Extensive Reading Competition

If you are interested in having your students from elementary through high school become more interested in or more involved in Extensive Reading (ER), here is an English Extensive Reading competition for them to take part in -- The 2012 KEERA Graded Reader Review Competition.
 

Awards will be given in four categories to the students who can write the best review of a graded reader either fiction or non-fiction. An individual Award will be given to the writer of the best review in each category and the main Award (sets of graded readers) going to the winner's school.

The competition is open to students who on September 30th, 2012 are attending either a regular (private or government) Elementary, Junior High or Senior High school in the Korean peninsular. This does not include private language schools nor hagwons, nor Korean schools overseas. 

Awards are offered in four categories:

Reviews should be sent by September 30, 2012. The winners will be announced in the middle of October. 

Elementary school students can choose to write their reviews in either Korean or English but not both languages on the same review. Junior High, and Senior High students must write in English only. Students are only eligible to write reviews in the category of the school they attend.

The students should write a review of about one page (A4) with a minimum of about 200 words total. The first half of the review will be a summary of the content of the graded reader they read, and the second part will be a personal reaction to the book. A review should be about one book only.

All reviews should be hand-written in clear handwriting in pen or pencil. Typed reviews will not be accepted.

The students can write as many reviews as they like, but each school can send only up to a maximum of 20 reviews. Students should give their reviews to their teacher. Teachers should select the best 20 reviews from their school, before posting them on to KEERA.

Reviews should be written of graded readers i.e. books written in English specifically for learners of a second/foreign language. The eligible series are listed on this page:

http://www.robwaring.org/er/scale/ERF_levels.htm. Reviews written of books written for native speakers of any age are not eligible. If in doubt, teachers can contact KEERA at award@keera.or.kr.

Reviews should be sent by post by a school teacher to the address below by September 30th, 2012. Late entries shall be disqualified. The teacher should send his or her email address, school name and the school street address and phone number with the reviews.

     KEERA Book Review Competition c/o Simon G. Gillett
     Sookmyung Women's University
     Sunheon Building Room 821
     Hyochangwon Gil 52
     Yongsan-gu
     Seoul 140-742
     Korea

The writing should be the students' own work. Teachers may not edit or help the students in any way other than explaining what the competition is and how it works. KEERA reserve the right to question the student if we feel he or she received help. Students should not copy any part of the graded reader, nor copy text from the internet or any other place. Doing so, will invalidate all of the reviews from that students' school. Teachers should therefore ensure that the student's work is original before sending it on.

 

For more information, go to these KEERA (Korean English Extensive Reading Association) websites:

The Awards will be given to the students who write in the best English (in terms of grammar, vocabulary and expression), and who can most clearly express their reaction to their book in creative and interesting ways.

The winners will be announced in the middle of October on KEERA's website (www.keera.or.kr). Winners will be asked (if possible) to attend a short ceremony at the International KOTESOL conference on October 20th–21st to collect their award and prize. The winners may be asked to respond to a very short interview about their writing which may be posted on KEERA's website and have their photo taken.

KEERA's decisions about who to award the prizes to shall be final. No correspondence shall be entered into. Reviews will not be returned.