Schulleben & Unterricht > Secondary education I > Language competition for Czech students

Language competition for Czech students

Competitions in German and English

This competition is organized annually by the National Institute for Children and Youth of the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Physical Education. The aim of the competition is to motivate students to study foreign languages and to raise the level of communication skills in order to make it possible for students to use a foreign language as an instrument to find and manage information securely.

The languages are separated in the competition. Similar competitions are held in other languages, such as French, Spanish, Russian and Latin.
The competition is also known as the German and English Language Olympics.

According to their age, the students are divided into three categories:

Category I: up to grade 7
Category II: grades 8 and 9
Category III: grades 10 - 12

In all categories, the students start at school level. This is followed by the district level and ends at the national level. Only the best students reach the next level.
The national competition in German is held at the Goethe Institute, and the German embassy in Prague hosts the award ceremony for all participants.

Furthermore, all categories are divided into ‘bilingual’ and ‘normal’ sub-categories. Of course, our students take part in the bilingual category in German and choose the non-bilingual sub-category for English.
Circa 40 out of a total of 80 Czech students have applied to compete in both languages in both the last and the present school year. Although it is not common to show an interest in both languages, a lot of our students applied for both competitions.

Further information on the competition

The National Institute for Children and Youth of the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Physical Education annually organizes language competitions in German, English, French, Spanish, Russian and Latin.
The goal is to support the students’ interest in languages, to encourage them to study and to improve their communication skills.
In the competition, the students’ ability to use the foreign language as an instrument to find information will be evaluated as well as the ability to get in contact with a native speaker.
According to their age, the students are divided into three categories (category I: grade 7, category II: grades 8 and 9, category III: grades 10 - 12)
Participation is voluntary.
All students under the age of 20 are entitled to participate.
The best students may rise to the national level.
Students that have been speaking a foreign language for a longer time are supposed to take part in the bilingual competitions.
The national competition in German is held at the Goethe Institute, and the German embassy in Prague hosts the award ceremony for all participants.
In particular, communicative skills (listening comprehension, picture description and conversation) are tested.
Our students have been permitted to take part in the German and English competitions since 2007.