NHS Freshmen Is A Medalist

In Language Competition

For 24 years public and private schools in the state have awarded thousands of certificates to world language students who have participated in the poetry recitation contests sponsored by the Connecticut Council of Language Teachers (CT COLT), an organization composed of language teachers from most schools in Connecticut.

This year, Jordan Reed, a freshman at Newtown High School, competed against 19 students from his category. He took a silver medal in the French I competition for reciting “Le Cancre,” by Jacques Prévert. Any slight mispronunciation was cause for points to be deducted.

This year’s event was hosted by New Britain High School; 1,080 students from 108 schools competed in 13 languages including American Sign Language (ASL), English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL/ESL), Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Modern Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Students prepared in their home schools, middle schools, and high schools. Criteria for judging consisted of memorization, diction, and interpretation. Poetry for recitation could have no fewer than ten lines, nor more than 30. Students were free to select the poem they wished to present. Up to three prizes were awarded for each language. All participants were awarded certificates of participation. The middle and high school with the most winners each received a plaque to be displayed in their schools.