Spelling Bees

During October , our primary students will be joining two Spelling Bees , or spelling competitions. Why are they called ‘bees’ ?

No one is %100 certain where the word comes from , but it commonly refers to a community social gathering of friends and neighbours joining together in a single activity. Some early examples include a spinning bee , an apple bee and a logging bee. Together with ‘spelling bee’ , these are American terms.

The first documented case of a spelling bee was in 1825 , and the first National Spelling Bee was held a century later in 1925 in Washington D.C. , America. Nine finalists competed and the winning word was gladiolus spelled by 11year old Frank Neuhauser.

Before the words Spelling Bee became accepted and widely used , there were other names for spelling competitions : Trials in Spelling , Spelling School Spelling Match , and my favourites : Spelling Fight or Spelling Combat !

Spelling Bees are incredibly popular in America. Competitions are held every year beginning from local levels to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Contestants come from not only America but from all around the world and they are shown live on ESPN TV !

Traditionally , American children of Indian descent and children from South Asia do very well in these competitions. It is believed that children from these backgrounds value memory-based learning , and expectations around academic performance tend to be much higher.

In last year’s final of the Scripps National Spelling Bee , two children secured 1^st place. Each child took home a trophy and $45 000 cash ! The competitors successfully spelled the entire list of words and finished together after spelling the final words : Feldenkrais and gesellschaft. Look them up in the dictionary if you like , but I think they won’t be used in the Spelling Bees our students are joining this month !