Foreign Language Association of Greater Sacramento

Fair season 2008 is almost here! Time to let your students' success in your classes shine for the whole community to see. See below for exciting news for language students, entry directions, information on judging and also on having students perform at the fair.


New this year!

For the first time in Sacramento and possibly anywhere, student work in world languages has its own judging class. Not only does this help student projects be judged and displayed correctly, it also means that for the first time ever, your students will be eligible for best in class ribbons specifically for their work in world languages. One best in class will be awarded for the best written project and one best in class will be awarded for the best oral project.

Ready to participate?

Here's what you need to do:

  1. Download a Teacher Entry Form.
  2. Make as many copies as necessary to account for the total number of projects you will be entering.
  3. Complete the form. Be sure to include the division and class numbers as follows:
    * All projects are Division 3752
    * Foreign Language Written Projects are class 6
    * Foreign Language Oral Projects are class 7
  4. Write a check payable to the Sacramento County Fair for $2 per student project entered. You may be able to get support from your PTA for this.
  5. Mail or hand deliver entry form(s) and payment to:
    Sacramento County Fair
    1600 Expoistion Blvd
    P.O. Box 15028
    Sacramento, CA 95831-0028
  6. Forms must arrive at the fair office by 4:00 p.m. on April 18 or the late fee applies. Please note that if you submit the form late, there is late fee of $5 per student project entered in addition to the original $2 entry fee. This gives you one additional week to submit the form.
  7. Drop off the projects at the fair grounds on Friday May 16 between 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Pick projects up on the last day of the fair, after 7:00 p.m. You must have a claim ticket for each project submitted in order to pick it up. Teachers must make their own arrangements for drop off and pick up of student work.
  8. To ensure the best possible display for your students' work, please also note the following:

    A. It is helpful if the work has a visual as well as written component. If you are interested in entering PowerPoints, digital audio files, videotapes or DVDs of student presentations, that is also possible, but they can't be displayed during the fair--only judged. You may want to have students print out a screen shot of a section of their multi-media entry so that there will be something that can be displayed, especially if they win a ribbon!

    B. Teachers (or a TA with good writing or typing skills) should prepare a one-page description of each type of entry as a whole, listing the school, language and level, and a description of what the students were asked to do. This will be displayed along with the projects, and therefore needs to be submitted when the projects are dropped off.
  9. Please also let Nicole Naditz know if you are entering student work so that I can be sure to locate the right number of judges.

When can we see the student work?

Projects will be on display during the Sacramento County Fair which runs from May 21 through May 25 at Cal Expo. Admission is free, however there is a fee to park at Cal Expo.

I don't want to enter. How can I help?

We will once again need judges for this year's fair projects. At this time, I anticipate needing judges in French and Spanish, but German and Japanese are a possibility. Judging occurs on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday preceding the fair. Enter the fairgrounds at Cal Expo through Gate 12, and tell the guard that you are judging fair entries. Follow the signs to building C. You will drive past the barns and the horse show area.

My students want to perform. What can we do?

Once again, the county fair is reserving stage time for language students. They can do skits, dialogues, songs, dances or even read stories to kids. Please contact Nicole Naditz by April 15 if your students are interested.