Farrell: Spelling Bee words were manageable

At the very moment that the moderator called out a few words, members of the audience began murmuring about the difficulty of the words chosen for the Finals of the Rotaract Haliborange Seven Seas Spelling Bee.{{more}}

The Finals of the competition took place at Frenches House on Saturday, October 22, 2011.

The audience at the Finals comprised teachers, students, parents and well wishers who seemed very involved in the competition, cheering on the participants as they spelled, and at times murmuring in disapproval.

President of the Rotaract Club Kingstown Nickkisha Farrell commenting on the audience at the event stated that they were “really into” the competition.

“I think the good thing about the audience, they were really into the Bee,” she said. “The not so good thing was the way they chose to participate at times,” she added.

A few members of the audience became a tad rowdy after the results were announced, hinting that the announced winner did not win the competition. Farrell, who announced the winners, however, reminded them that the judges’ decision was final.

With respect to the difficulty of the words, Farrell was of the opinion that the words were manageable. She added that the words given during the competition were chosen by the Ministry of Education and are words that students at the Grade Five level should be familiar with.

Headteacher of the Georgetown Government School Paula Toney told Searchlight: “It was no easy work. I think that some of the words were difficult…some were within the children’s range,” she stated.

Toney also commended Dandre Toney for winning the competition and also commended the other participants. “I think they all did well. They would have really used their spelling skills and strategies. They are all winners.”

Sharing similar sentiments was the Literacy Coordinator of the Stubbs Government School Veronica Caine who told SEARCHLIGHT that she thought the words were “manageable”, adding that students may have had difficulty with the words as they may spell the way that they speak, she said, referrring to the vernacular.

The participants encountered words like “gourd”, “tomatillo”, “anchovy”, “shallot”, “pak choi”, inter alia.(OS)