The tasks for the Oxford German Olympiad 2022 are now online.

It is our 10th Olympiad!

This year’s topic is “Der Rhein”. 

 It is a topic that explores cultural, geographical and historical dimensions of Germany’s second largest river.

There is also a nice little prehistoric link to Oxford: a long time ago, the Rhine and the Thames used to be connected!

The tasks and further information can be found here: https://www.ogn.ox.ac.uk/content/oxford-german-olympiad-2022

The Competition Tasks

Choose one of the tasks appropriate for your age group.
All tasks to be completed in German, unless indicated otherwise.

Years 5 and 6 (age 9-11):

1. Draw a picture of a barge on the Rhine. Label the 12 most important items.
2. You are attending the “Basler Fasnacht” (carnival of Basel) or “Kölner Karneval” (carnival of Cologne). Design your costume and give your drawing or painting 10 labels.
3. Draw a comic strip of the Rhine and the places it flows through.

Years 7 to 9 (age 11-14):

1. Draw or paint a picture of creatures that live in and by the Rhine, and write a short text describing them.
2. Write about a day in your life on Lake Constance (der Bodensee) in a prehistoric stilt house (Pfahlbau) – “Ein Tag am Bodensee in der Bronzezeit”.
3.  Draw a scene from Heinrich Heine’s poem „Die Loreley“ and describe what is happening.

Years 10 and 11 (age 14-16):

1. “Rheingold”. Write a story or create a video inspired by the Nibelung treasure.
2. Create an online exhibition about the famous castles along the Rhine.
3. Give a video presentation about the historical importance of the Rhine.

Years 12 and 13 (age 16-18):

1. “Wie sichern wir die nachhaltige Zukunft des Rheins?”. Plan a conference for 16-18 year olds including the advertisement and programme with keynote lectures and topics for roundtable discussion.
2. Write an essay, give a video presentation OR create a website on one of the following topics associated with places on the Rhine: “Hildegard von Bingen”, “Die Geschichte des Zeppelins” OR “Der Kölner Dom”.
3. Write an essay or video yourself giving a lecture on the following topic: „Schlagader Europas: Die Geschichte des Rheins”.

Open Competition for Groups or Classes (4+ participants):

1. Create a website for a Rhine river cruise.
2. Write and illustrate a children’s book about acat living on a Rheinschiff (Rhine barge).
3. Create a graphic novel or a video featuring characters or storylines from the “Nibelungenlied”.

Discover German – Taster Competition (1-3 participants with no prior experience of studying German):

1. Years 5 and 6: Find out what the following German words mean and draw a picture including all these items, each with a label:
   der Fluss, das Ufer, die Brücke, das Haus, das Schiff, der Hügel, die Burg, die Fahne, der Fisch, die Nixe.
2. Years 7 to 9: Draw or paint a picture of the whole Rhine and label the countries (in German), 10 cities and 10 things you would be likely to find in or along the river.
3. Years 10 and 11:Create a crossword puzzle or game that includes the names of 15 places on the Rhine or words associated with the Rhine.
4. Years 12 and 13:  Research words formed with (a) Fluss, (b) fließen and (c) flüssig. Give one or more translations for each word (the translation may consist of more than one word).

Please note:

– Each participant must submit an entry form and a teacher form.

– Each participant may only enter for one task within their age group as an INDIVIDUAL entrant.

– We require a consent form for under-13 participants. Click here to download the form.

Inspiration
Click here for some of our thoughts and ideas about this year’s tasks.

Closing date for all entries is Thursday, 10 March 2022.

We are looking forward to receiving lots of exciting entries!

Any questions, please contact Eva Wechselberger: olympiad@mod-langs-ox.ac.uk