Student Scholarship Awards 2010

Our congratulations to the 2010 FLENJ Scholarship winners! The high school seniors in this year’s FLENJ Scholarship competition submitted essays in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Chinese and Japanese. The students have studied a second language for an average of five years which is an indication that the students have benefited from longer sequences of language study. It was interesting to note that most of the students who achieved a semi finalist status reported using the language they have been studying outside the classroom in a variety of circumstances involving work, travel and social activities.

The finalists from the essay part of the competition were administered an oral interview following the format of ACTFL’s Modified Oral Proficiency Interview (MOPI). It was evident from their essays and their oral interviews that these students have achieved a high level of linguistic competence in the language they have been studying. These results provide additional evidence of the high levels of proficiency and the degree of communicative competence that can be attained after extended periods of the study of a language. The world languages teachers who have taught these students and the districts and schools that have designed such quality programs should be commended.

The 2010 FLENJ Scholarships winners are:

Spanish

Nipun Dua
Edison HS
Teacher: Barbara Farrant
Alicia Fenley
Princeton HS
Teacher: Martha Hayden
Edwin Fernández
Edison HS
Teacher: Barbara Farrant
Martin Fernández
Edison HS
Teacher: Barbara Farrant
Izzi Kasdin
Princeton HS
Teacher: Martha Hayden
Leslie Reyes
Edison HS
Teacher: Barbara Ferrant
Carol Weiss
Princeton HS
Teacher: Martha Hayden

This is the writing prompt that was given to the students:

Dear Candidate:

Congratulations on being nominated to participate in this competition! Please write a one-page essay on the paper provided based on the following prompt:

Your school is willing to host and help finance a student exchange program for five students in the school who have studied a foreign language for several years. As an applicant for this exciting program, you are asked to write an essay in which you give reasons why you want to participate, include your strengths, and explain why you feel this experience will benefit you. Since students from the other host country will be visiting your school, you will also include reasons why exchange students would benefit from visiting your school and city/town.

You will write in the target language you are studying. Your writing sample will be evaluated by two readers/scorers based on your ability to communicate your message. The writing will be assessed based on the following criteria: organization of ideas, development of the topic, ability to persuade the intended audience, sentence structure, and appropriate use of vocabulary, grammar, and spelling when conveying your message.