For our 2019 Contest...
2) Postmark deadline: February 8, 2019.
3) A minimum of 3 students (from any level) will be needed to hold a contest in a given language to avoid cancellation. (Registration fees will be returned!)
4) Only two hard copies of each poem to be recited need be submitted with registration materials.
5) All teachers registering students MUST be current members of CT COLT at the time of registration. Click for Membership Form.
6) Questions about poem selections and/or judging should be addressed to Elizabeth Lapman or John Rook.
7) Questions related to student registration should be directed to Paul St. Louis.
2) Middle School Heritage Speaker contests: schools may enter up to 3 students/language.
3) High School Heritage Speaker contests: schools may enter up to 3 students/language (any combination of 9-10 & 11-12)
4) For all other contests: only 1 student per language level may be registered.
About the poems for COLT's 38th Annual World Language Poetry Recitation Contest:
The Slates of Poems for 2019:
Questions about the slates or judging?
- Many thanks to Rockville High School for hosting our contest on April 3, 2019! CT-COLT looks forward to working with Poetry Hosts Eliza Gonzalez, Alba Orsorio, and Amy Schlett! The contest will begin promptly at 3:45 pm and end by 6:30 pm.
- Postmark deadline for registration: February 8, 2019. This year's contest will be limited to 700 students. Get your registrations in EARLY to assure participation of your students!
- Click here for 2019 Registration materials. Some highlights:
2) Postmark deadline: February 8, 2019.
3) A minimum of 3 students (from any level) will be needed to hold a contest in a given language to avoid cancellation. (Registration fees will be returned!)
4) Only two hard copies of each poem to be recited need be submitted with registration materials.
5) All teachers registering students MUST be current members of CT COLT at the time of registration. Click for Membership Form.
6) Questions about poem selections and/or judging should be addressed to Elizabeth Lapman or John Rook.
7) Questions related to student registration should be directed to Paul St. Louis.
- Registration Limits for 2019:
2) Middle School Heritage Speaker contests: schools may enter up to 3 students/language.
3) High School Heritage Speaker contests: schools may enter up to 3 students/language (any combination of 9-10 & 11-12)
4) For all other contests: only 1 student per language level may be registered.
- Late-arriving students must wait in the hall until the judge opens the door. In this way, student recitations will not be disturbed.
- Absences: all school liaisons MUST contact CT-COLT by 10 am on Contest Day -- whether there will be absences or not. We must notify judges so they do not wait for absent students, thus assuring that the Awards Ceremony ends on time for schools' rented buses.
About the poems for COLT's 38th Annual World Language Poetry Recitation Contest:
- Contestants for which slates have been formulated -- in Ancient Greek, Arabic, Chinese, ESOL, French, German, Italian, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish -- MUST recite selections from the approved slates of poems found below. No substitutions.
- Contestants in languages for which COLT has not yet formulated slates -- ASL, Modern Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Nepali - may recite poems of their choice that conform to the following length:
- For Middle School 1, 2, Heritage Speakers & High School 1: 10-20 lines
- For all other High School levels + Heritage Speakers: 14-30 lines
- Mail in 2 hard copies of each poem -- from a slate or not -- with your registration materials.
- Make sure to include the student's name, language, and level on each poem copy in the upper right-hand corner.
- Please use English titles and authors for languages with non-Roman alphabets: Arabic, Chinese, Ancient & Modern Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Nepali, Russian.
- Click here for the 2019 Judging Rubric (includes scoring tips and disqualification rules)
- Teachers are urged to share this rubric with their students: judges have commented that some contestants had never seen the elements on which they would be assessed.
- The rubric includes a 1-3 point addition for difficulty level for tie-breakers, since not all languages have approved slates.
- Be aware that some students decline to recite if they have prepared poems recited well by others in the contest room. This situation arose even before COLT adopted slates, but is more pronounced in contests with particularly popular poems. Accordingly, please inspire your students to be extra-prepared and extra-confident!
- Please remind students that they are to recite -- not sing or act -- their poems to avoid disqualification.
- ESOL poetry will be judged according to LAS-Links guidelines. To view the chart, just select first icon -- View in Full Screen -- at the bottom of the graphic.
- For other registration information, please consult the 2019 Poetry Contest Registration Materials.
The Slates of Poems for 2019:
- The SLATES (or Poem Lists) are listed below in BOLD at the left. For example, click on "FRENCH SLATE" for the French poem list.
- To download the texts themselves, just click on a language level, such as "MS 1" or "HS Heritage Speaker", for the appropriate PDF.
- CT COLT is aware of the many variants of poetry, occurring most often when celebrated authors revised earlier works. If your student is preparing a variant of a text listed on a slate, just mail in 2 hard copies of this text for the judges' folders.
- ANCIENT GREEK: Middle School: MS 1, MS 2; High School: HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6
- ARABIC SLATE: Middle School: MS 1, MS 2, MS Heritage Speaker; High School: HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6, HS Heritage
- CHINESE SLATE: (Traditional Mandarin Characters) Middle School: MS 1, MS 2, MS Heritage Speaker; High School : HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6, HS Heritage Speaker Please accept our apologies: some slates only offer Simplified text.
- CHINESE SLATE: (Simplified Mandarin Characters) Middle School: MS 1, MS 2, MS Heritage Speaker; High School : HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6, HS Heritage Speaker
- ESOL SLATE: Middle School: High Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced; High School: High Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
- FRENCH SLATE: Middle School: MS 1, MS 2, MS Heritage Speaker; High School: HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6, HS Heritage
- GERMAN SLATE: Middle School: MS 1, MS 2, MS Heritage Speaker; High School: HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6, HS Heritage
- ITALIAN SLATE: Middle School: MS 1, MS 2, MS Heritage Speaker; High School: HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6, HS Heritage
- LATIN SLATE: Middle School: MS 1, MS 2; High School: HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6
- POLISH SLATE: Middle School: MS 1, MS 2, MS Heritage Speaker; High School: HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6, HS Heritage
- PORTUGUESE SLATE: Middle School: MS 1, MS 2, MS Heritage Speaker; High School: HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6, HS Heritage
- RUSSIAN SLATE: Middle School: MS 1, MS 2, MS Heritage Speaker; High School: HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6, HS Heritage
- SPANISH SLATE: Middle School: MS 1, MS 2, MS Heritage Speaker; High School: HS 1, HS 2, HS 3, HS 4, HS 5-6, HS Heritage
Questions about the slates or judging?
- Please contact Poetry co-chairs Elizabeth Lapman or John Rook. last update: 12.14.2018