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ACTFL announces "Not just a language class" Podcast Winners
By Benjamin Redmond
 As part of the national public awareness campaign Discover Languages…Discover the World, ACTFL, in association with CLEAR and MERLOT sponsored a video podcast contest for K-16 language students earlier this year. The contest theme “Not just a language class” encouraged students to share personal motivations for studying a language and to demonstrate the importance of language learning beyond the classroom. Students were asked to answer questions relating to the length of time they have studied a given language, why they chose to study this language, as well as to detail how their experiences in the language classroom have affected other areas of their lives. In addition the entries were expected to address the application of the five C's of the national standards in their entries.
 Contest submissions were accepted from January 14 to February 15, 2008. The entries were divided by categories according to academic level; elementary school students (K-5), middle school students (6-8), high school students (9-12) and post-secondary students. The winning entrants were offered cash and product prizes worth up to $500 for their efforts.
The entries covered a broad range of languages, including Arabic, Spanish, French, and Mandarin. Students applied a variety of creative approaches to the task; telling stories about interactions in their language of study, imitating popular television shows, and even setting a continuous recording camera in their school hallway to capture the “confessions” of numerous language students. The entries were narrowed down to a list of finalists, which can be viewed here: http://www.actflvideocontest.org/register.php. A winner in each category was then selected from the finalists and the results were recently announced.
 The winners from each category are Nikki and Marissa (elementary); Neil, Ankush, Vinay, and Kush for Spanish: a Step outside the Classroom (middle school); the UCLS Filmmaking Club for “Confessions of a Language Student” (high school); and Ben, a Stanford student, for “Make someone smile-study a language” (post-secondary). Take a look at the winning videos and view many of the other quality entries as well at http://www.actflvideocontest.org/.
The ACTFL video podcast contest encouraged students to take an active role in considering the value of language learning for themselves and sharing it with others. Projects like these that encourage an exploration of creative capacities and their application to the task of language learning help keep the classroom exciting for many students. If you have the classroom resources to do so you may find it useful to encourage your students to take on a similar project in the hope that they discover for themselves why language learning has such great value in the classroom and beyond.
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