University of Texas at San Antonio

This is the Official Invitation to Sprachfest 2009 from Mary El-Beheri, Director.

We invite you to take part in the 33rd annual Sprachfest. We invite eighth graders to enter all Level I contests at the Sprachfest and to compete at the State contest. (5^th, 6^th, 7^th graders may NOT compete ).
See Native/Advantaged speaker rules.

SPRACHFEST is the regional competition including schools from Austin, Boerne, San Antonio, LaGrange, Corpus Christi, Pflugerville,Leander, Elgin, Buda,  Round Rock, Georgetown,Kerrville and other cities in central and south Texas. Every high school German program is invited. There are two other regional contests held on this same day, in Houston and in Dallas.    To Top

Registration Information.

The registration form is on this web site.

Registration is due by January 16, 2009. The entry fee is $10.00 per contestant.

The "Early Bird"registration entry fee is $8.00 and the deadline for that is January 12, 2009; this deadline will be strictly followed.
"Early Bird" means the fees must be received at PO Box 6872 by or before January 12.

Late registrations will be refused unless prior arrangements have been made.

Please use the REGISTRATION form on this web site. Follow all instructions carefully on the official entry form. Your registration form must be sent to me directly with the click of a key. See explanation on the registration form page. Please do this in a timely manner, so that I will know you are coming and that your check is in the mail. ALL ENTRY FEES MUST BE PAID ON OR BEFORE THE JANUARY 16 DEADLINE. Each entry fee covers the entrant for as many events as he/she may be qualified for, including both individual and group contests.

Schools that have qualifying groups and/or individuals for the State contest, but decide not to participate in the State Contest, must inform the Director of the Area contest where their students qualified ON THE DAY OF THE AREA CONTEST. This must also be done on the State registration form.

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REGISTRATION FEE: $10.00, per student (Early: $8.00) Send only one check per school. Make your check payable to:
"Texas State German Contests, Inc."

The steering committee oversees the various areas of competition. If you can suggest persons as judges please contact one of the members listed on this web site. Steering committee members will report to me concerning judges by or before January 15.

We strongly recommend that all teachers participating in the Texas Contest system be members of the AATG. It is the professional organization leading and aiding us in all we do as teachers of German. To join, click here:  American Association of Teachers of German

We welcome you to SPRACHFEST 2009. If you have any questions or comments, email me at email .

Mit herzlichem Dank! 
Mary M. El-Beheri, Director, SPRACHFEST 2009
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Poetry, Prose, Directed Dialogue, Extemp, Sight Reading, Vocal Solos, and all other unscheduled events….see schedule

Club Albums, T-shirt, Photo Essay, Poster Design, Needlepoint,Gingerbread houses, Doll Costmes

Culture, Grammar, Vocabulary, Reading Comp(all levels)
Check for possible tiebreakers. Contestants will be given 20 minutes for each test.

• who have lived in a German-speaking country 6 weeks or more  at one time since the age of 13,
• who resides with a native German-speaker
• who speaks at  home, or
• who visits or has visited a German-speaking country (annually or biannually), visiting German-speaking homes.
• who attended a school, where all subjects were taught in German, for one or more years

Exchange students from non-German-speaking countries may enter the category for which they qualify.    To Top

Advantaged speakers may compete in the strictly "Advantaged Speaker" categories: prose/poetry memory.  And they may participate in the following: plays, skits level 4, puppets level 4, all cultural categories, but not in any tests.

It is left to the professional judgment of the teacher to determine the eligibility of students. Questions of eligibility should be addressed to the contest director prior to the contest registration deadline. If a student is designated advanced in one category, he/she must be entered as advantaged in all categories and contests.