JUDGES’ WELCOME & ORIENTATION

Dear Judge(s),

Thank you so much for your willingness to participate in this very important event.  Your interest in and enthusiasm for Alabama’s high school French students is evident by your presence.  Thank you for your dedication – we could not hold the French Convention without you!

The purpose of the oral competitions is to motivate and encourage students at all stages of their language development to experiment and improve their pronunciation and fluency while having fun.  Most students have worked for weeks on their lines.  Whenever possible, please help put them at ease, encourage, and congratulate them.

For the oral competitions, students should be judged on the quality of the spoken French.  The Group Skits differ from Individual presentations in that you must consider the quality of the spoken French from all characters.  When scoring, please reward the overall correctness of speech from the entire cast instead of from one outstanding – or one weak – actor.  The Judging Sheet for each competition lists the specific judging criteria.

You will use a 10-point scale on all judging criteria.  PLEASE use the full range of possible scores to truly differentiate between the performers; it is unlikely, for example, that every student will earn a 9 or 10 in every category.  You must strike the right balance between honesty and encouragement.  If there are multiple judges for the same competition, it is possible for the set of judges to all score the same presentation differently; this is perfectly acceptable, since the score you award is at your discretion.  But again, our scoring system works best when the totals span across a range—not a cluster—of scores.

Again, thank you for your interest in our students…and perhaps your future students!  Please see the next page for some specifics regarding judging.

The French Convention

JUDGING INSTRUCTIONS

It is imperative that you familiarize yourself with 1) the competition which you will be judging, and 2) these general instructions WELL BEFORE the competition begins!  If you have not yet done so, please take a moment now to read these instructions:

Oral competitions need your closest attention.  These include the Choral Competitions, Group Skits, Interpersonal Speaking, Presentational Speaking, and Video Competition.

GENERAL PROCEDURES FOR ORAL COMPETITIONS

1. Close the doors and ask for quiet in the room.
2. Ensure that any fellow judges are ready.
3. For Choral & Group Skits, ensure that the time keeper is ready.
   • Timing begins at the first spoken word, not at a performer’s movement.
   • Timing ends with the bow which signals the end of the presentation.
4. For Choral & Group Skits, entries should compete in the order listed in the program and be introduced as such.
   • Skip to the next entry if the performer is absent, since there can be delays from other competitions.  They may compete when they show up.
   • For Interpersonal & Presentational Speaking, students line up at random and wait their turn.
5. Judge entries solely on the quality of spoken French. 
   • With the exception of the Group Choral Competition, participation is limited to non-native speakers of French.  If in doubt about a student’s status, please speak directly to the student after the presentation and to the French Convention leadership.
6. For the Group Skits…
   • prompting from the audience is not permitted.  Disqualify participants if there is any prompting.
   • songs are allowed in Group Skits if the singing is incidental to the plot and kept to a minimum.
   • costumes, props, and originality of the presentation are not to influence the score given.
7. Score entries in each category from 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest).  Do not leave any blanks.  Use the range of possible scores effectively!
8. For Choral & Group Skits, at the conclusion of the presentation (indicated by a bow), stop the timing and record the duration of the performance on their score sheet.
   • This is important, since there are point penalties for being short or going over on time. 
9. Encourage the competitor(s) at the conclusion of the presentation by applauding, congratulating, thanking, etc.
10. Click submit!
    • Note: Judging will be on a digital form, not on paper.

SAMPLE COMPETITION JUDGING SHEET

(Note: Judging will be on a digital form, not on paper.)

Competition Level (Circle):       Level 1            Level 2             Level 3        Advanced

Selection Number / Title:           _________  /  ________________________________________

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JUDGING CRITERIA

Please evaluate the following aspects of the presentation on a scale from 0 (low) to 10 (high)

1. Pronunciation:                                                                                     __________

Correct French phonemes: u / ou, i, nasal vowels, /r/, etc.

2. Fluency:                                                                                               __________

Sentences and phrases sound like sense units, flowing, unrelated to speed.

3. Clarity & Enunciation:                                                                          __________

Is clearly heard and understood. Appropriate volume and articulation.

4. Intonation:                                                                                           __________

Use of correct French stress and vocalic inflexion.

5. Preparation:                                                                                         __________

Clear evidence of strong familiarity with the piece being presented.  If script is used, the student is not tied to the script.  If memorized, the presentation flows smoothly without numerous hesitations, re-starts, etc.

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TOTAL FOR THIS JUDGE                                                                       _________ / 50

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REMARKS, OBSERVATIONS, IMPRESSIONS: