WHO ARE THE FONIX?

E-LESSON

"English Competition for Catalan Schools"

INSCRIPTION
November 14th to January 20th

1. AIMS OF THE COMPETITION:
The Fifth English Competition for Catalan Schools (THE FONIX 2012), designed to promote the use of English among school students through a fun and educational competition in an informal educational setting, is hereby announced.

Participation is free. The competition is financed exclusively by the organisers (International House Barcelona and the Fundació Catalana de l'Esplai) and the sponsors (Cambridge University Press, El Corte Ingles, and Netlanguages). The competition also receives support from the Secretaria General de Polítiques Educatives del Departament d'Ensenyament de la Generalitat de Catalunya (the Department of Education of the Government of Catalonia), as part of its plan of excellence for the promotion of the use of English in schools.

The organisers and sponsors will form an Organisation Committee to ensure the correct development and organisation of the competition.

2. OBJETIVES AND CONTENTS:
The objective of the competition is to select a finalist from each of the first two stages: local, territorial and the winners at the final stage.

The exercises in all the stages of the competition will consist of writing tasks, each based on a different theme (for example: geography, history or music) The written tasks contain a variety of activities on vocabulary, reading and writing. In the final stage of the competition, there will also be an oral section in the test.

The regional stage of the competition will tale place at the same time on the same day in all the examining centres in Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida and Girona. The regional stage will be supervised by the organisers.

3. PARTICIPANTS:

1. The following are eligible to take part in the competition: students in their 5th and 6th years of primary school; students in all four years of secondary school; and students in their two years of pre-university studies or their parallel vocational training programme, at any state-funded or private educational institution located within Catalonia.
2. Students who don’t have English as their mother tongue or who don’t use it within their family setting, will be awarded 20% more in their overall mark at the local, territorial and final stages of the competition. Candidates with an English-speaking mother or father will not be eligible for these extra points.
3. A candidate’s participation in the competition will be made exclusively through schools where he/she is registered. Each school will appoint someone who is responsible for the competition – which should preferably be an educator of one of the participating levels. This person will be the person of contact / spokesman/woman from the centre in relation to the organisers of the competition. In order for students to participate in the regional and final stages of the competition, the person responsible for the competition from the candidates’ school must be present. In cases where this is not possible a representative from the school must be present. 
4. Candidates who have a mother, father, brother or sister with the organising institutions of the competition, will not be allowed to enter.
5. Enrolment on to the competition at the territorial and final stages implies acceptance, on the part of the candidates and their families, of the rules and conditions of the competition. On passing the local stage of the competition, candidates and their families will have to fill in a “permission form” which is available on the website at: www.concurs-angles.info The “permission form” must be signed by the father, mother or legal guardian. This “permission form” will be sent / given to the families by the person responsible for the competition at the school where the candidate is registered.
6. At the regional and final stages of the competition, candidates will have to show the organisers there DNI (if they are 14 years or over) or their “libro de familia / llibre de família” on the day of the competition as well as the “permission form”. If candidates fail to conform with one of either of these regulations, they will not be allowed to participate in the competition.

4. REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION:
                
Enrolment on to the competition will be carried out by the person responsible for the competition at each school. They can enrol candidates at all / any group level that they consider suitable for the competition. The enrolment period for the competition for all schools who wish to participate will be from 14th of November until 20th of January 2012 inclusive.

Information regarding the competition and enrolment procedures can only be accessed and carried out via the official centre enrolment form which is available on this website (www.concurs-angles.info). The Regulations and any supplementary information about the different stages of the competition will be permanently available on this website.
If, for any reason, schools have difficulty registering online, they may send their registration by fax, after notifying the organisers by email. For queries concerning the competition, please send an email to: info@concurs-angles.info

1. For educational matters you should contact: Lynn Durrant (head of the educational programme)
2. For organisational matters you should contact: Miquel Puig (Head of Organisation)

 5. STAGES OF THE COMPETITION:
“The Fourth English Competition for Catalan Schools” will comprise of three knockout stages, as described below.

LOCAL STAGE:

1. The tests will be held at each school between 12 of January and 15th February 2012 inclusive.
2. The person responsible for the competition will download the tests from the website, which will be available via a password and a code provided by the organisation. This person will choose the most suitable date for holding the tests and will also decide how the tests will be administered within his/her school.
3. To facilitate marking, after each test an answer sheet will be available on the website. The person responsible for the competition with each participating school will keep the test results in case any candidates wish to consult them.
4. This stage of the competition will take about 55 minutes. Students who are in the same year must do the exercises on the same day and at the same time. A maximum of one finalist for each centre at each level should be chosen from the participating school. If there is a draw between the best candidates at a particular level, the person responsible for the competition will choose the student with the highest continuous assessment mark during the first two terms of the school year to qualify for the next round.
5. The person responsible for the competition in each school must register the finalists for each level on the online form on the website for them to be able to proceed to the next stage. The deadline for registration will be 20:00 on 20th February. After this time, participants forfeit the right to continue to the territorial stage. After this deadline (25th February) a list of candidates who have passed onto the territorial stage of the competition and the centres where they are registered will be available on the intranet website.

REGIONAL STAGE:

1. The tests during the regional stage will be held on Saturday 3rd March at 12:00 midday, and will last for a maximum of 60 minutes. The location of the examination in each of the 4 regional capitals of Catalonia (Barcelona, Tarragona, Lleida and Girona) will be made public well before the test date – on the competition website. Candidates will be assigned to one of these centres, according to the location of their school. 
2. Candidates and a member of their family and / or the person from their school who is responsible for the competition should arrive 90 minutes before the start of the test in order to complete the administrative procedures. This is in-line with the rules set out in regulation 3 of the competition.
3. At this stage of the competition, candidates with the highest marks in each of the 8 levels will be chosen: five winners for each level from the region of Barcelona and three winners from each level from the regions of Tarragona, Lleida and Girona. (112 candidates in total)
4. If there is a draw between the best candidates at a particular level, the finalists will be chosen on the basis of the richness of the language and vocabulary used in their written tasks.
5. The organisers will publish the names of the winners from the regional stage of the competition and the centres they represent as of 2nd April.
6. The person responsible for the competition from each centre must inform the competition organisers of anyone that pulls out of participating in the final stage of the competition by 20:00 by April 27th.

FINAL STAGE:

1. The final stage of the competition will be held Sunday 6th May.
2. Candidates should arrive 30 minutes before the start of the test in order to complete the administrative procedures. This is in-line with the rules set out in regulation 3 of the competition.
3. The test at the Final stage of the competition will consist of an oral as well as a written section. The test will take between 40-50 minutes at the most, depending on the educations level of the candidates( primary, secondary etc) The result of this stage of the competition will be the total number of marks taken from both parts of the test.
4. 8 absolute winners from each of the 8 categories of the competition will be selected from within the 112 candidates who participated at the regional stage of the competition where they were awarded the highest marks
5. If there is a draw between the best candidates at a particular level, the candidate with the highest marks for fluency and pronunciation during the oral part will be declared the winner.
6. The organisers will publish the classification of the candidates in each category and the school they attend by 21th May. All students who qualified for the final stage will be formally invited to the awards ceremony at which the diplomas and prizes will be presented.