Judge+Confirmation+Email

Dear Judges,

 Thanks for sharing your time and expertise as a judge in this years Russian Olympiada Competition! We are very excited to work with you to ignite a passion for the Russian language in our community.

We will be having a judges training session from 4-5 pm. on Saturday, March 19. The information shared at this session will help in preparing you for your judging experience. The session will be located in the small relocatable building #5, behind West High and Romig School.

The location of the March 25th Russian Olympiada Competition will be the BP Energy building. The BP Energy Center is a bit hard to find if you’ve never been there. The address is 900 E. Benson Blvd, Anchorage  ,  AK  99508. This building is beside the bigger BP building off Northern Lights. When you go into the parking lot, turn right; then go straight back to the last possible parking lot. There's a little bridge from the parking lot to a low building there.

 Please do not hesitate to call or email if you have any questions.

With Our Sincere Gratitude,

Michelle Foss, Valerie Ekberg-Brown, and Leslie Lorentzen Russian Olympiada Coordinators and Parent Volunteer Michelle Foss: foss_michelle@asdk12.org , Valeire Ekberg-Brown: Ekberg-brown_valerie@asdk12.org Leslie Lorentzen: lorentzen92@msn.com

-- Notes for judges who missed the meeting:

Two things we talked about that aren't below:

You'll be seeing a group of students from a given level (say, level 2) for a specific topic (perhaps Culture). Please accept scoresheets from the students and write some notes on them to remember the student, but wait until you've heard three or four students before you mark scores. That will let you hear a range of students and be able to mark them more or less appropriately.

Also, someone asked about grammatical accuracy. What we know from proficiency levels is that beginners may be more grammatically accurate because more of their phrases are memorized. As people start to create with a new language, their accuracy goes down. And under stress, their grammar may be even worse. Thus, grammar with regular students is an issue only when it interferes with your ability to understand them. At the Native Speaker level, you are welcome to judge grammar.

_

I'm sorry to hear you're sick, and I really appreciate your willingness to volunteer.

The main points are that your judging should start with how well you can understand the kids (except on the native speaker level), and then go to the content, and after that their level of speech. We are not so much trying to weed out the students to find who's best as we are trying to encourage them and celebrate the fact that they are studying Russian. It's a complex language, and the Olympiada is our chance to tell them that they have chosen well!

I'll paste in today's meeting agenda and a few notes, but maybe you can bring it or talk to another judge to get more information, even if it is on the morning of the Olympiada. You are welcome to send me questions by e-mail. I'm attaching the set of all the rubrics. You probably don't want to print them all out...just look at them. They're very similar from level to level.

I hope you get better soon!

Michele Whaley

Olympiada Judges' Meeting Agenda

I. Introductions/Welcome

II. Olympiada is for all

Regular Middle School students, High School levels 1-5, and Native speakers

– not just the best; we are trying to be open and encouraging of every student who is studying or continuing their Russian

III. Two rounds, three "commissions," or main topics

Students in round 1 will hand you a score sheet. Make sure it's the correct one for your topic and level. You may write comments on it, but please don't score the students until they leave your table.

IV. Round 1: About Oneself, Culture, Poetry: Whichever group you will judge, please listen to two or three students before marking them, to get an idea of the ability range.

A. Levels 1-2 (remember that the number of school study hours in these years boils down to 10 - 20 days in Russia; it's not a lot)

1. About Oneself/Culture: students may produce three topic choices for judges, or may forget. Listen to them anyway!

a. Please do not ask questions at this level; remember that there are six different ways to ask the simplest question in Russian. It is a very rich language.

2. Poetry: they should know four lines per year (four for level 1, eight for level 2, and so on) by heart. If they have to read it, you may still put down points for pronunciation and expression.

B. Levels 3-4-5 (Students are still very nervous, and may forget a lot once they're in front of a judge. Students now have had the equivalent of 30-50 days in country. It's still not a lot. Please be encouraging and supportive.)

1. About Oneself/Culture: Expect more content and a bigger range of vocabulary. Even now, please do not ask the student questions, unless something they say is of great interest to you and it is on a topic they have brought up. Speak slower than you think you need to!

2. Poetry: at this level, students should give a brief introduction to the poem, possibly including some information about the poet or at least about their feelings toward the poem.

C. Native Speakers: These students are in two groups: middle school and high school

1. About Oneself/Culture: students at Middle School level offer the judge five topics, and the judge chooses what the student should talk about.

Students at high school level draw three topics and they must speak on one level.

In this group, grammar is more important within the score for comprehensibility.

2. Poem: the same as for levels 3-4-5

IV. Round 2: This is only for regular 3-4-5 students (most often level 4-5). This year we're trying something new; instead of having the students talk with all the judges, we will divide into four or five small groups, and finalists with the highest scores will circulate to discuss the questions, "Where would you like to go in Russia," or "Why do you study Russian."

V. Time for questions/View videos and score students

VI. See you at the BP Energy Center on Friday at 8:00!