News and Updates

Houstonfest Scholarships - winners posted!

Scholarships at State

Special Rules and Procedures for the 2021 Remote Contest

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., Mar. 6, 2021:  State online awards ceremony posted. Also, Houstonfest Scholarship applications due.

Fri., Mar. 12, 2021:  Gail Cope Scholarship applications due.

Fri., April 30, 2021:  Gail Cope Teacher Grant applications due.

The rest of this will be updated for 2022 some time soon:

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.

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.

Thur., Feb. 11, 2021:  Houstonfest online awards show emailed to teachers.

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.

Mon., Feb. 22, 2021:  State online registration due by 11:59 p.m. at regular price of $12/student. Also, entries for promotional video contest due to State director Jennifer Christianson by 8:00 p.m. and deadline to postmark payment.

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.

Rules:  Written Testing Events

Below are the "normal" rules for Houstonfest in a non-pandemic year.  To preserve a record of the normal rules, alterations to the rules for the 2021 remote contest will not be reflected here but rather documented at this link: Special Rules and Procedures for the 2021 Remote Contest.  In a nutshell, however:  Unfortunately, no written tests will be offered in 2021 except Timed Writing (which HAS been permanently adopted statewide after we piloted it last year!).

Notes for all contestants in written testing:

• You are responsible for bringing as many No. 2 pencils as you may need to take these tests.  If you forget to bring your own pencils, you may buy one at the contest for $.50. Scantron answer sheets will be used for all tests except Spelling and Timed Writing.

• The written tests (except the Advantaged Speaker Test and the new event Timed Writing) will all be given during 9 testing windows:  9:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, 12:00, 12:30, 1:00, 1:30.  Thus, the written tests start one hour after the rest of the competition and continue after all other events have finished.  Students who are signed up for a lot of events can get their non-testing events done in the morning and take advantage of the four post-noon testing sessions to wrap up their testing events.

• Tips on preparing for the written tests (revised on January 26, 2015)

Advantaged Speaker Test:

3 entries per school (Advantaged Speakers only).  Multiple-choice, scantron test (100 questions, 20 each in the areas of culture, grammar, listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and vocabulary) plus spelling test (20 questions).  The test will be given ONE time on the day of contest and will take approximately 90 minutes.  It must be completed in one sitting.

Culture:

3 entries per school per level (Levels 1, 2, 3, & 4).  Multiple-choice, scantron test.  The level 3 and 4 tests will be in German.

Grammar:

3 entries per school per level (Levels 1, 2, 3, & 4).  Multiple-choice, scantron test.

Listening Comprehension:

3 entries per school per level (Levels 1, 2, 3, & 4).  Multiple-choice, scantron test.  Listen to recorded items in German and answer questions about the information you heard.  Levels 1 and 2 take the same test and Levels 3 and 4 take the same test, but they are ranked separately for each level.

Reading Comprehension:

3 entries per school per level (Levels 1, 2, 3, & 4).  Multiple-choice, scantron test.  The test will consist of questions about a series of short readings.  Questions will generally be in German.
 

Spelling:

2 entries per school per level (Levels 1, 2, 3, & 4).  A series of words will be called out in German (the speaker will say the word, its part of speech, a sentence using the word, and the word again).  The words will probably be recorded, not called live. Contestants write the called words on their answer sheets.  Spelling (including umlauts) and capitalization (nouns capitalized, other parts of speech not capitalized) must be perfect in order to receive credit for a given item.  Levels 1 and 2 take the same test and Levels 3 and 4 take the same test, but they are ranked separately for each level.

Timed Writing (piloted at Houstonfest in 2020, added at the other regional contests and at State starting in 2021):

1 contestant per school per level (Levels 1 & 2 only).  The contestants will have 25 minutes to write a response to a prompt that is appropriate for their level of German.  All contestants in each level will have the same prompt, but the prompts will change from year to year.  The contestants may not use any print or electronic aids (phones, dictionaries, etc.).  Either one or two writing sessions will be offered early in the day to allow sufficient time for judging.  (In 2020, two sessions were offered:  8:30-9:00 and 9:00-9:30.)

Download critique sheet.

Vocabulary:

3 entries per school per level (Levels 1, 2, 3, & 4).  Multiple-choice, scantron test. The test will consist of items in which you choose the English equivalent for a given German word, choose the German equivalent for a given English word, choose the German opposite of a given German word, choose the German synonym of a given German word, determine which item does not belong in a group, determine which item fits into a given category, and choose the word that best completes a sentence.  Other formats are possible as well.