SPELLING BEE

A 'spelling bee' is a competition where contestants, usually children, are asked to spell English words. The practice originated in the United States and has since spread to elsewhere in the English-speaking world, especially North America. It is not, however, a very familiar concept in the most Commonwealth nations, where, if the term is known at all, it is usually perceived to be peculiarly American. For example, in a review of the film ''Bee Season'', UK's Channel 4 called it an "American custom" and considered it necessary to explain what the term means. [1] Similarly, in a review of ''Spellbound'' by Irish broadcaster RTÉ it was referred to as a "bizarre American phenomenon". [2]

Contents

History

Spelling bee preparation/expectations of competition

National spelling bee peparation

Spelling bees in video

Fictional works about spelling bees

See also

References

External links

History

The earliest evidence of the phrase ''spelling bee'' in print dates back to 1825, although the contests had apparently been held before that year. (The etymology of the word "bee" in this sense is unclear. Historically, it has described a social congregation where a specific action is being carried out, like a husking bee, a quilting bee, or an apple bee.) A key impetus for the contests was Noah Webster's spelling books. First published in 1786 and known colloquially as "The Blue-backed Speller," Webster's spelling books were an essential part of the curriculum of all elementary school children in the United States for five generations.
The United States National Spelling Bee was started in 1925 by ''The Courier-Journal'', the newspaper of Louisville, Kentucky. In 1941, the Scripps Howard News Service acquired sponsorship of the program, and the name changed to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee (later simply "Scripps National Spelling Bee"). As well as covering the 50 U.S. states, several competitors also come from Canada, the Bahamas, New Zealand and Europe.
In the United States, spelling bees are annually held from local levels up to the level of the Scripps National Spelling Bee which awards a cash prize to the winner. The National Spelling Bee is sponsored by English-language newspapers and educational foundations; it is also broadcast on ESPN. Since 2006, the National Spelling Bee's championship rounds have been broadcast on ABC live. In 2005, contestants came from the Bahamas, Jamaica, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Canada, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, and a German military base, as well as the United States. This was the first year that spellers from Canada and New Zealand attended the competition.
The Spelling Bee of Canada started with a local contest in 1987 in Toronto, Canada. In 1996, contestants were accepted from other provinces. However, it has been overtaken in media coverage by the newer (and newspaper chain-affiliated) CanSpell National Spelling Bee.
The National Senior Spelling Bee started in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1996. Sponsored by the Wyoming AARP, it is open to contestants 50 and older. Maria Dawson is the only contestant to ever win two back to back titles at The National Spelling Bee.
Recently an event management company in India has started Kaleidoscope Spelling Bee 2006. The company, (www.kaleidoscopeindia.com) has since conducted the North Bengal round, the South Bengal round and the West Bengal State Championship for the first year. Spelling Bee being an unknown subject, just about 25 schools responded, sending in about 210 competitors.

Spelling bee preparation/expectations of competition

Spelling bee students usually start competition in classrooms for elementary schools, and are open for participation in Middle Schools. Classroom bees are usually by surprise, to see who are the best students for the bee beforehand. The top 2 kids from each class will go on the school bee, where they are given a list of words to study and memorize. Usually, the student who places 1st place at the school bee go on the regional bee. There is no given list to study from at the regionals. There are 10 places at this bee (ie. 1st place-10th place) needed to go on to the state bee. Many schools in the country stop spellers from continuing at the regional bee, mainly because of unavailablity to send students. If students are allowed to go on, they will head on to the State Bee, where students are encouraged to use a dictionary to study from. The number of students who head on to the nationals varies from state to state. If a student succeeds the state bee, they usually hire tutors to help them prepare.^[1]

National spelling bee peparation

Serious spelling bee competitors will study root words and etymologies, and often foreign languages from which English draws, in order to spell challenging words correctly. Spellers also study words used in previous bees; there are several preparatory materials published in connection with the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The previous resource was called the ''Paideia'' word list (from the Greek word meaning education and culture), and has since been discontinued.
In the year 2006-2007, the Scripps National Spelling Bee started publishing a new book of words called ''Spell it!''. Devoted spelling bee participants also use other reference books, which feature strategies, methods and lists to help the contestant further develop their spelling skills. Tutoring materials to aid spelling skills are also becoming available on the web.

Spelling bees in video

★ A British television show called ''Spelling Bee'', featuring adult contestants and broadcast by the BBC on 31 May 1938, is generally held to have been the world's first television game show.

★ A game on ''The Price Is Right'' in the United States, called "Spelling Bee", requires the contestant to spell CAR by selecting cards from a board, in order to win a car. The contestant also has the opportunity to take up to $2500 instead of the car.

★ A game show on the former Black Family Channel cable network, ''Thousand Dollar Bee'' engaged children in a spelling bee-like competition.[3][4]

★ Famous singer and actress Jessica Simpson won two local spelling bee championships in her hometown of Abilene, Texas, and a state championship from Texas at the age of 17.

★ The 1986 ABC TV-movie ''The Girl Who Spelled Freedom'', about a Cambodian immigrant girl who competes in spelling bees.[5]

★ The 2002 Academy Award-nominated documentary, ''Spellbound'', featured eight competitors in the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

★ The 2004 game show ''The Great American Celebrity Spelling Bee'' featured four teams of four celebrities playing for charity. The show was hosted by John O'Hurley, and help for the celebrities was provided by Scripps National Spelling Bee participant Samir Patel.

★ Five episodes of the ESPN show ''Cheap Seats'' presented and satirized the taped television coverage of the 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 Scripps National Spelling Bees.

Fictional works about spelling bees

★ The 1878 Bret Harte poem "The Spelling Bee at Angels" describes a spelling contest held at a California gold mining camp.

★ A spelling bee features as pioneer family entertainment in ''Little Town on the Prairie'' by Laura Ingalls Wilder, in which Pa 'spells down' the whole town.

★ the 1969 animated film ''A Boy Named Charlie Brown''

★ ''Eleemosynary'', a 1998 play by Lee Blessing, uses the spelling bee as a key story element.

★ the 1994 film ''Billy Madison''

★ the 2001 novel ''Bee Season'' and its 2005 film adaptation

★ the 2005 musical ''The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee''

★ the 2006 film ''Akeelah and the Bee''

★ "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can," an episode of the animated television series ''The Simpsons''

★ "Spelling Bee," a ''Saturday Night Live'' comedy sketch in which Will Forte's character delivers a 75-letter misspelling of the word "business" that includes 12 consecutive q's

★ An episode of ''The Proud Family'' titled "Spelling Bee"

★ An episode of ''Roseanne'' titled "Aliens"

★ An episode of ''Psych'' titled "Spellingg Bee"

★ An episode of Hey Arnold! titled "Spelling Bee"

★ An episode of ''South Park'' titled "Hooked on Monkey Phonics"

★ A scene in the movie ''Mean Girls'' shows a girl spelling the word 'xylocarp.'

★ An episode of ''According to Jim'' titled "Spelling Bee"

★ An episode of ''Full House'' titled "Spellbound"

★ An episode of ''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide titled "Sick Days & Spelling Bee"

★ An episode of ''Mr. Belvedere'' titled "The Spelling Bee"

★ An episode of ''Drawn Together'' titled "Spelling Applebee's"

★ An episode of the CBC series ''The Red Green Show'' titled "The Spelling Bee"

★ A character in ''The Phantom Tollbooth'', a novel by Norton juster, is named the Spelling Bee.

See also

★ Dictation (exercise)

References

1. ''SEMMLAA (Southeastern Michigan Middle Level Administrator's Association) regional spelling bee administrator's packet''

External links

★ Official website of the Scripps National Spelling Bee

★ Information on the origins of "bee"

★ Denver Public Schools Students and Teachers Spelling Bee Information

★ Online tutoring website maintained by non-profit organization; includes free online forum for Spelling Bee enthusiasts

★ SpellBEE: A web-based two-player spelling bee, designed to motivate appropriate challenges

★ Franklin Spelling Bee

★ Spelling Bee of Canada

★ National Senior Spelling Bee

★ Spelling Bee Protesters

★ CanSpell Spelling Bee