What role can the teacher play in helping the students develop the podcast?
The expectation is that teachers of elementary school students will be the primary developer of the video and will organize it with the students doing the performing. For middle and high school students, the teachers may assist with generating ideas for the videos and with the technology but the students should be primarily responsible for the writing of the video and for the performing. Postsecondary students are expected to develop and perform in the videos with no outside assistance.
Can a video entry involve the entire class or a group of students?
Yes, the students can perform as an entire class or a group of students can collaborate on a video.
If a group of students performs in a video, how will the prize money be distributed?
Because of the teacher's involvement in the elementary grades, the prize money will go to the school. In the case of middle, high and postsecondary, the prize money will be awarded to the students. In the case that a group of students perform in a video, the prize money will have to be split among all participants.
I was thinking of using music in my submission which I have appropriate rights to use. Do I have to send proof of the rights for all images and music that I use? If so, can you explain the process of doing this?
You do not need to show us the rights that you have. We will be asking you to verify that you have the rights before we declare your video a finalist. Just be sure you have them on hand if the need arises.
Is the video supposed to be a narrative-type video or an interview-type video? Or a combination of both?
This is entirely up to you. We left this issue "wide open" to allow for the maximum creativity among participants.
Are students enrolled in a weekend of heritage language school eligible to enter a video in the contest?
Yes, any student from Pre-K through university who is enrolled in a language class is eligible to enter. If the student is under the age of 18, the teacher or the home-schooling parent needs to upload the video for the students.
I live in Canada. Can I still enroll in the contest?
Yes, the video contest is open to any student enrolled in a language class anywhere in the world. You just need to make sure that you can submit the video in the appropriate format. Thanks for your support for the contest!
I study more than one language. Can I submit a video for each language that I am studying?
Please submit one entry per person (not per language). You may talk about one or all of the languages you are studying, but please keep your video entry to the 2-minute time limit.
How will we know when a category closes or is close to closing? I am concerned that my students would be disappointed if, for instance, they find out that they no longer can submit their videos after they have put their efforts into them.
We will be posted a notice on the contest's home page when only 50 slots remain in a particular category. So, get those entries in as soon as you can!
How do I know if I have the rights to use a certain music piece in the video and, if not, how can I get the rights?
The only music that you can rightfully use would be your own original music that you created or if you purchased rights to the music. However, a low cost way of incorporating music into the podcast would be to buy royalty-free music. There are many stock music sources on line. They offer music for $100 or even less. They may even have some free selections. The site is www.musicforproductions.com. Other sites that sell royalty free music include www.shockwave-sound.com, www.stockmusic.net, www.stock-music.com, www.royaltyfreemusic.com