Regional spelling bee victory like sweet clover — melilot, that is
wickerwork, lotion, zebra, gemology, ellipse, helix, melilot, rorqual, clavate
Those were the words students needed to know to place in the Waterloo Regional Spelling Bee last Saturday.
Raveena wrote a story:
Language skills help build strong spellers 14 Apr 2008
Learning a second language was common among spelling bee participants. And for many, English is not the only language spoken in their homes.
That doesn't surprise Madhu Kathuria.
A spelling bee judge and mother of two boys who competed in the spelling bee, she says most immigrants push their children to perfect English.
"I've seen that if English is not the parents' first language, they want their kids to absolutely master it," said Kathuria. "They are more serious about it and put in more effort."
I made a video:
Peter was there and took photos. The kids had a lot of weird expressions. Here is one of them:
There was also a little girl who spun around when she was ready to spell (you can see it in the video). There was also a kids doing a crazy dance when I was interviewing Oliver, but I ended up cutting that part for time.
And in case you don't want to search for them here are what the interweb has to say about some of those words.
Melilot is sweet clover. Rorqual is a class of balleen whales. Clavate is a club-like shape.
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