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La•od•i•ce•an
| lā�ädǝˡsēǝn |
definition:
adjective lukewarm or indifferent in
religion or politics.
noun such a person.
significance: this is the word that
won the 2009 scripps national
spelling Bee for 13-year-old Kavya
shivashankar of olathe, Kan. spelling
this word correctly earned the Grade
8 student $40,000 in cash and prizes.
if you, like many people, struggle to spell common words like occasion
and rhythm, get ready to feel intimidated by 10-year-old Drew Kantor,
who spelled Parnassian to win the 2009 Canwest Canspell northern
Alberta regional spelling bee.
Nearly 250,000 students in Grades 4 to 8 at schools from Victoria
to St. John’s compete in the Canwest Canspell school, regional and
national spelling bees. The 21 regional winners advance to the big show
– the national spelling bee finals in Ottawa. Along the way, many top
spellers meet Dr. Klay Dyer, who spends Monday to Friday as associate
chair of NAIT’s Bachelor of Technology program, but has an entirely
different job on weekends during “bee” season. From mid-February
through March, Dyer takes centre stage as the pronouncer at regional
spelling bees from Vancouver to Thunder Bay, some years working two
bees in a single weekend.
It’s not an easy job. Says Dyer: “I’m part host, part MC, too.
I interact with the kids, the parents and the media. The pronouncer sets
the tone for the event. I try to keep it upbeat so everyone has fun.”
In preparation, he studies two binders of words supplied by the
Canspell committee, each containing 500 entries. Shortly before
the event he will be told which binder will be used for that day’s
competition. For each round, he must say the word clearly, and be ready
to tell the competitors the word’s language of origin and part of speech,
and use it in a sentence.
The key to pronunciation is to focus on every sound in the word,
being careful not to tip off the competitors to silent letters. And stay
relaxed. As hard as that seems, Dyer feels that his success in the role
Par•nas•si•an
| pärˡnasēǝn |
definition:
adjective 1. of parnassus, a mountain
in central Greece sacred to Apollo and
the muses. 2. poetic.
significance: Correctly spelling this
word won Grade 5 student drew
Kantor of edmonton $5,000 and a
trip to the 2009 Canwest Canspell
national spelling Bee, the stanley Cup
of spelling competitions in Canada.
Pul•chri•tude
| ˡpǝlkrǝ�t(y)oōd |
definition:
noun beauty.
significance: in the 2006 hit movie
Akeelah and the Bee, underdog
contestant Akeelah spells this word
correctly to become co-champion of
the scripps national spelling Bee.
the movie, starring Laurence
fishburne and Angela Bassett,
explores issues of education in the
American black community.
comes more from social skills than technical ability. “I’m not driven so
much by protocol. It’s more important that everyone at the bee is given
a chance to feel comfortable,” he explains.
Dyer first got the spelling bee buzz in 2005 while teaching at the
University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus. Kelowna’s regional
bee committee put out a call for volunteers. Says Dyer: “I thought,
working with kids and promoting literacy – of course I’ll do that.” Now,
in addition to being the pronouncer at a number of regional events,
Dyer is the lead judge at the Canadian national bee, a job he claims is
far less stressful.
The Canwest Canspell bee system, launched in 2005 by Canwest
Global Communications, has seen a rapid rise in popularity and
competitors as more teachers get involved. The young spellers are
motivated by the swag, cash prizes and expenses-paid trip to Ottawa
they can win as a regional finalist. The Canadian champ wins $15,000
and a free trip to the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee in
Washington, D.C., the pinnacle of the spelling bee world. Says Dyer:
“When I first started, a bee might have had 20 competitors. Now it’s not
unusual to see 75.”
This increased popularity has spawned better spelling among bee
contestants, Dyer notices. They train with word lists, read dictionaries
and use online study aids. At last year’s national bee, so many words
were spelled correctly the pronouncer was down to the last two pages
in the binder. Dyer, as lead judge, and the pronouncer, nervous they
might run out of words, frantically began to thumb through dictionaries;
the bee ended with only two words left on the original list.
Who are these super spellers? They’re always avid readers, says Dyer.
Often, they can speak a second language. And by studying categories
and origins of words, they recognize patterns of sounds and letters. For
example, scientific terms, even if they appear complicated, are often
easier to spell because of familiar letter combinations. It’s food category
words like cioppino and ratatouille, borrowed from other languages, that
more often stump these inexperienced youngsters. And sometimes
even flummox pronouncers. “One year, I just couldn’t say chipotle into
the microphone. It wouldn’t come out, no matter how hard I tried,”
admits Dyer. “It was embarrassing, but it gave everyone a laugh.”
— Kathy Frazer
v3.2 2010 37