Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? The 2012 Bowen & Bowen National Spelling Bee
Am I smarter than a 5th grader? Hmmm...I wasn't sure when I left the 2012 Coca-Cola Local Spelling Bee. I had never even heard of some of these words. For example, gilgai. Origin: a native Australian language. Meaning: a natural watering hole. Gilgai. GILGAI? But let's back up a bit.
Two winners from each primary school lined up nervously on the stage at the Lion's Den in San Pedro at 9am, Tuesday morning.
The kids need to be full attending students from Standards 4, 5 or 6 (approximately ages: 10-13). The represented school were: Caye Caulker RC School, St. Peters, Isla Bonita Elementary, New Horizon, Ambergris Caye Elementary, San Pedro RC School, Holy Cross School and The Island Academy.
The time keeper had her rules, her score sheet, her timer and her bell. When the word was given, each child repeated the word to make sure she understood and had 15 seconds to try to spell it. You can try as many times as you can before the bell rings.
And all the kids came to root on their classmates. The place was packed with surprisingly well behaved children.
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Each speller got three words in each of the first two rounds. They were the quick-fire rounds. No definitions, no origins...these words were from a set of 300 that each student had been studying. They had words like aristocrat, legume, peripheral, bassinet, Wisconsin and some words with more of a local flair like reggaeton and chupacabra (which as you all know is a creature that is thought to suck the blood of goats and other livestock...it's kinda the Big Foot of Latin America).
After those rounds, four spellers remained. Daniel Smith from The Island Academy, Blayd Vernon from the Caye Caulker RC school, Kendice Armstrong from Holy Cross and Chelsea Rodriguez from Caye Caulker RC.
And then the words GOT HARD. I mean really difficult. Gilgai, boracic, beguine...oh my.
And a winner was declared. Blayd won the event and Daniel came in second. Miss Kendice from Holy Cross is the alternate for the District Bee.
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