What’s the buzz all about?
Three SAS students compete in spelling competition
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t China’s regional competition for the Scripps International Spelling Bee, many students compete to be the best speller. But it’s also a test of nerves. Spelling words like guetapens or cymotrichous (winning words from the past two years) is difficult — but as you can see in the following passages — it’s not the only challenge. Harper Thomas Grade 7, Pudong campus The boy two places ahead of me walked unsteadily to the microphone in the center of the room. “Your word is … waltz,” one of the judges stated. Great, I’d probably get australopithecus. It was my turn. “Your word is dichotomy.” I knew this word. “Dichotomy. D-I-C-H-O-T-O-M-Y. Dichotomy.” As a round of applause welled up, I was filled with a wild sense of elation; I had made it to the finals. Those long hours of monotonously ploughing through words seemed to have finally paid off … at least so far. The words got progressively harder. Soon, everyone was up to their necks in roodeboks and baleens. What irritated me the most was that one person would get a world like cabaret, while the next person would receive a 15-letter monstrosity. However, there was nothing I could do except brood on the inequalities of life. It was soon my turn to step up to the microphone once more. The judges looked at me cooly, and one of them said, “Your word is dactylogram.” WWW.EAGLEONLINE.ORG
At this, my mental processes ground to a complete halt. Dactylogram … dactylogram …. as many times as I repeated it in my head, and sounded it out with my mouth, the word would not yield its spelling to me. Briefly, an image of a bat-winged dinosaur flashed in my mind, but I quickly dismissed it. What could a long extinct prehistoric flying animal, and a word that means fingerprint have in common? Absurd. “Dactylogram. D-A-C-T-I ... ” just as I said the “I,” the judge immediately jotted something down in her notebook. My heart plummeted. I knew I had gotten it incorrect. Nevertheless, I pressed on. “… L-O-G-R-A-M. Dactylogram.” Although later that day I would be told how I had “exceeded all expectations” numerous times, I couldn’t quite get over my mistake. As I lay in bed, I recited the correct spelling of dactylogram until I fell asleep. Ian Chau Grade 8, Pudong campus This was the real deal. I was going to go to the China Regionals for the Scripps International Spelling Bee. I was so thrilled and scared at the same time. On the stage, my feet were trembling. I started sweating and took a deep breath. It was my turn to spell. As I stepped towards the microphone, I visualized the entire alphabet. “Seersucker.” “Seersucker, S-E-E-R-S-U-C-K-E-R, Seersucker.” I waited. “That is correct.” I smiled, breathed a huge sigh of relief and returned to my seat. I did it. Next round, I did the same thing. “Kremlin.” I thought for a moment,
then spelled, “Kremlin, K-R-E-M-L-I-N, Kremlin.” The next round, I was less fortunate. As I visualized the alphabet, I heard the pronouncer say, “Mozzarella.” I thought to myself, oh, this should be easy. I asked for the definition, then started spelling, “Mozzarella, M-O-Z-Z-E-R-E-L-L-A, Mozzarella.” “I’m sorry, that is incorrect.” Though I did not move on to the final round, I still enjoyed the experience of representing the school in a spelling bee. Hanna Kim Grade 8, Pudong campus “C-E-R-E-B-E-L-L-U-M. Cerebellum.” And with that, I had made it as champion of the middle school. The spelling bee had begun with a written test, open to all middle school students who wanted to participate. The top 15 spellers then moved onto the real spelling bee, in which we had to spell out the words to the judges. We had to spell words like jitney and diaphanous, and the top three spellers would then move on to the regionals. The first few rounds went by in a blur. The words were easy enough to begin with, but by the third round, the words started to get harder and stranger. More and more participants left the stage. Along with 12 other contestants, I made it into the finals. I had not thought it was possible, but the tension in the room increased: the contestants were all fidgeting and they were surreptitiously wiping their hands on their pants. I was eliminated in the second round of the finals. In the third round only three contestants remained. The winner of last year’s spelling bee won again this year. To be honest, I was a little disappointed I did not make it all the way, but I knew I had tried my best, and it had been an exciting experience.
Above: Spelling bee competitors Ian Chau and Hanna Kim. PHOTO BY Timber Monteith
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