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News and Updates
Changes and updates for 2024 (new!)
Contest
Promo Video #1 (students from one school tell why they
love contest)
Contest Promo
Video #2 (one student tells why she loves contest)
Teacher-to-Teacher Tips
Houstonfest Scholarships
Scholarships at State
State Promo Video Contest
Tips for Pair Discussion
Arrival at Heights High School
Lunch options
Daily log of changes to
state-qualifier list
Photo Gallery
Important Dates
Tue., Jan. 16, 2024, 11:59
p.m.: Houstonfest registration
spreadsheet due for regular price of $12/student (payment does not have
to be mailed until 1/22).
Mon., Jan. 22, 2024, 11:59
p.m.: Houstonfest registration spreadsheet
due
for late price of $15/student. Deadline to postmark Houstonfest payment.
Sat., Jan. 27, 2024, 9:00 a.m.:
Submission of entries in the 7 virtual Houstonfest events due (get link to
Google Form from your teacher).
Tue., Jan. 30, 2024, 11:59 p.m.: Remote
judging of the 7 virtual Houstonfest events ends.
Wed., Jan. 31, 2024, 9:00 p.m.:
Houstonfest changes (adds,
drops, substitutions) due. After this point, no more changes will be allowed.
Sat., Feb. 3, 2024:
Houstonfest,
Heights High School, Houston.
Fri., Feb. 9, 2024, 11:59 p.m.: State
online registration due for "early bird" price of $12/student (payment does not
have to be mailed until 2/14).
Wed., Feb. 14, 2024, 11:59 p.m.: State
online registration due
for
regular price of
$15/student. Deadline to postmark State payment.
Sat., Feb. 17, 2024, 9:00 a.m.:
Submission of entries in the 7 virtual State events due (get link to
Google Form from your teacher). Also,
Mary El-Beheri Memorial Scholarship
applications due.
Mon., Feb. 19, 2024, 8:00 p.m.:
Entries in
promotional video contest
due to State director.
Tue., Feb. 20, 2024, 11:59 p.m.: Remote
judging of the 7 virtual State events ends.
Sat., Feb. 24, 2024:
Texas State German Contest, Texas State
University, San Marcos.
Sat., Mar. 2, 2024, 11:59 p.m.:
Houstonfest Scholarship applications due.
Sun., Mar. 10, 2024:
Gail Cope
State Scholarship applications due.
rolling basis:
submit
Gail Cope Teacher Grant applications.
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Teacher-to-Teacher Tips
This is the place for teachers to share
tried-and-true strategies for preparing
students for Houstonfest. If you have a tip you'd like to share, submit it
to the
contest director.
Houstonfest director Rustin Buck, now retired from teaching,
is willing to visit your school to make a presentation about Houstonfest to
your classes or your German Club. Contact him to arrange a date.
Sign-Up List
I'm not sure how everyone handles having the students
sign up for events, but here is a sign-up
list that has spaces for all events offered at Houstonfest (meant to be
printed and filled in by hand, although I guess you could type in it, too):
sign-up list for a normal,
in-person contest (updated for 2024)
After talking to my classes about what Houstonfest is, I designate one morning a few days later when I hang up
these lists around the room 30 minutes before school starts, and students
can come in to sign up for what they want to do, first-come, first-served.
We continue filling them up during class throughout the day. This is
usually in October for me -- some may want to start earlier or later.
Even if you have a different method, the list may be
useful for you because it has all events listed with the correct number of
slots that are available for each. For group events that have no
maximum size (folk dance, skit, etc.), I included a number of
slots that I thought would be at the upper end of how many kids might want
to sign up.
- submitted by Rustin Buck
Pass auf! Study
Guides
The State director of Pass auf! has provided a
Pass auf! Study Guide
and a Vocabulary List for
Erdkunde
to guide contestants' studying.
As of 2017 there is a designated theme for each
year. See more information on the Pass auf!
Rules Page, Rule #7.
The theme for 2024 is UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Intangible Heritage
Elements in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. There will be at least one question per round dealing with the
year's theme. Past themes were the Protestant
Reformation (in 2017 in honor of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's posting of
his 95 Theses on October 31, 1517), the
German-Speaking World 1914-1945 (in 2018 inspired by the 100th anniversary of the
end of World War I), German-Americans (2019), German-Texans (2020), no
Pass auf! contest in 2021, Bach/Beethoven/Brahms (2022), and Scientists
in the D-A-CH-L Länder - Space, Medicine, Math (2023).
Source
of Choral Music
cpdl.org - lots
of free PDFs of choral music; just look up a German composer by last name.
- submitted by Laura Braun
Sources of Poetry/Prose
Selections
gedichteportal.de
Projekt
Gutenberg (inexhaustible compendium of literature that is out of
copyright!)
- submitted by Laura Braun
http://nddg.de/gedichtliste/
My Ukrainian exchange student just showed me a great website for
German poetry. As far as I can tell, every German poem ever
written is on this site. There are just thousands upon thousands
of poems with the names of the authors. It's definitely a good
resource for contest.
- submitted
by David Kniess
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When is the next Houstonfest?
Saturday,
February 3, 2024 Where
is Houstonfest?
Heights High School
413 E. 13th Street, Houston, TX
77008
Link to Texas State German Contest
Texas
State German Contest on Facebook
Texas
State German Contest 40th Anniversary Facebook Group |