The Competition

Two students hold a conversation about any topic, using familiar language that has been explored during Languages lessons. The conversation must be filmed as one take (i.e. no pausing or editing), which can be done using a device such as a tablet/smartphone and the assistance of a tripod or an additional person filming. Props and/or pictures can be used to add interest. 

The conversation needs to be spontaneous and should sound as natural as possible. This is an opportunity for students to apply the language structures that have been practiced previously, but in a slightly different context/with a different speaker/unpredictable question order. Language fillers, error correction, survival phrases and repair strategies are allowed and tolerated in order to sustain interaction. Access to written notes is not permitted. Emphasis should be on meaning making and language fluency, rather than language accuracy. The task should be student led and teachers act only as facilitators by providing suggested scenarios/contexts. The Side-by-Side conversation should be completed at school and teachers may allocate time for students to plan scenarios and useful language during class. Suggested scenarios:

• Two students at the park or in the garden, exchange information about their interests and leisure activities.
• Two students are sitting at the table, eating their dinner. They exchange information about the meal and food preferences.
• Two students are playing a board game or doing a puzzle. They interact while playing and exchange information about the game or puzzle.
• Two students are sitting in the lounge room and about to watch TV. They discuss the program options and their viewing preferences.
• Two students are at home and are discussing the plans for the weekend. They exchange suggestions about what they would like to do and come to an agreement for the plans – what, where and when.

Time limits for each category:

• Years PP – 2:               30 seconds
• Years 3 and 4:             40 seconds
• Years 5 and 6:             60 seconds
• Years 7 and 8:             90 seconds
• Years 9 and 10:           2 minutes
• Years 11 and 12:         3 minutes

Eligibility

Second language learners. Students must be attending a Western Australian school. The students’ teacher/s must be members of the LTWA.

Categories / Languages

Categories: Years PP-12

Language categories: Arabic, Auslan, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Modern Greek, Aboriginal Languages and Spanish.

Teachers/schools can only submit one entry for each language and year category taught at the school.

Prizes

Participating teachers conduct the competition within their school and determine one winner per year level that has undertaken the competition. Prizes will be awarded to each winner selected by the teacher. The prize will be a $10 voucher or gift of similar value. 

Years 3-12 winners will be invited to attend an event on Saturday 24 October 2026 to perform their conversation live. A panel of judges will determine the medal winner for each year level. If there are more than five entries per year level across all languages, then the LTWA Committee will select the five finalists who will perform live. Judges’ decisions are final.

Videos of the winning submissions may be screened at future LTWA events and/or posted on the LTWA website, LTWA YouTube channel and the LTWA Facebook page.

Judging criteria

Each submission will be judged on:

• Language deployment; i.e. spoken spontaneously and naturally
• Sustained interaction in the target language for no longer than the allocated time limit
• Fluency; i.e. the ability to maintain a flow, even if it requires use of repair strategies (e.g. “what I meant was”), survival phrases (e.g. “Sorry, could you repeat that?”) and fillers (e.g. “Um …”)
• Pronunciation and intonation

Each submission is judged on the language skills of both participants.

Submission process

Teachers/schools make the submissions. Submissions must be in a .M4V, .MP4, .mov or .avi format and uploaded to the submission page. 

Submissions must be accompanied by a scanned copy of a signed Declaration Form for each student appearing in the videos. The declaration forms can also be uploaded to the submission page. 

Please note that videos should meet the following criteria:

• Be filmed in landscape
• Have clear audio
• Be no larger than 200MB
• Meet the following file naming convention. Year School name student 1 student 2

Eg. Bill and Ben, year 5 students at Perth primary school should name their file: 

5 Perth Primary School Bill Ben. 

All competition submissions are bound by the LTWA competition Terms and Conditions.

Entry cost

There is a fee of $10/entry up to a maximum of 10 entries at $100. This fee must be paid via Paypal/credit card payment. If a school does not submit their entry payment by the submission deadline, their entry will be deemed invalid. Payments can be made HERE. 

Example videos

Previous entries can be found on this page HERE.

I would like more information

We recommend watching Helen Kuehs’ 2025 webinar on how she runs this competition in her German classroom. You can watch the recording HERE.

Key Dates

20 April 2026               Side by Side Competition launched

28 September 2026    Side by Side Competition submissions due

12 October 2026            Winners/Finalists notified and invited to attend the LTWA event

24 October 2026          Teachers collect their prizes and certificates at the LTWA Competitions’ Awards Ceremony. Years 3-12 winners perform a conversation at the event.