1. Rosedale District Oral Language Festival Grades 4 - 8

2. Oral Language Festival
What is the Oral Language Festival?
An opportunity to perform an interpretation of a literary work
KCSOS OLF Presentation

3. Oral Language Festival
Levels of competition
School
District
Regional
County
Schools will qualify students to move on to the district level.
District send top 3 on to the regional level.
Regional- Rosedale, Norris, Fruitvale, RBG- Rosedale send the top 2 in each category

4. District Oral Language Festival
Rosedale hosts a district wide Oral Language Festival. Qualified participants from our 9 schools will compete at the
Rosedale School District Oral Language Festival:
Elementary - November 13th-16th
Middle School - Week of November 13th (1 day)
District Oral Language Festival will be held on the campus of Rosedale Middle School in the PDC

5. Competition Event Days
Humorous Solo - Monday, 13th
Serious Solo - Tuesday, 14th
Serious Duo - Tuesday, 14th
Humorous Duo – Wednesday, 15th
Verse Choir – Thursday, 16th
Three to Six students
Impromptu – Thursday, 16th
Middle School (All Categories) TBA
District level completion dates.
Middle School- depending interest level can be on same day as Elem or all on Friday

6. Timetable September 22nd - Select a category and piece
September 22nd -Student/Parent acknowledgement form DUE
October/November - memorize and practice
November 13th- 17th – District Competition
December 5th – Regional Competition – Jr High
December 14 – Regional Competition-Elementary
January 27, 2018 – County Competition
Start now, Not something done at the last minute.
Extra curricular, class time is not a guarantee.

7. Day of the District Event
Transportation
Students will be taken by bus or by district employees to RMS on their day of competition
Parents and Guests are encouraged to come and watch
While fun to have younger siblings watch, please do at discretion. Students work very hard and we want the surroundings quiet for their performance

8. Selection of Literature
All Selections must be a published piece of children’s literature appropriate for the age of students in the competition. It must be pre-approved for appropriateness and rules by the school coordinator
The piece must be in print
It must be something that all students are able to access free of charge
The rules come from the county, some rules have been fine tuned

9. Publishing Requirements
Selections that can be found in a published book
It should contain Publishing Data
Publisher, date of publication, city of publication
Selections must have an author
We found a great humorous solo video clip but after looking below we found it was a comedian

10. Not Acceptable Selections
Selections only available in
Magazines
Newsletters
On the internet
Video format
Blog
Utube performance
Its okay to see how someone may be performing a piece, but important to not to reproduce that piece Those competitions may have different guidelines from Kern County OLF

11. Topics Not Permitted??? Profanity Bathroom humor
Violence of any kind to people or animals
Graphic scenes
Abuse- physical, verbal, or psychological
Suicide
Sexual Innuendos
Drugs or Alcoholism
This is one of the areas that have been fine tuned. The county is giving us further guidleines
We often have young children in our audience and want to be cognizant

12. Child’s Point of View Non-examples Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul
Chicken Soup for the Teen Age Soul (4-6 grade)
Monologues by Peg Kehret-
Not at 4-6 grade
7-8 grade if not dealing with previous “not permitted” topics
For example,

13. General Presentation Guidelines for all Events (except Impromptu)
All presentations should be between 3-5 minutes in length. Timing starts at student’s first utterance.
Students begin presentation with title and author
Students do not give their name, school or district in their presentation.

14. General Presentation Guidelines for all Events (except Impromptu)
Students may use appropriate and natural gestures to suggest the essence of the characters as the author saw them
Including:
Good enunciation and tempo
Expressive voices
Pauses
Rate of speaking
Rapport with the audience – eye contact, confidence, persuasive communication of the literature
When we get to the individual categories watch for some of these gestures.

15. General Rules (except Impromptu)
No “costumes” or look-alike outfits, or props
No prompting or directing from the audience
The selection must be memorized.
Students must remain on their feet
Sound effects or singing may only be included if part of original text

16. General Rules (except Impromptu)
Meeting Time Requirements
Wording may be deleted to meet time limit
But… No text may be added unless using an excerpt from a novel length piece of literature OR
When combining two pieces of literature
**Only a brief intro or bridge to connect pieces is
allowed

17. Additional Guidelines for Solo Presentations
Presented by one student
Student may move around as appropriate, but must remain standing
A humorous piece should be funny, but does not have to be hilarious.
A serious piece should be a serious or inspirational topic, but may have something amusing in it.

18. Additional Guidelines for Duo Presentations(except Impromptu)
Presented by two students reciting a literary selection in both unison and solo parts
Students may not move around. Feet are planted.
There is a balance of solo and duo parts
Again…
A humorous piece should be funny, but does not have to be hilarious.
A serious piece should be a serious or inspirational topic, but may have something amusing in it.

19. Additional Guidelines for Verse Choir Presentations(except Impromptu)
Presented with a minimum of at least three and not more than six reciting a literary selection in unison using whole group and small group parts
Students may not move around in front of audience. Feet planted.
There should be a balance of whole group and small group parts. *No solo parts are allowed.

20. Impromptu Rules
An impromptu speech is an extemporaneous speech on a topic selected by the student at the event.
Student draws two topics, chooses one, returns other to the envelope
Student has two minutes to prepare speech
The student must speak on the selected topics for a minimum time of 1 - 1/2 minutes and a maximum time of 2 minutes.
The timer will hold up cards to indicate when the student has met the minimum requirement and again at two minutes.
The student MAY choose to read the chosen topic, but this is not a rule and there is no violation if they don’t do it.
Again, the student may choose to have the ½ and 1 minute cards held up, but you should be sure to clarify what they want ahead of time.

21. Impromptu Judge Guidelines
Student does not use notes
Student may announce the topic first
The judging emphasis in this category is CONTENT, more than delivery.
The speech should be well organized, with an introduction, main ideas, and a conclusion.
** County does not have an impromptu category; therefore, regional competition is final performance.
The student MAY choose to read the chosen topic, but this is not a rule and there is no violation if they don’t do it.
Judges look at did student organize their thoughts and deliver a good speech.

22. Helpful Hints Be sure to know the rules of your category
Select a piece you love – not just a piece you know that others have done before or won
Avoid the “tired” pieces
Excerpts from novels are okay
Its all about the presentation and interpretation
Piece must be memorized – including gestures
Practice a little each day
Practice in front of others
Always time your piece
Mean Jean the Recess Queen, The True Story of the 3 little Pigs
Good time for students to check with their teacher, the coordinator, and the LIBRARIAN- Book fair new stuff

23. District Oral Language Festival
Judges will select the top two entries in each category to represent the Rosedale District at the Region I Oral Language Festival
Elementary and Middle School combined
Tuesday Rio Bravo Greeley
We send our top 3 finalists,
no designation of 1st, 2nd, or 3rd places

24. Kern County Oral Language Festival
Top 2 from each regional event move on to the KCSOS Festival
Kern County Oral Language Festival
Saturday, January 26, 2019 at Stonecreek Junior High
4-6 8:15-10:45
7-8 11:20-1:45
**Impromptu is not a Kern County Oral Language Festival event.

25. Questions?

26. Even if your student only competes at the district level, if they have a love for this. Take them to the regional or county level. They will see some amazing performances to help bettr theirs next time.

27. Curriculum Specialist
If you need more information access our district website:
Parents and Students
Oral Language Festival
OR contact: Tracy Woodard
Curriculum Specialist
Extension 154