German Day Activities

Children's Book Contest

This is NEW for 2018! Schools are allowed to submit up to five children's books per level, with there being two levels (I/II and III/IV). No more than two students may be credited for the work on each book. Teachers should ensure that all books are in good taste; the Department reserves the right not to display any that might violate the standards of the Washington University community.

Length:

Level I/II: 4-6 pages
Level III/IV: 7-10 pages

Please include the contest level, school, teacher's name, and student(s) name(s) on the inside of the front cover. Books will be judged by members of the German Department and the results of the contest will be available by the conclusion of German Day. Judges will be selecting winners based upon the following criteria: creativity, originality, overall aesthetic appearance, relation to the German Day theme, and good use of German language and culture.

First, second, and third prizes will be awarded, if possible. These may be group prizes, rather than individual prizes, if more than one student worked on the book. Prize-winning books will be retained by the German Department. Books may be picked up shortly after 12:30pm from the contest location and any remaining after that time will be taken to the Department but only stored there for a short time.

Declamation Contests I-IV

The Declamation Contest consists of four divisions:

Division I (first-year)
Division II (second-year)
Division III (third-sixth year and above, one student per school)
Division IV (third-sixth year, one student per school)

Students should memorize one poem of their choice in their category. Only one student per school may participate in Division III and one in Division IV. These students will recite a poem from memory in Graham Chapel. Participation in Divisions I and II is limited to three students per school in each division. First, second, and third prizes will be awarded in these two divisions. Students with native or near-native speaking ability should—according to AATG guidelines—participate in activities other than the declamation contests or spelling bees.

Guidelines:
Levels I & II
Levels III & IV

Poems for 2018

Poster Contest

Schools are allowed to submit up to five posters, with up to five people contributing to each poster. All posters should have approximately the following format: 30” x 40”. We no longer insist upon foam board. Posters may be prepared by individuals or by a group. Teachers should ensure that posters are in good taste. The German Department reserves the right not to display posters that might violate the standards of the Washington University community.

For each poster, prepare three 3x5 index cards which clearly indicate:

the name(s) of the creator(s)
the teacher’s name
the school’s name

The first card should be given to the activity coordinator when the poster is submitted. The second card should be securely attached to the lower front left corner of the poster. The third card should be affixed to the back of the poster. Posters will be judged by members of the German Department and the results of the contest will be available by the conclusion of German Day. Judges will be selecting winners based upon the following criteria: creativity, originality, overall aesthetic appearance, relation to the German Day theme, and good use of German language and culture.

First, second, and third prizes will be awarded, if possible. These may be group prizes, rather than individual prizes, if more than one student worked on the poster. Prize-winning posters will be retained by the German Department. All other posters may be picked up shortly after 12:30 from the contest location. Any leftovers will be taken to the German Department, but will be stored there for only a short time.

Schnitzeljagd

Teams, which must consist of 3-5 students, will receive a list of questions in German (questionnaires will vary) about different places on campus. Prizes will be awarded to the team that answers the most questions correctly, in the shortest amount of time (the pickup time will be noted on each answer sheet). Teams will be able to deliver their results to a table at the final location and receive refreshments there. The starting point for the Schnitzeljagd is the German department office, in Ridgley 319. A helpful vocabulary list will aid students in understanding the questions, and to make this year's Schnitzeljagd more interesting, we have deleted some questions and added new ones.

Please see the General Registration Form to indicate the number of students from your school who will participate in this event.

2018 Schnitzeljagd vocab

Skits

We encourage schools to have their students present a skit, no more than ten minutes in length. We will be able to accommodate up to 10 skits. Skits will be judged on the basis of a combination of best costume, best acting, and best use of German language. We will assign times so that students and teachers can view the skit of their choice (we will also try to reconcile these times with the spelling bee slots). Prizes or certificates for the winning skit(s) may be awarded to the group rather than the individuals, if a large number of students participate in one skit.

Spelling Bees

The following documents are available for download.
Rules and Guidelines
Beginner's Spelling Bee List
Advanced Spelling Bee List

Süßigkeiten Counting Contest

A container will be filled with Süßigkeiten and will be placed in the same location of the children's book and poster contests. Each student may submit one guess as to the number of pieces in the container and the student guessing the exact number will be awarded the filled container. German department students supervising the activity will also keep the paper slips with guesses closest to the correct number in case no one guesses correctly. Again: students may guess only once.

Team Trivia

We will be doing this event again in 2018, with a few more guidelines in place. We are currently ironing out those details, though.

We are modeling this after the traditional American trivia night or "pub quiz," NOT like a Quiz Bowl. There will be no buzzers or anything like that. Teams of five students will compete and a moderator will read out a question. The team will have around a minute to confer and write a response for each question. Categories for this year are still being determined.

CONTEST RESULTS

Should you have any questions about German Day which are not answered by this webpage, please contact Cecily Stewart Hawksworth.

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