National Spelling Bee Has Started

National Spelling Bee ^ | 5/31/2006 | politicket

[AnnaZ]

Did anyone see the fabulous movie, Akeela and the Bee?????

I saw the previews, it looked like a politically-cor-rectified version of the hands-down-brilliant documentary, Spellbound, which is an absolute must-see.

[evets]

[coloradan]

How do they inform deaf competitors what the word to be spelled is? (Don't tell me they discriminate against deaf people!!)

[SkyDancer]

Just curious but what good does a national spelling bee do? Are those words ever used in normal conversation? Are those kids going to impress someone? I feel that after they correctly spell one of those words they should be able to either define what it means or use it in a sentence .....

[Hoodat]

My money is on contestant 255. Perhaps we should get a pool going here.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Last year, her parent had her stay in her hotel room studying the whole time.

While I can appreciate the parents' attempt to keep the child focussed, this seems like overkill. I travel with our kids to various athletic and scholastic events and help keep them focussed.... but NOT "locked up" and totally isolated.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Music, spelling, language & math - typically going on in the same cortex/areas of the brain. I too was a spelling bee participant in grade school - excelled at all those things mentioned here (and then some in high school).

[politicket]

How do they inform deaf competitors what the word to be spelled is? (Don't tell me they discriminate against deaf people!!)

Deaf and blind kids are able to compete. There was a blind girl that competed at National's last year. I'm not sure of the procedure that they use for deaf kids, but I know that they have one in place.

[Vinnie]

The rules used to be .. You can repeat the letters that you have already spelled but can't correct the letters.

There is a commercial on TV that as a girl spelling Aardvark.

She spells "A-R", a little creature standing on the microphone tells her to think of the first word in the dictionary. She corrects herself with "A-A- R.....".

The MC congratulates her on being correct.

Got me thinking..
Are the rules still the same or have they dumbed down spelling bees also?

[politicket]

I feel that after they correctly spell one of those words they should be able to either define what it means or use it in a sentence ....

Most all of these kids know the full etymology of the words that they are spelling (as long as they know the word). The biggest thing that my son got out of the Bee was the extraordinary knowledge of Greek and Latin roots, which forms the base for a great amount of our English language.

We homeschool, and needless to say, he is done with his etymology studies clear through high school and he is only a seventh grader right now... :-)

[politicket]

Are the rules still the same or have they dumbed down spelling bees also?

The rules are still the same. You cannot correct any spelling already given.

The other thing that kids need to watch out for are 'near' homonyms. The prounouncer is not required to notify the child of this case, only if it is an actual homonym.

[politicket]

Look at this link: Round 4.

The kids are beginning to drop out quickly. Our Rocky Mountain New speller is still going though..(#40) :-)

[politicket]

P.S.

Most of the spellers at the beginning of Round #4 that spelled correctly are homeschooled. :-)

[SoothingDave]

The Indians and we who care about spelling are a dying minority.

Knowing grammar and spelling for common words is one thing. Going out of your way to know the spelling of obscure words just doesn't seem to have a purpose.

I guess I would rather learn about things in context than just memorize lists of words cause they're hard to spell.

SD

[SkyDancer]

Ok, well stand corrected, but, I doubt if they would ever use those words again in their lives ... certainly not on their resumes'

I think home schooling is far better than standard public schools - only thing missing I guess is socializing ... but then .........

[blu]

So did they ban the home-schooled kids this year? That had been proposed, I suppose because they had an unfair advantage.

So glad you asked, as I had the same question last weekend. Here's the skinny: Rule # 7 says (in a nutshell) that the kid must keep up with a balanced program of study (I said that because I cannot spell curic - curric- curriculim :)). They did that because they thought homeschoolers did nothing more than study a dictionary...just to win a bee!

There are 37 homeschoolers at the bee this year.

And to the poster who asked what good does it do to be the national spelling champ, it's not about being the champ. Just because the kids spend a lot (two words, not one) of time learning to spell, they are learning discipline, time management, anger management (stage parents), about the same amount of diverse things as studying Algebra. And, there's no Algebra bee!

[blu]

infinitude
vigilance
transfigure
ardently
indissoluble
impressibleness

Sure, you can spell them, but what do they mean? No fair using Google or a dictionary, either.

Please have this assignment completed by 10 p.m. (EST) as they are our World Lit vocab words for tomorrow (correction: they are SOME of our words)

[Xenalyte]

You won't catch me arguing the utility of knowing how to spell "antidisestablishmentarianism," 'cause frankly ain't none.

But I can see how it'd be handy to know the difference between "discreet" and "discrete" or "accelerate" and "exhilarate," and why one doesn't use non-words like "orientate" or "coronate."

[politicket]

I think home schooling is far better than standard public schools - only thing missing I guess is socializing ... but then .........

Spoken like someone who has never immersed themselves into a homeschool community. Our kids get plenty of "socialization", it just has nothing to do with peer pressure, sex, drugs, etc.

I would encourage you to investigate the homeschooling movement more deeply to understand the true nature of what they do. The public education system is the one propagating the lie of homeschoolers being "social retards".