Year 2006 Third National CLASS Essay Contest

全美中小學中文教師協會舉辦第三屆學生作文比賽

     The Third CLASS National CLASS Essay Contest 

Essay topic:     開拓中文新天地 (9^th to 12^th grades) 

                   學中文的樂趣  (K to 8^th grades)

Deadline:   All entries must be postmarked no later than Oct. 14, 2006.
Please sent your students entries (one original hard copy and the electronic file) to the CLASS Essay Contest Committee Chair, Dali Tan, at Landon School, 6101 Wilson Ln, Bethesda, MD 20817-3199.

RULES 

1.       Each entry must be an original work of a current student of Chinese language whose teacher is currently a CLASS member. 

2.       The category and division of participating students must be clearly marked on the entry form.  Categories: Beginner (B), Intermediate (I), Advanced (A), and Native Speaker (N);  Divisions:  K-4, 5-8 and 9-12. 

3.       Submissions are restricted to two entries per category, per teacher.  For example, if a teacher teaches one beginning and one upper level class, (s)he can submit up to 4 entries. 

4.       Teachers must submit completed entry forms with their entries in addition to putting the requested information on the back of each essay. 

5. Essays may be hand-written or word-processed; either traditional or simplified characters are accepted.  For the K-4 division, essays written in pinyin mixed with characters will be accepted.  However, entries from students in grades 5^th to 12^th can be hand-written but must use word processing and send in both the original hard copy and an electronic file of the essays.  Their Chinese teachers can put all such entries on one floppy disk and mail it to the chair of the CLASS Essay Contest Committee.  

6.       Each entry must have identification typed or printed legibly on the back side of the essay only.  No identification marks are allowed on the face of the essay. 

7.       Essay length by category:

·         Beginner:  100-300 words

·         Intermediate:  300-500 words

·         Advanced:  500-1000 words

·         Native speakers may follow the lengths of these categories depending upon their levels of proficiency.  

8.       All entries upon submission become the property of CLASS

 

DEFINITIONS OF ENTRY CATEGORIES

 B = Beginner  These are students who perform at novice-low to novice-mid levels according to ACTFL Performance Guidelines (http://www.actfl.org).

I = Intermediate  These are students who perform at novice-high to intermediate-mid levels according to ACTFL Performance Guidelines

A = Advanced  These are students who perform at or above intermediate high levels according to ACTFL Performance Guidelines.

N = Native Speaker  These are students who are heritage speakers, specifically students who originated from a Chinese speaking area of the world or who use Chinese as their primary language at home.  Regardless of their oral and written abilities are entirely fluent or not, students with significant exposure outside of the classroom must submit their work to this category.  

PRIZES

Essay contest winners will be announced at the CLASS membership meeting at ACTFL Annual Convention in November 2006.  There will be Golden Apple, Silver Apple and  Honorable Mention awards.  All participants in the contest will receive a CLASS certificate of participation.   

SCORING RUBRICS 

I.                    Comprehensibility

4. Writing effectively conveys message and requires no interpretation.

3. Writing clearly conveys message and requires minimal interpretation.

2. Writing requires interpretation on the part of the reader.

1. Writing is barely comprehensible. 

II.                  Ideas and Content

4. They are clear, accurate and focused with supporting details.

3. There are believable details to support the main ideas.

2. Presents basic development but not enough details.

1. Lacks central topic. 

III.               Word Choice and Discourse

4.     Demonstrates creative use of words and cohesive devices.

3.     Demonstrates adequate use of words and some use of cohesive devices.

2.     Shows repetitive words and no cohesive devices.

1.       Shows erroneous or poor choice of words and incomplete sentences. 

IV.                Syntax and Accuracy

4.     Demonstrate excellent command of language use.

3.     Demonstrate good control of language structure.

2.     Show developing use of language structure.

1.     Show merging use of language structure most of the time. 

V.                  Presentation and Characters (in case of hand writing)

4.     Demonstrates effective use of characters with fewer or no errors through hand writing.

3.       Demonstrates effective use of characters in completing thoughts through hand writing.

2.       Shows frequent errors in characters in presenting thoughts through hand writing.

1.       Shows much inaccuracy in writing characters in presenting thoughts through hand writing. 

V.                  Presentation and Character (in case of word processing)

4.       Demonstrates effective use of characters with fewer or no errors through word processing.

3.       Demonstrates effective use of characters in completing thoughts through word processing.

2.       Shows frequent errors in characters in presenting thoughts  through word processing

1.       Shows much inaccuracy in characters in presenting thoughts through word processing

Writing Samples:

Sample student work from 5-8 winners:    Sample Essay

Sample student work from 9-12 winners:   Sample Essay

Application Entry Form: 

Please download the application form from here:   Application Form