Breezing through the winning words "colossus" and "indemnity", Daniel Tan made it through 6 rounds before emerging as champion speller. As for me, I managed to get to the finals on 3/6/2009, but got eliminated at the 4th round when I stumbled over "parochial". I spelt it "perochial", and now, thinking about it, I feel that it is such a careless mistake!
The first three rounds had words that were easy for me: "Polyester", "discreet", and "clairvoyant". The word "clairvoyant" had not been in my vocabulary before. Had it not been for Nintendo DS game "Professor Layton and the Curious Village", I wouldn't have spelt it correctly. Phew for me!
Actually, as I think about oral spelling bees, I feel that it also depends on luck, because it depends on what word you get. If you get a word that is not in your vocabulary, you may misspell it. But, you may actually know the words other people get.
That applied to me. Having misspelt "parochial", I walked down the stage, and I heard in the next few rounds familiar words. "Ephemeral", "pharmaceutical" were words that were in my vocabulary but were misspelt by the remaining spellers on stage.
I can't remember now, the 1st and 2nd runner-up's names, but I know both were girls. I forgot the 2nd runner up's word, but I know the 1st runner up's word was "counterespionage", which she spelt correctly. By the way, the 1st runner up was from Bedok Green Primary, and the 2nd runner up was from Nan Hua Primary, like the champion speller.
Here are the definitions for each word I have mentioned above:
co·los·sus
n. pl. co·los·si (-ls) or co·los·sus·es
1. A huge statue.
2. Something likened to a huge statue, as in size or importance: a colossus of bureaucracy.
[Latin, from Greek kolossos.]
in·dem·ni·ty
n. pl. in·dem·ni·ties
1. Security against damage, loss, or injury.
2. A legal exemption from liability for damages.
3. Compensation for damage, loss, or injury suffered. See Synonyms at reparation.
[Middle English indempnite, from Anglo-Norman, from Late Latin indemnits, from Latin indemnis, uninjured; see indemnify.]
pa·ro·chi·al
adj.
1. Of, relating to, supported by, or located in a parish.
2. Of or relating to parochial schools.
3. Narrowly restricted in scope or outlook; provincial: parochial attitudes.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin parochilis, from parochia, diocese; see parish.]
pa·rochi·al·ism n.
pa·rochi·al·ist n.
pa·rochi·al·ly adv.
pol·y·es·ter
n.
1. Any of numerous synthetic polymers produced chiefly by reaction of dibasic acids with dihydric alcohols and used primarily as light, strong, weather-resistant resins in boat hulls, textile fibers, adhesives, and molded parts.
2. A wrinkle-resistant fabric of fibers made from any of these resins.
poly·ester adj.
poly·ester·i·fi·cation (--f-kshn) n.
dis·creet
adj.
1. Marked by, exercising, or showing prudence and wise self-restraint in speech and behavior; circumspect.
2. Free from ostentation or pretension; modest.
[Middle English, from Old French discret, from Medieval Latin discrtus, from Latin, past participle of discernere, to separate, discern; see discern.]
dis·creetly adv.
dis·creetness n.
clair·voy·ant
adj.
1. Of or relating to clairvoyance.
2. Having the supposed power to see objects or events that cannot be perceived by the senses.
n.
A person, such as a medium, possessing the supposed power of clairvoyance.
[French : clair, clear (from Latin clrus; see kel-2 in Indo-European roots) + voyant, present participle of voir, to see (from Latin vidre; see weid- in Indo-European roots).]
e·phem·er·al
adj.
1. Lasting for a markedly brief time: "There remain some truths too ephemeral to be captured in the cold pages of a court transcript" Irving R. Kaufman.
2. Living or lasting only for a day, as certain plants or insects do.
n.
A markedly short-lived thing.
[From Greek ephmeros : ep-, epi-, epi- + hmer, day.]
e·phemer·ali·ty, e·phemer·al·ness n.
e·phemer·al·ly adv.
phar·ma·ceu·ti·cal
adj.
Of or relating to pharmacy or pharmacists.
n.
A pharmaceutical product or preparation.
[From Late Latin pharmaceuticus, from Greek pharmakeutikos, from pharmakeuts, preparer of drugs, variant of pharmakeus, from pharmakon, drug.]
pharma·ceuti·cal·ly adv.
coun·ter·es·pi·o·nage
n.
Espionage undertaken to detect and counteract enemy espionage.
Thanks to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ for the definitions.
Here is the main information for the National Spelling Championships:
RATIONALE
The National Spelling Championship aims to develop a greater appreciation of the importance of spelling in literacy development among Primary 4, 5 and 6 pupils in Singapore.
The competition is designed to provide pupils with the opportunities to pit their spelling skills against one another by applying strategies to help them spell words both familiar and unfamiliar to them. In the process, pupils will gain an awareness of phonemes and syllabication while enriching their vocabulary through the study of prefixes, suffixes and root words.
FORMAT OF THE COMPETITION
QUALIFYING ROUND (PRELIMINARIES)
Participants are required to take a pen-and-paper test of about 60 minutes. 50 words will be read out to the pupils by a Pronouncer and the pupils will have to spell the words on paper. Each word is contextualised with an example so that the meaning and form of the word are clearly understood. The top 10% of the participants will be invited to take part in the semi-finals.
SEMI-FINALS
Participants will be invited to take their seats on the stage and they will take turns to spell aloud words read to them by a Pronouncer. Participants can ask relevant questions to help them with the spelling.
A new word will be given to each participant to be spelled aloud each time. A participant who spells the word incorrectly or is unable to spell the given word within a time limit of 30 seconds will be eliminated. The words will become increasingly difficult with each new round such that only 20 finalists will remain at the end of the final round (note that there is no fixed number of rounds at the Semi-finals or Finals as this is dependent on the number of pupils eliminated at the end of each round). If fewer than 20 pupils qualify after the final round, the group of pupils who are eliminated in the previous round will undergo a new round. At this round, the elimination process will start all over again until the target number of pupils is attained.
FINALS
The format of the finals will be similar to that of the semi-finals. The participants will be eliminated at each round of the competition until one speller emerges as the champion. The Champion Speller will be awarded a trophy and $300 in cash vouchers while the 1st and 2nd runner up will receive a trophy each and $200 and $100 in cash vouchers respectively. The other 17 finalists will each receive $25 in cash vouchers
Sorry, readers of the blog, so far there are no pictures for everything, soon I'll post some pictures up to make it more interesting. My apologies for the time being.
Aah! I've found the news article for the National Spelling Championship, which, by the way, was held at the annual Language Arts Festival aimed to improve the language skills of students:
Language Arts Festival a hit
By Amanda Tan
DANIEL Tan, 12, breezed through the spelling of 'colossus' and 'indemnity', emerging as champion at the second National Spelling Championships (NSC).
He took two hours to bag top spot yesterday, during one event of the third annual Language Arts Festival.
The Primary 6 pupil from Nan Hua Primary School beat 23 others from 21 schools, and credited his win to 'hard work' - that is, spending two hours a week for the past three months memorising more than 20 pages of words used in a previous competition, which he culled from the Internet.
Associate Editor of The Straits Times Bertha Henson, who was the guest of honour at the NSC, was impressed.
'I thought they were quite good,' she said. 'A lot of the words were quite tough. I wouldn't think a primary school kid would be able to grapple with that.'
Other highlights at the festival, organised by the Ministry of Education's Gifted Education Branch, included game booths and workshops on storytelling, poetry and creative writing.
There was also an essay writing competition called INKPressions! and an Inter-school Debate Championship, as well as a media literacy workshop conducted by The Straits Times' Little Red Dot journalist Malini Kaseenathan.
The session gave pupils an insight into the interviewing and writing techniques used in newspaper reporting.
Marcus Choo, 10, a Henry Park Primary School pupil, said he had found it 'fun'.
'It was very interesting learning the basics on how to become a journalist,' he said.
The day-long event, aimed mainly at Primary 4 pupils who are exceptionally proficient in English, this year drew an estimated 1,200 pupils from more than 140 schools.
Madam Elaine Yee, a gifted education officer, said that through the event, pupils could 'learn from the professionals in the field'.
Parents interested in getting their children's schools to subscribe to Little Red Dot or IN should direct teachers to call Candy Chew on 6319-2306 or e-mail cirschool@sph.com.sg for more information.
Finally, a picture of Daniel Tan (from the Straits Times):
for the article and the picture!
Here are some books on spelling you may be interested in: (Call no.s are Singapore National Library's)
Spelling, by John ButterworthPublisher : Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1999.Call No. : J 428.1 BUT
Spelling and grammar, by Audrey DalyPublisher : Loughborough : Ladybird, [1997].Call No. : J 428.1 DAL
I can spell! series, by Rod CampbellPublisher : London : Campbell Books, 1994.Call No. : JP 428 CAM
I can spell! : with consonants b c d f g h, by Rod CampbellPublisher : London : Campbell Books, 1994.Call No. : JP 428 CAM
100 words every high school freshman should know, by the editors of the American heritage dictionariesPublisher : Boston : Houghton Mifflin, c2004.Call No. : 428.1 ONE
Painless spelling, by Mary Elizabeth PodhaizerPublisher : Hauppauge, NY : Barron’s Educational Series, 1998.Call No. : 372.632 POD
Let's end this for today! Thanks for reading!
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