Manual 2015
Written in collaboration between MEP and the Peace Corps - Costa Rica
School Year 2015
This manual has all of the information necessary to have a successful institutional, circuit, regional, and national Spelling Bee in a spirit of friendly competition. Included you will find the description of the Spelling Bee, rules for the Bee facilitation and participation, information about word lists, and helpful practices to teach spelling.
Enjoy!
Description of the Spelling Bee
A spelling bee is a spelling competition in which participants spell a word aloud letter by letter before a panel of judges. If the individual spells the word correctly on his or her first try, he or she remains in the competition and advances to the next round. If an individual spells a word incorrectly, the participant is eliminated from the competition. The competition continues until there is only one participant remaining, who is declared the winner.
The Costa Rican English Spelling Bee is held in order to encourage participation in extracurricular English-related activities, to support the learning of spelling and pronunciation in English, to foster healthy competition in an academic setting, and to promote enthusiasm about learning English.
We hope that you find this manual helpful in planning and implementing a spelling bee in your own elementary and high schools. If you have any questions, please contact the MEP and Peace Corps coordinators listed in the contact information at the end of the manual. Happy spelling!
History of the Spelling Bee
Inspired by the success of the spelling bee organized by Peace Corps volunteers in Bulgaria, the Costa Rica English Spelling Bee is loosely adapted from the Scripps sponsored National Spelling Bee held annually in the United States. While there were only nine participants in the first National Spelling Bee, today over 11 million participants compete to be the Scripps sponsored National Spelling Bee Champion.
ü 1925: The first competition was held in Louisville, Kentucky.
ü 2012: Peace Corps volunteers helped organize the first English Spelling Bee in Costa Rica. This project began with four Regional Spelling Bees held in Guanacaste, Los Santos region, San Vito, and Limón.
ü 2013: The Inter-regional Spelling Bee was held in Los Santos.
ü 2014: The First Annual National Spelling Bee was held in Liberia, Guanacaste.
ü 2015: The First Annual National English Festival will be held in Guápiles, Limón with the inclusion of the Spelling Bee as one of the events.
For the 2015 Spelling Bee, there will be an Institutional, Circuit, Regional, and National competition. Organizers and participants are responsible for holding their competitions within the allotted timeframe before the final national competition scheduled between November 16 - 18, 2015 in Guápiles, Limón.
Dates
To ensure that all schools are able to compete in the National Spelling Bee, please use the guidelines below to plan your Spelling Bee competitions. These are the participation numbers for each level ( II Ciclo, III Ciclo y IV Ciclo-Diversificada).
•Institutional – any time from May to July
In order to plan the Institutional Spelling Bee, please work with your director. One student from Bumble Bee and one student from Queen Bee qualifies for the circuit competition.
•Circuit – any time in August
In order to plan the Circuit level Spelling Bee, please work with the Supervisor, other English teachers, and Regional English Advisor in your area. One student from Bumble Bee and one student from Queen Bee qualifies for the regional competition.
•Regional – Any time from September - October 14th***
In order to plan the Regional Spelling Bee, please work with your Regional English Advisor. One student from Bumble Bee and one student from Queen Bee qualifies for the national competition.
•The National Spelling Bee will be held November 16-18 in Guápiles, Limón.
For Regional English Advisors:
•Your region’s participation MUST be confirmed no later than June 30th. Please send the confirmation to (Lindsay Horne, PC Volunteer)
•A complete list of the personal information of all regional winners must be submitted to the Spelling Bee Planning Committee no later than October 15th. Send this information to (Lindsay Horne, PC Volunteer)
Age Groups and Participation Rules
Any student who is registered in MEP public schools may participate in the Spelling Bee and English Festival within their respective level, regardless of prior exposure to English. As an English Spelling Bee is difficult for anyone, even native English speakers, the Bee will be open to any student who would like to participate.
The Costa Rican English Spelling Bee and Festival is divided into two competition levels:
1.Bumble Bee Level (Elementary School): Fourth, Fifth, Sixth grades will compete amongst each other.
2.Queen Bee Level (High School): Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth grades will compete amongst each other.
The Spelling Bee Panel
Every spelling bee should consist of at least three staff personnel - the pronouncer and two judges. Their individual roles are as follows:
1.Pronouncer
•The pronouncer can be any English-speaking adult other than the students’ English teacher. (If possible, it’s best to have a native English speaker for this role.)
•The pronouncer calls the student up to the stage.
•The pronouncer says the word in English, pauses, and then repeats the word in English again.
•The pronouncer says the words slowly, without distorting the standard pronunciation of the word.
•If a word has one or more homonyms, the pronouncer will indicate which word is to be spelled by providing the definition. (EXAMPLE: their, there, they’re)
•The pronouncer can repeat a word, provide a definition, or use the word in a sentence at the student’s request. (Each word, definition, and sentence may only be repeated a maximum of 3 times per student. In other words - the student can hear the word, definition, and sentence a total of three times during their two minutes.)
2. Judges
•The judges will each have 2 roles. One will also be the Time Keeper, and the other will also be the Scribe. (See below for more details.)
•The judges are responsible for evaluating the accuracy of the words spelled by the bee participants.
•They must agree on their opinions of the student’s spelling, BEFORE announcing whether the student spelled the word correctly or not. If they do not agree, they can ask the Pronouncer to opine as well. As a last resort they can ask the student to repeat the spelling.
•Both judges must also work together to uphold the rules of the competition.
•The decisions of the judges are final. No other participants, teachers, or audience members may approach the judges’ table during the competition.
•Judges are advised to follow the following protocol:
• Encourage spellers to face them when pronouncing and spelling the words. (Watching lip movements may be critical in detecting misunderstandings or misspellings.)
•The judges participate in an exchange of information between the speller and pronouncer if they feel that clarification is needed.
•While judges are responsible for attempting to detect a speller’s misunderstanding, it is sometimes impossible to notice until a spelling error has been made. The judges are not responsible for the speller’s misunderstanding. (Remember: The speller can always ask for clarification).
•Judges may not disqualify a speller for failing to pronounce the word correctly either before or after spelling it or asking questions.
****Judge number 1 will also be the Timekeeper.
•The timekeeper starts a stopwatch after the pronouncer states the word for each student. Each student will receive 2 minutes to spell his or her given word.
•The timekeeper will inform the speller of his or her remaining time by showing the student signs indicating “1 minute” and “30 seconds.”
•The timekeeper announces when two minutes are complete. If the student still has not spelled the word correctly after the allotted two minutes, the student is eliminated from the competition.
****Judge number 2 will also be the Scribe .
•The scribe is responsible for writing a list of all students eliminated in each round and reading those names at the end of each round.
•The Scribe will record the spelling of each student’s word on a tracker. (See the chart that we provided in the appendix.)
•The Scribe will track the number of times a student has asked for a word, definition, or sentence to be repeated. (Maximum of 3 times for each word, definition, or sentence)
Reasons for disqualification:
The judges will disqualify a speller who:
•Spells his or her word incorrectly or does not spell his or her word at all.
•Does not approach the stage or designated area when it is time to receive his or her word.
•Engages in unsportsmanlike conduct.
•Mispronounces the letters or changes the sequence of letters from those first stated.
•While spelling, says unintelligible sounds.
The Speller
•The speller faces the judges, pronounces the word before spelling it, spells the word, and pronounces the word after spelling it.
•The speller says each letter distinctly and loudly so the judges can understand.
•The speller may ask the pronouncer to repeat the word again, define it, and/or use it in a sentence (no more than 3 times each).
•The speller is responsible for any misunderstandings of the word unless:
ü The pronouncer never provided a correct pronunciation.
ü The pronouncer provided incorrect information regarding the definition.
ü The speller correctly spelled a homonym of the word, and the pronouncer failed to offer a definition.
Teacher’s Role
•While teachers are not a part of the Spelling Bee panel (and may not approach the judges’ table during the competition), they should keep a list of their participating students during the competition. This written record should include the words that their students spell correctly and incorrectly, and if the word was spelled incorrectly, teachers should have the incorrect spelling included in their record. This record will help resolve any discrepancies after the competition.
The Rules and Procedures for Circuit, Regional, and National Spelling Bees
1. Students are ordered alphabetically based on their last name and sit in that order on the stage or allotted participant space.
2. The pronouncer calls the first student’s name.
3. The student steps up to the indicated competition space. Only the pronouncer, judges, staff and participants are allowed in this space. Teachers and parents are not allowed to approach the table during the competition.
4. The pronouncer randomly chooses a word from the word list. *Review “Word Selection During the Bee” section of the manual to understand how the pronouncer chooses a word*
5. The student can ask for the word to be repeated, if necessary, up to three times. The student can also ask the pronouncer to read the definition of the word and/or the example sentence (up to three times each). Students may not ask for the word to be translated into Spanish.
6. Once the student is sure that he or she understands the word, he or she states the word, spells the word, and states the word again. EXAMPLE: Apple. A-p-p-l-e. Apple.
7. The student must say the word and its spelling loud enough for the judges to hear.
8. The judges decide if the word was spelled correctly or incorrectly.
ü If the word is spelled correctly, the student returns to his or her seat.
ü If the word is spelled incorrectly, the judge gives the correct spelling of the word. The student returns to his or her seat and waits for the round to end. At the end of the round, a judge reads a list of students who incorrectly spelled their word. All disqualified students leave the stage together to a round of applause.
9. The pronouncer calls the next student in alphabetical order, randomly choosing a new word for that student.
** For the institutional, circuit, regional and national competitions, the bee ends when there is only one student left.
** The entire Spelling Bee will be presented only in English.
Additional Guidelines
•The student must spell the word correctly on the first try.
ü This is considered incorrect: Apple, a-p-l…… a-p-p-l-e, Apple
•However, students are allowed to stop spelling and begin spelling a word again, as long as the letters are the same as the first attempt.
ü This is considered correct: Apple, a-p-p……a-p-p-l-e, Apple
•Students are allowed to bring a whiteboard and marker with them to the stage or designated area. Students may write the word first on their whiteboard before spelling the word out loud. The whiteboard must not be visible to the audience, judges or other participants.
*Word Selection During the Bee
•There is one word list per group (Bumble Bee and Queen bee). Each group’s word list is divided into different levels of difficulty. Another secret list should be created by each Regional English Advisor and will not be shared with the students or teachers before the competition. (The words on the secret list should be more difficult than those from the highest level.)
•Level 1 words are used for a practice round during the competition in order to prepare students, calm their nerves and review the procedure of the bee.
•After the practice round, the pronouncer chooses words from level 2 at random, and the competition begins in earnest. The national competition will begin with a practice round using the word from level 1 before beginning the competition officially with level 8.
•If there are more participants than remaining words in a given difficulty level, the pronouncer will continue by using words from the next difficulty level.
•The word selection proceeds in this manner until a winner is declared.
End of Bee Procedure
•If all spellers in a round misspell their word, all students remain in the competition and a new word from that round will be given to each of them.
•If only one speller in a round spells his or her word correctly, he or she is the winner.
•If all of the words have been used and there are still spellers remaining, there will be a championship word list which will be secret to the teachers and spellers.
Word Lists
Each word list was created through collaboration between MEP English teachers and Peace Corps Volunteers. The words are based on the MEP curriculum and include words that students should have learned, or will learn, in their classes. When placing the words into their respective levels, length of the word, familiarity of the word, and if the word is a cognate were all taken into account. Additionally, while a word may be short, vowel combinations or silent letters can make a word tricky to spell. Examples include mouth, limb etc. In those cases, the word was moved to a more difficult level.