On Friday, April 26 six students enrolled in a foreign language at Woodland traveled to Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford to compete in the Foreign Language Poetry Contest.
Foreign Language Teachers, Susan Patruno and Natalie St. Andre traveled with these students to the contest. From Woodland, Taline Agamy, Anna Boris, Tyler Norton, Haleigh Resnick, Casey Stevens, and Rex Sturdevent all competed in a variety of different languages at the contest.
“Students choose to participate in a poetry recession in which they compete against students from other school in their same level of the language they are studying,” said Patruno.
The students who participate volunteer and are able to choose, which language they would like to participate in. While Woodland does not have a German Language program, Junior, Tyler Norton chose to compete in this language for the second year in a row.
Other students recited poems in Spanish and French depending on the level of class they are in.
“Students recited En Foret by the french author Germain Nouveau, Romance de la luna, luna by the Spanish author Federico Garcia Lorca, Abendlied by the German author Matthias Claudius, Versos Sencillos by the Spanish author Jose Marti, Dicen que no hablan las plantas by the Spanish author Rosalia de Castro, and Horace (extrait, 1’Acte IV, scene 5) by the French author Pierre Corneille,” said Patruno.
At the contest students have the opportunity to place at three different levels which include Gold, Silver, and Bronze. These awards were given out to each level of each language.
From Woodland, Norton was the only one to win a medal for his poetry recitation. Although, he was the only student to compete from the school in a language not taught at the school, Norton brought home the Gold Medal.
For the poetry contest each school that competes is able to send one student per language per level. Since Woodland has three languages (Spanish, Italian, and French) with five different levels, it would have been possible for Woodland to send fifteen students.
Students competing in the contest do not have to compete in a language only offered at the school as demonstrated by Norton. Students have the ability to compete in any language they desire. The poems the students recite vary in difficulty depending on the level of the language they are in.
Each year Woodland students volunteer to participate in the contest and each year the students find the contest to be enjoyable.
“Everyone that went from other schools were so nice and supportive, even though we didn’t know each other,” said Anna Boris who recited a poem at the contest in Spanish. “I had a lot of fun and it was a great experience.”
Not only do the students think the contest is a good experience, but the teachers believe it is quite beneficial as well.
“I think it is important because it allows the students to learn about the culture of the language through poetry,” said Patruno. “It also helps them to practice the language.”
Photo From: http://www.ctcolt.org/pages/poetry_rec_contest.asp
