Students are divided into the following groups:

• Middle/Junior High School (Grades 6-8) Novice

• Middle/Junior High School (Grades 6-8) Intermediate

• Middle/Junior High School (Grades 6-8) Advanced

• High School (Grades 9-12) Novice

• High School (Grades 9-12) Intermediate

• High School (Grades 9-12) Advanced

Novice: I can communicate on very familiar everyday topics, using a variety of practiced or memorized words, phrases, simple sentences, and questions.

Intermediate: I can communicate information, make presentations, and express my thoughts about familiar topics, using sentences and series of connected sentences.

Advanced: I can deliver detailed and organized presentations on familiar as well
as unfamiliar concrete topics, in paragraphs and using various time frames.

Heritage speakers of Chinese are welcome to participate. Heritage speakers refer to those who have at least one parent that speaks Mandarin at home. They can compete in all categories except Poetry Recitation.

Native speakers of Chinese are not allowed to participate in the language fair.

Students who are competing are required to arrive 2 minutes prior to the assigned competition time. If they do not arrive at the appointed time, they may perform at the end of the scheduled competition if time permits. If there is no time remaining, late students forfeit their chance to participate in the performance portion of our competition. Time limits will be strictly observed. Competitors may be cut off if they go over time. Students who do not follow event rules will be disqualified and may receive disciplinary action.

Students will be judged on pronunciation, content, presentation and expression, and adherence to the time limit. Students will be judged against a standard and not against each other. All judging decisions are final. The rubrics and rating scales used to score participants are below.

Students will receive a certificate in accordance to the scores received in their competitions. Those who receive an excellent rating will be recognized in the final awards ceremony.

All language fair participants should comply with Brigham Young University’s Dress and Grooming Standards when they are on BYU campus.