The ‘Super Bowl’ Of Foreign Languages

Newtown High School students Robin Collins, Christopher Jacob, Amanda Lindblom, Bruno Moura, Bethany Ober, Ethan Reed, Olga Virgalla, and Claire Zukowski were among 1,086 students representing 112 schools across Connecticut for the annual Poetry Recitation Contest sponsored by the Connecticut Council of Language Teachers (CT COLT).

Claire won a silver medal for her recitation of a poem on the French III level.

Students were required to memorize and recite a poem in a foreign language they were studying; judging criteria was based on memorization, diction, and interpretation.

Newtown High School students represented French, Italian, Latin, and Spanish works. Their teachers, Laura Battisiti and Melissa Tobey-LaBelle, accompanied them. Other poetry was drawn from Mandarin Chinese, German, Modern Greek, Japanese, Portuguese, Polish, and Russian. Several students competed using American Sign Language (ASL). Other students represented English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL/ESL).

Languages were divided into native and nonnative categories at high-beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. While all participants were awarded certificates of participation, the top three winners from each category were recognized with medals.

Marilyn Horn of Coginchaug Regional High School was the chairperson for this year’s event, held on April 1 at New Britain High School in New Britain.

“This contest, now in its 23rd year, is considered the ‘Super Bowl’ of foreign languages,” Ms Horn said.