Elementary Poetry and K-12 Writing Contests 2013-2014

---

Back to the Link front page

ELL Elementary Poetry Contest – 10^th Anniversary

 Attention all Primary and Intermediate ELL/Bilingual Education Teachers:
 
This year, Illinois TESOL-BE is sponsoring its tenth statewide Elementary Poetry Contest.  This is a great opportunity for your students to let their creativity shine, communicate powerfully in the English language, and express the importance of their own culture/cultural experiences.  We encourage you to have as many of your students as possible participate.  In celebration of our anniversary sponsoring teachers do NOT need to be a member of ITBE.

 

Awards
Winning applicants will receive:

• Books that the student picks from Scholastic.com.  First place winners receive $30 towards books & the Second place winners will receive $20 toward books.  The books will be chosen by the students before the convention and he/she will receive them at the convention.
• Best of the Best:   The first place winner in each poetry genre will compete against the other first place winners in his/her grade level for the Best of the Best award.  The winner will receive pre-selected poetry books that are appropriate for each grade level (Second grade through Fifth grade).  

Sponsoring teachers will receive:

• A one-year complimentary membership to Illinois TESOL-BE.
• A $25 gift card from an education store.  Winning teachers will get a choice of places to choose from.  

Award Ceremony

•  Winning recipients will also be recognized at our Annual Convention on Friday, February 28, 2014 at the Wyndham Lisle-Chicago Hotel & Executive Meeting Center, 3000 Warrenville Road Lisle, IL 60532.
• A group photo will be taken and winners will also have their names & entries published in The ITBE Link.

One essay cover sheet must accompany each entry.  All poems must be postmarked or emailed by Monday, January 6, 2014.  Please visit the Illinois TESOL-BE website (www.itbe.org) for more detailed guidelines, worksheets, and rubrics. 
 
For additional information on the Illinois TESOL-BE Elementary Poetry Contest, please visit our website at www.itbe.org, or contact:                          
Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.
 
Sincerely,
Margaret Gigous & Connie Schneider
Illinois TESOL-BE Elementary SIG Co-Chairs

Grades 6-12 Writing Contest

Sponsoring teachers of the award winners will receive free membership to ITBE for one year and a letter of recognition will be sent to their principals.  Sponsoring teachers, winning students, and students’ families are welcome to attend the ESL Writing Contest Special Recognition Awards Ceremony on February 28, 2014 at the TESOL/BE Annual State Convention.  This event includes the reading of the award-winning essays and the presentation of certificates and monetary awards to winning students. All participants are invited to refreshments afterwards.

Topic:
Writing is an enduring form of expression and communication. The ITBE Writing Competition is an opportunity to inform the audience of an aspect of your culture as it relates to your life in the United States.  Your writing should reflect your own personal bicultural and bilingual experience.  Your writing should not be simply facts about holidays, customs, or routines in your country; but instead, your writing should be about an experience from your life in your native country or an experience in the United States.  You may choose one of the following types of writing:

• Narrative Writing:   Write a short story about an event in your life that taught you something important. Give plenty of details that make the story interesting for the reader.
• Descriptive Writing:  Write a description of something or someone special in your life.  Use words to describe the smells, sights, and sounds that will give the reader a clear picture.
• Expository Writing:  Write about a cultural aspect of your life in your native country that you think Americans would like to know about.  Explain the cultural aspect as it relates to your life experiences.
• Persuasive Writing:  Write about an issue or a cause within your native country or in the United States that relates to you.  State your position and provide facts, opinions, and reasons to support your position.
• Judging: Entries will be judged based upon content, organization, vocabulary, language use and mechanics.  Criteria for judging will be creativity, writing style, and adherence to form, rules, forms and condition.

DEADLINE-ALL ENTRIES MUST BE POSTMARKED NO LATER THAN

Monday January 6, 2014
Mail all entries to:  
 Also, see www.itbe.org/awards.php for more information.
 

Back to the Link front page