The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies is proud to sponsor the New England Regional Olympiada for Spoken Russian. Organized nationwide since the 1960s by the American Councils for International Education (ACIE), the Olympiada is an opportunity for middle and high school students of Russian to test their knowledge of the language and receive recognition for their demonstrated proficiency.
Participating students:
- Compete individually in three "commissions": oral presentation, civilization, and reading (poetry recitation/retelling of a text).
- Compete at levels determined by how long they have studied Russian -- first year students compete at Level One, and so on. Heritage speakers may also participate in the competition.
- Earn gold, silver or bronze medals based on their performance, and the top performer of the day may be chosen to help represent the United States at the International Olympiada in Moscow.
Students and teachers are encouraged to review ACIE's preparatory materials, which are broken down by both level and commission. Please note: the Davis Center has made some adjustments to these materials in order to accommodate the event on Zoom and make preparation less intense for participating students. Any and all changes are detailed below.
Oral Presentation Commission
- Students will meet synchronously on Zoom with an Olympiada judge. Each student will be assigned a 30 minute window, with the assumption that they will spend up to 10 minutes with their assigned judge.
- Students should review the materials developed by ACIE to best prepare for this commission.
Civilization Commission
- Students will meet synchronously on Zoom with an Olympiada judge. Each student will be assigned a 30 minute window, with the assumption that they will spend up to 10 minutes with their assigned judge.
- Students should choose from the following topics for their Civilization commission presentation:
- Russian/Eurasian literature
- Russian/Eurasian history and leaders
- Russian geography
- The city of Moscow or St. Petersburg
- Students should prepare a slide show of 5-10 slides to aid them in their presentation to the judge for the Civilization commission.
Reading Commission
- Students will pre-record their submission for the reading commission using Flipgrid.
- Instead of preparing a poem and a text, students should prepare two poems for recitation.
Registration
The Olympiada for Spoken Russian will next be held in April 2024. Please check back for the specific date and time.
Questions?
If you have any questions about the New England Olympiada for Spoken Russian, please be in touch with Cris Martin.