ALL RUSSIAN ESSAY COMPETITION IN THE UK 2008 Students ...

ALL RUSSIAN ESSAY COMPETITION IN THE UK 2008
This document is a download from
www.ruslan.co.uk/teachers.htm
Students learning Russian at Schools, Colleges and Universities in the UK, including heritage
learners, are invited to participate in the Second Russian Essay Competition 2008. The competition
has been organised by the Russian Committee of the Association for Language Learning
(ALL) http://www.all-languages.org.uk
We hope that you will encourage your students to take part as this is an excellent way for them to
compete nationwide with their peers in a field-wide event and to raise the profile of Russian at
your institution.
The contestants will submit their essays by 14 March and winners will be announced by 30 April
2008.Winners in each category will receive prizes and their essays will be published on the ALL
website, in the Rusistika journal and in the London-INFO newspaper. All participants will receive
certificates.
Please see further details of the competition below. Please do not hesitate to contact Natalia
Tronenko natalia@tronenko.com if you have any quieries.
The Competition has been organized with the support of:
The Russian Centre for International Scientific & Cultural Cooperation http://
www.rusintercenter.ru
The Scotland-Russia Forum http://www.scotlandrussiaforum.org
The Russian Society at Sussex http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/russian/
The Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House http://www.hermitagerooms.org.uk
The Russian Teachers Group (webpage under construction)
We are very grateful to the following organisations for financial support and the donation of prizes:
Russian Centre for International Scientific & Cultural Cooperation http://www.rusintercenter.ru
Grant and Cutler http://www.grantandcutler.com
Ruslan Ltd http://www.ruslan.co.uk
The Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House http://www.hermitagerooms.org.uk
Earworms Ltd http://www.earwormslearning.com
Who can join?
The competition is open to both maintained and independent schools and colleges and to
university students at all levels, including heritage learners.
Each contestant may enter only one essay.
Please note that students may not register themselves, but can only be registered by a teacher.
Procedure and guidelines
· The language for the competition is Russian.
· There is one topic per category (please see below).
· The essays may be typed or hand-written in blue or black ink (pencil is not acceptable).
Hand-written entries must be legible. They cannot be returned, therefore contestants
should keep a copy of their work.
· Contestants are allowed to refer to printed and internet resources. All sources and quotations
must be appropriately documented.
· Teachers are welcome to discuss the essay topics and help their students to write a bullet
point outline of their essay in Russian.
· In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, the participants should list:

1. The name of the school or university.
2. The name of the teacher.
3. The name of the participant.
4. The category and level (please consult the criteria below).
· The last page should be signed by the entrant’s teacher to verify that the essay is solely
the work of the student concerned. Essays which do not include this information will not
be read.
· After the students write their essays, teachers should make three copies of each essay.
· Teachers must attach the entry forms (please see below) to the originals, one entry form
per student.
Sending essays
· The essays should be submitted to Natalia Tronenko either by post to 59 Wandsworth
Common West Side, London SW18 2ED or by e-mail to natalia@tronenko.com.
· Teachers should send:
1. one entry form per entrant (attached to the original);
2. the originals; and
3. three photocopies (if the essays are hand-written).
· For Level 1entrants who prepare posters, only the original is required along with the
entry form attached to the back of their poster.
· Please write “ALL Russian Essay Competition” on the envelope and/or as the subject of
your e-mails.
Deadlines
The deadline for submitting the essays is 14 March. Judges will review the essays in March
and April and winners will be announced by 30 April 2008.
Criteria for Judging the Essays
Essays will be reviewed by the panel of judges. The work must be entirely the student’s own.
What our judges are looking for, above all, is originality of thought and clarity of expression.
More specifically, their judgement will be based on content (the ability to express original and
creative ideas in Russian and communicate information about the Competition topic) and the
accuracy and effectiveness of students’ presentation (grammatical and orthographic accuracy,
range of vocabulary, syntax structure and organisation of the text). The decision of the judges
is final.
What happens after the Competition?
The winners will be announced by 30 April 2008. Winners in each category will receive prizes
and their essays will be published on the ALL website, in Rusistika magazine and in London-
INFO newspaper.
Winning entrants will be asked to submit an electronic copy of their essays for publication on
the ALL web site.
Categories

Please take time to calculate the number of hours that your students have studied Russian to
place them in the proper category and level. Essays will be ranked according to categories as
follows:
Category 1. Non-heritage learners at Schools and Colleges who do not speak Russian with
their families at home.
Level 1.
Students in their first year of study, i.e., students of ab initio level. (Please note that heritage
learners of any Slavic language, including Russian, are not allowed to participate in this category
of the contest.)
Level 2.
Students who at the time of the essay contest will have had more than 100 but less than 200
contact hours of instruction in Russian. (Please note that heritage learners of any Slavic language,
including Russian, are not allowed to participate in this category of the contest.) This is
mostly students at Post-Beginners’ Level.
Level 3.
Students who at the time of the essay contest will have had more than 200 but less than 300
contact hours of instruction in Russian. This is mostly school students working towards GCSE
level.
Level 4.
Students who at the time of the essay contest will have had up to 400 contact hours of instruction
in Russian. This is mostly school students working towards their A-level.
Category 2. Non-heritage learners at Universities who do not speak Russian with their families
at home.
Level 1.
Students in their first year of study, i.e., students of ab initio level. (Please note that heritage
learners of any Slavic language, including Russian, are not allowed to participate in this category
of the contest.)
Level 2.
Students who at the time of the essay contest will have had more than 100 but less than 200
contact hours of instruction in Russian. (Please note that heritage learners of any Slavic language,
including Russian, are not allowed to participate in this category of the contest.) This is
mostly students at Post-Beginners’ Level.
Level 3.
Students who at the time of the essay contest will have had more than 200 but less than 300
hours of instruction in Russian.
Level 4.
Students who at the time of the essay contest will have had up to 400 contact hours of instruction
in Russian.

Category 3. Heritage learners who speak Russian with their families at home.
Level 1.
Heritage learners of 11 years and under who have NOT attended school in Russia or the
former Soviet Union and have learnt reading and writing skills after emigration.
Level 2.
Heritage learners of 12 years and over who have NOT attended school in Russia or the former
Soviet Union and have learnt reading and writing skills after emigration.
Level 3.
Heritage learners of 11 years and over who have attended school in Russia or the former Soviet
Union.
Topics
Categories 1 and 2: Non-Heritage Learners
Level 1: A poster on a theme:
×óäåñíàÿ ðóññêàÿ çèìà.
The great Russian winter.
The poster should contain words and/or phrases in Russian.
Level 2: 80-100 words.
What I like about today’s Russia.
×òî ìíå íðàâèòñÿ â ñîâðåìåííîé Ðîññèè.
Level 3: 150-180 words.
A day in the life of a Russian oligarch.
Îäèí äåíü èç æèçíè ðóññêîãî îëèãàðõà.
Level 4: 200-250 words.
Famous Russians in the UK (historical or contemporary).
Èçâåñòíûå ðóññêèå â Âåëèêîáðèòàíèè.
A few suggestions: Peter the Great, Alexander Herzen, Lenin, Pyotr Kapitsa, Tamara
Karsavina, Rudolf Nureyev, Oleg Prokofiev, Natalia Vodianova, Boris Berezovsky, Roman
Abramovich, Dmitry Hvorostovsky.
A useful link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Russians
Category 3: Heritage learners
Level 1: 100-120 words.
A letter to my favourite character from a Russian fairy-tale or story.
Ïèñüìî ìîåìó ëþáèìîìó ãåðîþ èç ðóññêîé ñêàçêè èëè ðàññêàçà.
Level 2: 150-180 words.
If I went to Russia I’d like to meet ....
Åñëè áû ÿ ïîåõàë(à) â Ðîññèþ ÿ õîòåë(à) áû âñòðåòèòüñÿ ñ ...
Level 3: 200-250 words.
What I miss most about Russia.
Ïî ÷åìó èç ìîåé æèçíè â Ðîññèè ÿ ñêó÷àþ áîëüøå âñåãî.

THE SECOND RUSSIAN ESSAY COMPETITION IN THE UK 2008
ENTRY FORM
This document is a download from
www.ruslan.co.uk/teachers.htm
School /University
Name & Address
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Teacher/Contact
Name
E-Mail Address
Telephone
Entrant’s Name
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Entrant’s Age/Year Group
Category and Level
___________________________
___________________________
Comments (optional)
Date
___________________________