Sprachfest 2009

Sprachfest 2009 will take place at Bates College on Tuesday, March 24th.

Directions To Bates College

The day’s activities will begin at 9:00 in Chase Hall, which is located on Campus Avenue. A campus map and directions are available at www.bates.edu.

Culture Bowl Questions:

Junior Division | Senior Division

Hindernisrennenn:
Rules and instructions (MS Word document)

Information for Participants:

8:30-8:45am - Arrival at Bates College.
All students should wear a T-shirt with a German theme.

Before arrival, teachers divide their students in four color-coded groups (red, yellow, blue, green) corresponding to the colors of the activities.

Singing of the Sprachfest "theme song": Das rote Pferd.

All participants should be prepared to sing it and act it out.
The tune is of "Mylord" as recorded by Edith Piaf. It goes like this:
Das rote Pferd
Da hat das rote Pferd
(hands tap on desk like hooves)
sich einfach umgekehrt,
(hands cross over and tap on desk like hooves)
und hat mit seinem Schwanz
(hand holding elbow, free hand waves back and forth like a tail)
die Fliege abgewehrt
(clap hands, motion over shoulder with thumb)
die Fliege war nicht dumm
(wag finger)
und machte sum, sum, sum
(hands make blah, blah motion, thumbs meeting fingers)
und flog mit viel Gebrumm
(thumbs under armpits, flap)
ums rote Pferd herum.
(index finger circles overhead like hokey pokey)

9:00 - 11:15 Activities
· Dancing (red),· Singing (yellow).· Board Games (blue).· Watching the Videos (green).
Students spend 30 minutes at one activity and then switch to the next one, collecting one stamp for each activity.

Video Contest

This year the topic of the video is Märchen.
Choose 20 of the 25 words and also use der grüne Frosch.

Nouns: der/die Zwerg/in, die Hexe, der/die König/in, der/die Prinz/essin, der Wald, der Brunnen, der Zauberspruch oder der Zauber, der Drache, das Schloß, die Fee (und der grüne Frosch).

Verbs: springen, tanzen, spinnen, laufen, schlafn, küssen, verwandeln, (tot) schlagen.
Adjectives: böse, schön, glücklich, traurig, häßlich, reich, arm.

Teachers are reminded that the Märchen must be written and performed by the students; neither teachers nor native speakers may play a role in the video.
The scripts and the videos are due in Orono on March 9.

Send to: Professor Gisela Hoecherl-Alden, Department of Modern Languages and Classics, 201 Little Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469.

Please send it as a DVD (no VHS, no CD-ROM). You may bring multiple copies for distribution at Sprachfest. Also, please send the video script together with the DVD.

Video Contest Rules:

Top score is 60 pts. First, Second, Third earn 10, 8, and 6 points in the overall score. If scripts and videos are not received on time, they may not earn full points.

· Script received by March 9 (yes/no, 0-2 pts).
· Length - 10 minutes maximum, 5 minutes minimum (yes/no, 0-2 pts).
· Qualifies as Märchen (1-8 pts).
· Has all required words (1-6 pts)
· Quality of German (1-10 pts).
· Technical quality (1-8 pts).
· Well developed plot and imagination (1-10 pts).
· Performance. Reaching the audience (1-8 pts).
· Quality of scenery and props (1-6 pts).


Bag Skit Contest

Each school has a time slot for their bag skit team. Students of the teams are supposed to participate in the other activities too.

Bag Skit Rules:
· 4 students per team. Preparation 10 minutes.· Top score is 60 pts. First, Second and Third earn 9, 6, and 3 points in the overall score.· Length 2-3 minutes (yes/no, 0-2 pts).· Use of all props (yes/no, 0-16 pts).· Quality of German. word order,
verb conjugations, idiomatic expressions, endings, cases (1-16 pts).· Well developed plot and imagination (story has a plot - recognizable beginning/middle end) - (1-8 pts).· Delivery - loud, articulate, reaching the audience (1-16 pts).· Everyone
must speak (yes/no, 0-2 pts).

11:15-12:00 - Lunch

Pizza and beverages will be provided.

12:00-12:45 - Culture Bowl
Questions are half and half from the Junior Division | Senior Division

Culture Bowl Rules:

· Each school has a team of three students.
· Spelling and articles count.
· One teacher per school serves as scorer for a school other than his/her own.

12:45 - Dessert

Results of the Baking Contest and eating the cakes for dessert.

Baking Contest

Each school brings one cake per category to be judged.
Categories are: 1. Schokolade, 2. Obst, 3. Andere Kuchen
Bates students are the judges.
The student bakers in first, second and third place in each category receive a golden,
silver or bronze spoon respectively.

Baking Contest Rules:

· Top score is 15 pts. per category. First and Second in each category earn 2 and 1 points in the overall score.
· Label - a 3x5 card (yes/no, 0-2 pts).
· Provide on the label the name of the cake, name of the student who baked the cake and name of the school.
· Authenticity - German recipe (yes/no. 0-2 pts).
· Taste (1-4 pts).
· Appearance (1-4 pts).

1:00 - Closing
Announcement of the winning schools.

Scoring Sheets (MS Word Doc Format):

Bag skits
Culture Bowl
Kuchen
Obstkuchen
Schokokuchen
Video
Overview
Overall Scores

Sprachfest Galleries:

2008 Sprachfest Video Gallery

2007 Sprachfest Photo Gallery

2006 Sprachfest Photo Gallery

Videos from previous "Sprachfest" competitions.