This annual national competition provides US school and college students the opportunity to demonstrate their Russian language knowledge while meeting with other students of Russian and conversing with native Russian speakers. Students will receive recognition for their demonstrated language proficiency, improve their chances of getting international and study abroad scholarships, and enhance their professional resume.
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Participation
All students participating either virtually or in person in the Olympiada of Spoken Russian must have a sponsor, who will register the student in advance of the event and chaperone the student at the event.
STUDENTS ENROLLED IN A FORMAL PROGRAM OF RUSSIAN STUDY
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The sponsor should be the student’s Russian teacher. Teachers who register student participants must be current members of the American Council of Teachers of Russian.
- Students in a school or other institution that offers a formal Russian program must be currently enrolled in a Russian class.
STUDENTS NOT ENROLLED IN A FORMAL PROGRAM OF RUSSIAN STUDY
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If a student's school does not have a formal Russian language program, he or she may participate with the approval of the state or regional chairperson;
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If the school or institution has a formal Russian program in which the student is not enrolled, he/she may not register for the Olympiada, unless he/she has exhausted all of the school’s offerings in Russian;
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If the student is otherwise eligible, a teacher, tutor, or other adult may sponsor the student. The sponsor must become a Regular Member of ACTR, pay the appropriate dues in the Pre-College Teachers category, and chaperone the student at the Olympiada.
- If the state or regional competition collects a school participation fee in addition to the ACTR participation fee (currently $6.00), it will be the state or regional chairperson's decision as to whether an individual student participant's sponsor is liable for that fee.
Categories
REGULAR
Most students will register in this category according to their level of study (e.g., Russian I students in Level I, etc.). These are students whose knowledge of Russian was acquired in a United States classroom, more or less exclusively.
HERITAGE LEARNERS
Heritage Learners are students who arrived in the United States up to and including age 10, from countries where Russian is a required language in school or is spoken by a sizable portion of the population. The Heritage Learners are to compete in their own separate category.
For the purposes of the competition, heritage learners should be registered one level higher than his or her level of study (i.e. first-year students enrolled as second-year, etc.)
NATIVE SPEAKERS
This category is for students who arrived in the United States after the age of 10 from countries where Russian is a required language or is spoken by a sizable portion of the population.
In cases where a student’s category is not self-evident, sponsors should consult with the state/regional chairs. The ultimate decision as to the proper classification of such students rests with the state/regional chairs. Teachers are urged to distinguish carefully between heritage learners and native speakers.
Registration Deadline: Friday, March 1, 2024
To register, please complete the registration form.
*If you would like to enter a group of students, please use this spreadsheet to enter their information and attach it to the Qualtrics registration form or email it to zita.toth-shawgo@pitt.edu.
Questions?
Olga Klimova | vok1@pitt.edu