Spelling bee rules and procedures

SPELLING BEE RULES AND PROCEDURES

Gabriela Lobato Santos Home School Private Teaching, Puebla, Puebla, México.

2015

SPELLING BEE RULES AND PROCEDURES 1

CONTENT General Rules ............................................................................................................................................................... 2 GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 6 FINAL ROUNDS ............................................................................................................................................................. 7 IN CASE OF A FINAL TIE ................................................................................................................................................ 8 When the contestants are reduced to two, the elimination procedure changes. ................................. 9

HOME SCHOOL PRIVATE TEACHING IS A PRIVATE INITIATIVE WHICH AIMS TO GATHER AND PUBLISH USEFUL RESOURCES FOR ESL STUDENTS AND TEACHERS. Gabriela Lobato Santos. Home School Private Teaching. Puebla, Puebla, México.

SPELLING BEE RULES AND PROCEDURES 2

GENERAL RULES

The Spelling Bee will be conducted orally; it is a contest of accuracy in Spelling, not velocity, so the students will have to make sure of the words they are going to spell. To do so, they'll have a chance to ask for repetitions (up to three times), sample sentences, or the meaning of the word.

Participants will pick a ball which has a number; the pronouncer will then read the word corresponding to the number picked (announces the word to be spelled). The pronouncer speaks slowly and clearly, without distorting the normal pronunciation of the word, and uses the word in a sentence if asked by the contestant, and says the word again.

SPELLING BEE: GENERAL RULES

Words will be called out twice before students begin spelling.The speller listens carefully to the pronouncer and asks for the word to be repeated if necessary.

The pronouncer may respond to the speller's requests for a definition, sentence, and alternate pronunciation(s) if any. When presented with requests for alternate pronunciations, the pronouncer checks for alternate pronunciations in a Dictionary.

Participants must repeat the word before and after spelling it. When the speller is sure he/she understands the word, he/she pronounces it, spells it and then says the word again. He/She must say it loudly enough for the judge to hear it.

Gabriela Lobato Santos. Home School Private Teaching. Puebla, Puebla, MĂŠxico.

SPELLING BEE RULES AND PROCEDURES If a student misspells a word, or forgets to say “capital”, “space”, or “hyphen” where it is needed, the participant will be eliminated only after the first three rounds, and will move to a separate section in the room.

If the students that were eliminated or anyone from the audience start whispering the answers, nodding, or shaking their heads, they will have to leave right away and the participant will be eliminated.

Words will be pronounced according to the pronunciation supplied in the WAV or MP3 file and DVD sent by the host school.

Students are given 1 minute to spell the word correctly.

SPELLING BEE: GENERAL RULES

The judge(s) determines whether or not the word was spelled correctly.

If the correct spelling was given, the speller remains in the contest.

For the first three rounds, the students will remain in the contest even if they have misspelled a word, they will be eliminated after the third round.

When there are only two spellers left, if one player misspells a word, the other player must spell that same word correctly, plus one more word to be declared the winner of the spelling bee.

Decisions of local spelling bee officials are final.

Gabriela Lobato Santos. Home School Private Teaching. Puebla, Puebla, México.

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SPELLING BEE RULES AND PROCEDURES 4

Word list: Local spelling bee officials are responsible for selecting the word lists for use at each local spelling bee.

Special needs: Local Spelling Bee officials will strive to provide accommodation for spellers who have physical challenges. All requests for spelling bee officials to accommodate special needs involving sight, hearing, or movement should be directed to spelling bee officials well in advance of the spelling bee date.

Homonyms: If a word has one or more homonyms, the pronouncer indicates which word is to be spelled by defining the word.

SPELLING BEE: GENERAL RULES

Notice of rules: The host School ensures that all the Participating Schools are given an opportunity to receive a complete copy of the rules prior to the start of the spelling bee.

Misunderstandings: The judges participate in the exchange of information between the speller and pronouncer if they feel that clarification is needed. Also, the judges listen carefully to the speller’s pronunciation of the word; and, if they sense that the speller has misunderstood the word, the judges work with the speller and pronouncer until they are satisfied that reasonable attempts have been made to assist the speller in understanding the word. While the judges are responsible for attempting to detect a speller’s misunderstanding, it is sometimes impossible to detect a misunderstanding until an error has been made. The judges are not responsible for the speller’s misunderstanding.

Disqualifications for reasons other than error: The judges will disqualify a speller (1) who refuses a request to start spelling or to provide an answer to a vocabulary question; (2) who does not Gabriela Lobato Santos. Home School Private Teaching. Puebla, Puebla, México.

SPELLING BEE RULES AND PROCEDURES approach the microphone when it is time to receive the word or question; (3) who does not comply with the eligibility requirements; (4) who engages in unsportsmanlike conduct; (5) who, in the process of retracing a spelling, alters the letters or sequence of letters from those first uttered; (6) who, in the process of spelling, utters unintelligible or nonsense sounds; or (7) who, in the process of providing an answer in an oral vocabulary round, provides a blend of correct and incorrect information.

Speller’s role: In a spelling round, the speller makes an effort to face the judges and pronounce the word for the judges before spelling it and after spelling it. The speller while facing the judges makes an effort to utter each letter distinctly and with sufficient volume to be understood by the judges. The speller may ask the pronouncer to say the word again, define it, and use it in a sentence.

SPELLING BEE: GENERAL RULES

Gabriela Lobato Santos. Home School Private Teaching. Puebla, Puebla, MĂŠxico.

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SPELLING BEE RULES AND PROCEDURES 6

GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

Students from each school will participate according to the order previously raffled by the judges.

The competition shall be conducted in rounds. Each speller remaining in the Spelling Bee at the start of a round shall spell one word in the round.

3. There will be three initial rounds where students accumulate points according to the number of words spelled correctly.

SPELLING BEE: GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS

Word spelled correctly= 5 points (green flag) Word spelled incorrectly= 0 points (red flag) Students are allowed to start again even if they have misspelled the word as long as it is during the time frame specified and before the second repetition of the word, at which point they will be flagged incorrectly and may not repeat the word. Only during the first three rounds. Judges will explain for final rounds that this rule does not apply.

4. Judges will tally points to announce which students will pass to the final three rounds. Only students that have 15 points will pass to the next rounds.

5. The final three rounds will take place according to the following rules.

Gabriela Lobato Santos. Home School Private Teaching. Puebla, Puebla, MĂŠxico.

SPELLING BEE RULES AND PROCEDURES 7

FINAL ROUNDS

With the approval of the judge, if requested, the pronouncer may give a fuller explanation of the meaning of the word to supplement the dictionary definitions quoted. This means that if the contestant has any doubts about the word he/she has to spell, he/she may ask for a sentence or definition before spelling it.

The speller may ask the pronouncer to pronounce the word again. The students can ask for 3 repetitions at the most of each of the words.

Once a participant has been given a word by the pronouncer he/she has to pronounce the word before spelling it and after spelling it. If he/ she fails to do so, he/she will be eliminated from the contest.

SPELLING BEE: FINAL ROUNDS

Having started to spell the word, a contestant may stop and start over retracing the spelling from the beginning, but in retracing there can be no change of letters or their sequence from those first pronounced. If letters or their sequences are changed in the respelling, the contestant will be eliminated from the contest.

Spellers have a minute at the microphone. This limited time is usually sufficient time for each speller at the microphone. If a speller exceeds the expected time mark, the judges shall then decide whether or not to request an immediate spelling. The judges may disqualify any speller who ignores a request to start spelling.

Misspelled words in the final rounds will not be used twice.

Upon missing the spelling of a word, the contestant will move to a different part of the room, the next contestant will get a different word.

If none of the contestants remaining in the competition at the start of a round spells a word correctly during the round, all shall remain in competition.

Gabriela Lobato Santos. Home School Private Teaching. Puebla, Puebla, MĂŠxico.

SPELLING BEE RULES AND PROCEDURES 8

IN CASE OF A FINAL TIE

The day of the contest, a non-partisan group will have a list of Championship words in a sheet of paper with 5 copies.

Each Championship Word has to include definition and context used in a phrase or sentence.

These words will be used only in case of getting to this phase. The judges will open the envelope with the list in front of all participants.

SPELLING BEE: IN CASE OF A FINAL TIE

These words will be used instead of the original list. At the beginning of any round in which either two or three spellers remain, the pronouncer shall move to the Championship Words section.

If a word has one or more homophones/homonyms, the pronouncer will indicate which word is to be spelled by giving a definition or a sentence, which will make the meaning of the word clearer.

The student will pick the ball from the container with numbers for the Championship words and give it to the pronouncer.

Gabriela Lobato Santos. Home School Private Teaching. Puebla, Puebla, MĂŠxico.

SPELLING BEE RULES AND PROCEDURES 9

WHEN THE CONTESTANTS ARE REDUCED TO TWO, THE ELIMINATION PROCEDURE CHANGES.

At the beginning of the tie break, the judges will explain the new rules regarding the two words that need to be spelled to win.

At that point when a contestant misspells a word, the other contestant will be given an opportunity to spell the same word. If the second spells that word correctly, plus the next word given to him/her then the second contestant will be declared the winner.

SPELLING BEE: WHEN THE CONTESTANTS ARE REDUCED TO TWO

If the second contestant misspells this new word, then this word will be referred to the first contestant who has to spell it. If the first contestant spells this word correctly plus a new word, then he/ she will be declared the winner.

If both contestants misspell the same word, both will continue to be in the contest.

If a champion does not emerge in the course of administering these final words, the remaining spellers shall be declared co-champions.

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Gabriela Lobato Santos. Home School Private Teaching. Puebla, Puebla, MĂŠxico.