a PDF!
Video:
For this event, you do not need to follow the general procedure above. Step
1: When you have finished making the video, upload it to YouTube or Vimeo.
Step 2: The rules of this event require that you also submit a script of
your video. Type your script in Word/Google Docs/etc. At the top of the first
page of the script, include the student names, school, title of
the video, AND the YouTube/Vimeo hyperlink to the video.
Step 3: Convert the document to a PDF. Include your school name in the
file name of the PDF. Step 4: Have your teacher upload the PDF of the
script to the appropriate assignment in the Google Classroom no later than 9:00
a.m. on the contest day. Note: If you are concerned about privacy and want to
password-protect your video, then you must include the password along with the
hyperlink in the PDF script document. Teachers: Do NOT upload the
actual video to the Google Classroom. Just upload the PDF of the script, which
should also contain a YouTube/Vimeo hyperlink to the video.
Oral
Tests:
Directed Dialogue:
You will join a Zoom meeting at a specified time on the contest date. You will
wait in the virtual "waiting room" until admitted by the moderator. The
moderator will ask you 5 questions from the question bank that is published on
the contest website (2 pre-selected questions that will be asked to every
contestant and 3 other randomly selected questions from the bank). The
interaction between you and the moderator will be recorded so that the panel of
judges can evaluate it later.
Extemporaneous Speaking:
Details are still being worked out, but most likely, you will join a Zoom
meeting at a specified time on the contest date. You will wait in the virtual
"waiting room" until admitted by the moderator. The moderator will offer you
two topics from which to choose (regional) or give you one topic (State) and
then send you back into the waiting room for your prep time. The prep time this
year may be shorter than the 10 minutes specified in the official rules, but it
will be the same for each contestant. Since it will be impossible to monitor
whether you are using reference materials during your prep time, we won't try to
police that, and we will probably also waive the rule that you can't use the
notes you made during your prep time when giving your speech. Your speech will
be recorded by the moderator so that the panel of judges can evaluate it later.
For the Advantaged level, the time limit will be changed to 3-4 minutes for this
year only (it's normally 3-5 minutes).
Oral Presentation:
This will be the only oral-testing event not done "face-to-face online" on the
day of contest. Step 1: Record yourself giving your presentation (or
have someone else record you). You may do as many "takes" as you want until
you're satisfied with the result, but the submitted recording must be a single
continuous take, not a spliced-together compilation of the best parts of
multiple takes. The rules for this event instruct you to show your notes to the
judges at the end of your speech (if any were used). This can be done by
holding your note card(s) up to the camera for at least 5 seconds (each) so that
the judges can get a good look at it (them). Also, the rules say that you can
incorporate a wordless "visual component" into your presentations. If you want
to do that at all, the visual component will need to be something you can
physically hold up while the camera remains on you; you cannot use an
application that allows you to share your screen to display the visual such that
the judges see only the visual for a certain period of time while you are
off-camera. If doing a presentation in the "real world," of course you would
want to use tech to seamlessly alternate between showing your face and your
visual. But for contest purposes, we need to see your face 100% of the time, so
keep it "low-tech." Step 2: Upload the video of your presentation to
YouTube or Vimeo. Step 3: Create a single Word document or Google Doc
with (a) your name, (b) your school, (c) an image (or images) of your "visual
component" if you used one, and (d) a hyperlink to your YouTube/Vimeo
recording. If you are concerned about privacy and want to password-protect
your video, then you must include the password with the hyperlink in the
document. Step 4: Convert this document to a PDF file. Step 5:
Send the PDF file to your German teacher for uploading to the appropriate
assignment in the Google Classroom. Teachers: Upload only this one PDF
document; do NOT upload the PDF and the video as separate files. To reiterate:
We do not want the videos uploaded to the Google Classroom at all. Just the
hyperlink to the video inside the document that the student provided you.
Pair Discussion:
Both contestants in the pair will join a Zoom meeting at a specified time on the
contest date. They will wait in the virtual "waiting room" until admitted by
the moderator. The moderator will give them their topic and their 30 seconds of
silent "reflection time" and then begin recording their conversation for later
evaluation by the judges.
Sight Reading:
You will join a Zoom meeting at a specified time on the contest date. You will
wait in the virtual "waiting room" until admitted by the moderator. The
moderator will display the reading selection by sharing their screen within the
Zoom platform. It is strongly recommended that you join the virtual meeting
using a desktop or laptop computer or a tablet (rather than a smart phone) so
that you will be able to see the reading selection clearly. You'll be given one
minute to read over the selection, and then the moderator will record you
reading the selection for two minutes for later evaluation by the judges. Don't
forget to read the title!
Declamation:
Poetry Memory and Poetry Reading
and likewise Prose Memory and Prose Reading will be consolidated into simply "Poetry"
and "Prose." There will be 5 levels of each: 1, 2, 3, 4, and
Advantaged. You may decide whether to read the text, to recite it from memory,
or to use some combination of reading and memory. Typically, though, a
well-memorized (or mostly memorized) presentation will come across better than
one that relies heavily on reading. In essence, the challenge is to present the
most dramatic and most entertaining interpretation of the text that you can
muster. Step 1: Record yourself performing the piece (or have someone
else record you). Don't forget to say the title and author. You may do as many
"takes" as you want until you're satisfied with the result, but the submitted
recording must be a single continuous take, not a spliced-together compilation
of the best parts of multiple takes. Step 2: Upload the video of your
presentation to YouTube or Vimeo. Step 3: Create a single Word document
or Google Doc with (a) your name, (b) your school, (c) the name and level of the
event, e.g., "Poetry 2," "Prose Advantaged," (d) the full text of the selection
including the title and author, and (e) a hyperlink to your YouTube/Vimeo
recording. If you are concerned about privacy and want to password-protect
your video, then you must include the password with the hyperlink in the
document. To get the text of your reading selection into the document, you can
cut and paste it if you have access to an electronic version of the piece or
simply take a (clear!) picture or pictures of the text if you are working from a
hard copy and paste the picture(s) into the document. Step 4: Convert
this document to a PDF file. Step 5: Send the PDF file to your German
teacher for uploading to the appropriate assignment in the Google Classroom.
Teachers: Upload only this one document containing the text and the link to
the video; do NOT upload the text and the video as separate files. To
reiterate: We do not want the videos uploaded to the Google Classroom at all.
Just the hyperlink to the video inside the document that also has the text that
the student is reciting.
Music:
Contemporary Music:
There is a huge caveat this year: while this event normally allows entries with
anywhere from 1 to 5 members, this year, each school's entry may have ONLY
ONE MEMBER, i.e., it must be a solo act. As usual, you must memorize your
song and may sing either a cappella or with a pre-recorded accompaniment
or may accompany yourself on an instrument while singing. Step 1:
Record yourself performing the piece (or have someone else record you). You may
do as many "takes" as you want until you're satisfied with the result, but the
submitted recording must be a single continuous take, not a spliced-together
compilation of the best parts of multiple takes. Step 2: Upload the
video of your presentation to YouTube or Vimeo. Step 3: Create a single
Word document or Google Doc with (a) your name, (b) your school, (c) the full
text of the selection including the title and composer/songwriter, and (d) a
hyperlink to your YouTube/Vimeo recording. If you are concerned about
privacy and want to password-protect your video, then you must include the
password with the hyperlink in the document. If you have sheet music with the
notes and lyrics, take a clear picture (or multiple pictures) of it and paste
the picture(s) into the document. If you have only the lyrics, cut and paste
them from an electronic source, take a picture of them if you're working from a
hard copy, or if necessary type them into the document yourself. Step 4:
Convert this document to a PDF file. Step 5: Send the PDF file to your
German teacher for uploading to the appropriate assignment in the Google
Classroom. Teachers: Upload only this one document containing the song
text and the link to the video; do NOT upload the text and the video as separate
files. To reiterate: We do not want the videos uploaded to the Google
Classroom at all. Just the hyperlink to the video inside the document that also
has the song text that the student is singing.
Vocal Solo:
As usual, you must memorize your song and may sing either a cappella or
with a pre-recorded accompaniment or may accompany yourself on an instrument
while singing (although this would be rare for Vocal Solo). Step 1:
Record yourself performing the piece (or have someone else record you). You may
do as many "takes" as you want until you're satisfied with the result, but the
submitted recording must be a single continuous take, not a spliced-together
compilation of the best parts of multiple takes. Step 2: Upload the
video of your presentation to YouTube or Vimeo. Step 3: Create a single
Word document or Google Doc with (a) your name, (b) your school, (c) a clear
picture or multiple pictures of the sheet music of the song including the title
and composer/songwriter pasted into the document, and (d) a hyperlink to your
YouTube/Vimeo recording. If you are concerned about privacy and want to
password-protect your video, then you must include the password with the
hyperlink in the document. Step 4: Convert this document to a PDF
file. Step 5: Send the PDF file to your German teacher for uploading to
the appropriate assignment in the Google Classroom. Teachers: Upload
only this one document containing the sheet music and the link to the video; do
NOT upload the sheet music and the video as separate files. To reiterate: We
do not want the videos uploaded to the Google Classroom at all. Just the
hyperlink to the video inside the document that also has the sheet music.
Drama:
Duet Acting:
Starting this year but continuing even when we return to normal, Duet Acting
will have only two levels, but may have two entries per level:
Lower (any combination of two students from level 1 and 2; time limit 3-5
minutes) and Upper (any combination of two students from level 3, 4, and
5; time limit 5-7 minutes) -- similar to how we have always done Puppet Show
(except that no Advantaged Speakers are allowed). Participation levels in this
event have simply been too low the past few years to sustain separate
competitions for levels 1, 2, 3, and 4. Step 1: Record yourselves
performing the piece (or have someone else record you). Don't forget the
introduction required by the rules. You may do as many "takes" as you want
until you're satisfied with the result, but the submitted recording must be a
single continuous take, not a spliced-together compilation of the best parts of
multiple takes. While we hope that the two of you will be able to get together
in person to make a recording (while creatively maintaining social distance), if
absolutely necessary, you may submit a recording made using Zoom, Teams, or some
other online meeting platform. Step 2: Upload the video of your
performance to YouTube or Vimeo (even if it was recorded within a virtual
meeting platform). Step 3: Create a single Word document or Google Doc
with (a) your names, (b) your school, (c) the full text of the selection
including the title and author, and (d) a hyperlink to your YouTube/Vimeo
recording. If you are concerned about privacy and want to password-protect
your video, then you must include the password with the hyperlink in the
document. To get the script into the document, you can cut and paste it if you
have access to an electronic version of the play or simply take (clear!)
pictures of the text if you are working from a hard copy and paste the pictures
into the document. Step 4: Convert this document to a PDF file.
Step 5: Send the PDF file to your German teacher for uploading to the
appropriate assignment in the Google Classroom. Teachers: Upload only
this one document containing the script and the link to the video; do NOT upload
the text and the video as separate files. To reiterate: We do not want the
videos uploaded to the Google Classroom at all. Just the hyperlink to the video
inside the document that also has the script.
Written Tests:
Timed Writing:
This event was piloted at Houstonfest last year but will be new this year to the
Sprachfest and Winterfest regions and to State. There can be one contestant per
level in levels 1 and 2. Contestants will receive a prompt (in English) and
have 15 minutes to handwrite a response (in German). (Under normal contest
circumstances, the time limit will be 25 minutes, but to streamline things this
year, we will reduce that to 15 minutes.) Logistics for this year: You will
join a Zoom meeting at a specified time on the contest date. Make sure that you
have paper and a black pen. You will need to position your webcam so that the
proctors can monitor you as you write and clearly see that you are not using any
aids, electronic or otherwise. When the 15 minutes are up, you will hold your
writing up to the camera until the moderator instructs otherwise. You will then
use your smart phone to take a picture of your text and immediately email the
picture to your teacher, so that he/she can upload it to Google Classroom.
Teachers must submit their student's writing submission as soon as possible, but
no later than 5:00 p.m. on the actual contest day.
Research Paper:
This event will function as it
usually does, except that your teacher will only submit the paper electronically
by 9:00 a.m. on the contest date (disregard what the rules say about submitting
on the Tuesday before contest). Consistent with the rules, papers will be
submitted for a plagiarism check. Specific instructions for submitting the
paper electronically will be given later.
Include a title page according to the instructions in the rules. If you have
supplemental materials such as pictures that you would normally have included
(according to the rules) on the USB drive, include them in the paper itself this
year, after the Works Cited. |
When is the next Houstonfest?
Saturday,
February 6, 2021 Where
is Houstonfest?
Due to COVID-19, the 2021 contest will be conducted entirely REMOTELY.
Link to Texas
State German Contest
Texas
State German Contest on Facebook |