News and Updates
NEW:
Changes and updates for 2025
Arrival at Kingwood High School
Lunch options
Teacher-to-teacher tips
Tips for Pair Discussion
Houstonfest Scholarships
Scholarships at State
NEW:
Houstonfest history
Contest
promo video #1 (students from one school tell why they
love contest)
Contest promo
video #2 (one student tells why she loves contest)
Contest promo
video #3
(hilarious 2024 State-winning submission from our own Klein Oak High School!)
State promo video contest
Photo gallery
Daily log of changes to
State-qualifier list
Important Dates
on a rolling basis but no later than Wed., Apr. 30, 2025 for payment
during the 2024-2025 school year: submit
Gail Cope Teacher Grant applications.
Mon. Jan. 13, 2025, 4:00 p.m.: Application for
transportation grants from the Houston Saengerbund opens (IF THEY ARE OFFERED AT
ALL; if so, teachers will be sent a
link to a Google Form).
Tue., Jan. 21, 2025, 11:59
p.m.: Houstonfest registration
spreadsheet due for regular price of $12/student (payment does not have
to be mailed until 1/27).
Mon., Jan. 27, 2025, 11:59
p.m.: Houstonfest registration spreadsheet
due
for late price of $15/student. Deadline to postmark Houstonfest payment.
Sat., Feb. 1, 2025, 9:00 a.m.: Submission of entries in the 7 virtual Houstonfest events due (get link to
Google Form from your teacher).
Tue., Feb. 4, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: Remote
judging of the 7 virtual Houstonfest events ends.
Wed., Feb. 5, 2025, 10:00 p.m.: Houstonfest changes (adds,
drops, substitutions) due. After this point, no more changes will be allowed.
Sat., Feb. 8, 2025:
Houstonfest,
Kingwood High School, Houston.
Fri., Feb. 14, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: State
online registration due for "early bird" price of $12/student (payment does not
have to be mailed until 2/19).
Wed., Feb. 19, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: State
online registration due
for
regular price of
$15/student. Deadline to postmark your State payment.
Sat., Feb. 22, 2025, 9:00 a.m.: Submission of entries in the 7 virtual State events due (get
the link to a
Google Form from your teacher). Also,
Mary El-Beheri Memorial Scholarship and Sandra Dieckman GTHS Memorial
Scholarship
applications due (to submit the application, get the link to a Google
Form from your teacher).
Mon., Feb. 24, 2025, 8:00 p.m.:
Entries in
State promotional video
contest
due to State director.
Tue., Feb. 25, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: Remote
judging of the 7 virtual State events ends.
Sat., Mar. 1, 2025:
Texas State German Contest, Texas State
University, San Marcos.
Sat., Mar. 8, 2025, 11:59 p.m.: Houstonfest Scholarship applications due.
Sun., Mar. 16, 2025: Gail Cope
State Scholarship applications due.
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Rules: Pass
auf!
Pass auf! Study Guide
Pass auf! Vocabulary List
for Erdkunde
Pass auf! Proverbs
List for Odds & Ends
Pass auf! Rules as PDF
(same as rules listed below)
Video of a Sample
Game
New: Special
Topic for 2025: Die Wende (in
observance of the 35th anniversary of German Reunification in 2025) (see more at Rule
8
below).
Novice Schedule
Varsity Schedule
-
Varsity teams and Novice teams compete in
separate tournaments.
-
A Varsity
team consists of up to 7 students who are in any level of German, with
the exception of Advantaged Speakers and exchange students from
German-speaking countries. A school may enter 1 Varsity team.
-
A Novice team
consists of up to 7 German I and German II students who have never played in
a regional or State Pass auf! competition (no Advantaged Speakers or
exchange students from German-speaking countries). A school may enter 1
Novice team. Novice teams do not advance to State (except in rare
instances in which the State director may invite one or more Novice teams to
fill up the State Varsity bracket of 16 teams). New
for 2025: High schools may enter a Novice team only if they are
also entering a Varsity team. Middle schools may enter a Novice team, a
Varsity team, or one of each (but with no duplication of players between the
2 teams).
-
No more than 5
students per team may play at a time. A
team may begin playing with fewer than 5 players and players may be added
after the game begins, if the team notifies the moderator before the game
begins that certain players, who must be identified by name, will be coming late
(but the number of players starting the game plus the number of players
designated as potential late-comers may not exceed 5 players). Once a team starts playing,
players may leave to go to other contests, but they may not be replaced. (If
by coincidence a player leaves and another player arrives who was previously designated as
someone who might arrive late, the arriving player can be admitted; they are
not considered a "replacement" of the player who left.). Alternates will be
considered as spectators and may not observe unless the game is open for
spectators (see next rule).
-
Spectators are generally not allowed in any games at
Houstonfest. At State, spectators may be allowed during the "semifinal" game
(for 3rd/4th place) and the final game (for 1st/2nd place) but at no other
games. In the unlikely event that spectators are ever allowed at Houstonfest, they may not communicate in any way with
the teams that are playing.
-
There will be no changes to times of Pass auf! games in a contest.
If a
team is more than 5 minutes late to a scheduled game, it may be eliminated.
-
Each team must
designate a captain. This is the only person from whom an answer
may be accepted, unless for a particular question the captain designates one of
the other team members to give the answer. This must be done verbally and it must
be acknowledged by the moderator before the answer may be accepted. If
someone other than the captain or an acknowledged designee gives an answer,
the answer will
not be acknowledged by the moderator. In this instance, the appropriate
person on the team must begin to give the answer before the allotted time
expires.
-
Each game
consists of 25 questions, 5 questions each from the following categories: History &
Politics, Arts & Letters, Odds & Ends, Erdkunde, and Current Events &
Special Topic
(this category is new for 2025). For each
category, there will be 1 question each valued at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50
points, based upon difficulty. The categories may include but are not
limited to the following types of information:
History & Politics:
early German history (beginnings through the Folk Migrations), the Middle
Ages, the Reformation, the 17th and 18th centuries, the 19th century,
the post-WWII
period, German-American history, Texas-German history, government,
the European Union, political parties, etc.
Arts & Letters: literature, fairy tales and folk tales, drama and cinema, philosophy
and
theology, music and composers, art, architecture, scientists, inventors,
etc.
Odds & Ends:
proverbs, holidays, food, games, sports, education, folk festivals,
customs and traditions, travel vocabulary, communication,
idioms, language functions, vocabulary, days/months/seasons, etc.
Erdkunde: geography;
questions will be asked in German and must be answered in German.
Current Events & Special Topic:
"Current Events" covers events from the
prior calendar year through the date of contest.
Each year a special topic is announced. The special topic for 2025 is
Die Wende (in observance of
the 35th anniversary of German Reunification in 2025).
-
The questions
will be read by the moderator in order as printed. The category and point
value for each question will be stated before the question is read.
-
After the
question is read for the first time, the teams have up to 30 seconds in
which to signal. They may confer during this time. If there is no signal
within the 30-second period, the question is passed. To expedite the game,
teams may elect to pass a question before the 30-second period expires.
-
If a team
signals while a question is being read, the moderator will stop reading immediately
and may not complete the question or give any additional information or
answer any questions.
-
After signaling,
the team has 30 seconds to begin giving an answer. It may confer during
this time, but once the team starts giving an answer, it may not pause in
order to gain more time. The first attempt by a team will be considered the
answer - a team may not start over once it has begun to answer a question. In any case, the determination of whether to accept an answer lies
with the moderator and not with the players, assistants, or spectators.
-
If the signaling
team gives an incorrect answer or fails to answer the question in the
time given, the moderator will repeat the question for the other team. The
other team has 30 seconds to decide whether they want to try giving an
answer or to pass. After deciding to attempt the question, the team has 30
seconds to begin giving an answer.
-
If a team gives
a correct answer, it will receive the designated points, but no points will
be deducted for failing to give a correct answer. For multi-part questions,
there is no "partial credit" for partially-correct answers.
-
Appropriate
behavior is expected of all players and spectators. No interruptions will
be tolerated while a team is attempting to answer a question. Clarification
of rules may be addressed to the moderator between questions, before the
game, or after the game, but never while a question is in play.
-
Any challenge to
a question or ruling by the moderator must be made immediately following the
question or decision that is being challenged or before the game is declared
finished. The judgment of the moderator is final.
-
Should the
moderator misread a question, give the answer before the other team has a
chance to answer, etc., a replacement question from the same category and
the same point value will be read.
-
If the
score is tied after the 25 questions are completed, the moderator will
select a tiebreaker from the alternate set of questions. If neither team
answers it correctly, the moderator will continue selecting tiebreakers from
the alternate set until a team answers one correctly. However, no points are
added to the team's final score for a successfully-answered tiebreaker
(because points earned per game may be used later when ranking the lower
places, and adding points for a tiebreaker question would skew the
comparison).
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When is the next Houstonfest?
Saturday,
February 8, 2025 Where
is Houstonfest?
Kingwood High School
2701 Kingwood Dr.
Kingwood, TX 77339
(new location in 2025!)
Link to Texas State German Contest
Texas
State German Contest on Facebook
Texas
State German Contest 40th Anniversary Facebook Group |