Thursday, March 30, 2006
Foreign Language Academic Bowl challenges students
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The USI Foreign Language Department’s annual Foreign Language Academic Bowl will attract hundreds of high school students from throughout the Tri-state to the USI campus from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 6. The 16th annual Language Bowl will be the largest yet, with 40 schools scheduled to compete. Five-member teams compete in French, Spanish, German, and Latin. “All of the Vanderburgh County schools compete in at least one language, and very often all of them. They are big contenders,” said Dr. Leslie Roberts, acting chair of the Foreign Language Department. “It’s a big competition among the teachers as well.” During the language rounds, each team is asked 25 questions of increasing levels of difficulty. Topics include grammar, culture, spelling, and geography. Most questions are asked in the target language. The competition encourages high school students to develop their language skills. “It’s very good for the high school students because they are motivated to win. It concentrates their studying,” Roberts said. The language rounds are followed by a song contest that inspires creativity in the teams. “The students love it,” Roberts said. “One German group once did a rap song in German. A French group did a French fairy tale. Very often, students wear costumes and use props.” While the high school teams are on campus, they meet and talk to USI faculty and students. Foreign language faculty act as facilitators and USI students assist with registration, contests, and refreshments. “I consider the language bowl a very strong recruiting tool because high school students get to talk to students here,” Roberts said. “They see what USI is like and meet the professors of foreign languages, and see our enthusiasm. “We also distribute materials from International Studies and other majors, and International Programs and Services. Students find out the amazing array of opportunities to study abroad if they choose USI.” High schools pay a fee to participate in the language bowl. Money remaining after expenses is used for small scholarships for the foreign language student who makes the most progress in scholarship in his or her sophomore year. “Some years, the recipient is someone who was in the language bowl a few years before,” Roberts said. |
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