A spelling
bee is a competition where contestants usually children are asked to spell
words. This concept and the competition
are thought to have originated in the United States, though spelling bee
events now held in many countries in the world.
The term
Spelling Bee has never been a term satisfactorily accounted for. Those who used
the word assume that it was the same word as referred to the insect. But in
recent years scholars have rejected this explanation, suggesting instead that
this bee is a completely different word. One possibility is that it comes from
the Middle English word bene which
means ‘a prayer’ or ‘a favor’. However, this is not really clear.
English
spelling is seen as a chaotic mess, but this is not really true; the question
is how chaotic is it? It is very difficult to establish what we consider words
indeed, a single word or related words as plural forms. The point is that we
must not exaggerate the problem; English spelling is much more regular than the
traditional criticisms would have us believe.
Children
are told they must learn spellings off by heart, of course, and they are
rigorously tested in them. In order to understand the spelling system of
English, children need to be given reasons for why the spellings are as they
are, but the essential point is to hear the difference between vowels which are
very short in length. It then emerges that the consonant sound is spelled with
a double letter if the verb contains one of the short vowels, and it is kept
single if the verb contains a long vowel. However, obviously there are
exceptions.
The origins
of success for these children to join in these competitions are reading,
keeping a ·great words” journal every and interesting word that they find;
designating a spelling wall in your home and scouring the dictionary in search
of words to stump your parents or teachers. Thanks to all these keys, children
may win these competitions which are a great pride for all who are around them.
Sources: http://spellingbee.com/
"The English Language" by David Crystal
By: Estefanía Benítez Sánchez
Hi! Congratulations for the post :)
ReplyDeleteI think that 'Spelling bee' is quite a good method to improve the knowledge of English, not only for childrens that are native speakers but also for learners of English. From my point of view, when learning English, this is one of its major problems, that you do not write as you pronounce it as in Spanish for example. Maybe it would be easier for us if we adopt this kind of method.
Regards from our blog: http://thespiritofeire.blogspot.com.es/
Thank you for the critics! I thought the same as you, that's why I wrote this post. These contests are a great method in USA in order to improve children's knowledge about language and besides they become very proud for participating on these!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog, a well made work and very interesting! Congratulations!