I remember an episode of the Simpsons in which Lisa takes part in a Spelling Bee competition. I have known about these contests for a while but had no idea how seriously they could be taken by some people, many of them parents I would imagine.
In the clip below, you will see a euphoric Rebecca Sealfon winning the 1997 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Some more clips:
- A compilation
- Trevor Mahoney (asks if a word contains a schwa)
- Surprise
- Sardoodledom
- Numb what?
- How do you spell that?
There are a number of ways in which these clips could be used in class. Here is one possibility:
1. Show one or two of the clips to your students and get them to work out what is happening.
2. Once they realise that it is a spelling competition, dictate the following 5 questions:
- Can you use it in a sentence?
- Could I have the language of origin?
- What part of speech is it?
- Can you give me the definition?
- Are there any alternative pronunciations?
(NB You might have to point out that in this situation there is virtually no difference between the auxiliaries could and can.)
3. Play the Sardoodledom clip (below) and get your students to order to sentences according to the sequence in which they are asked.
4. Prepare for a Spelling Bee competition in class: Get everyone to look back over their vocabulary books and choose 10 words that they consider to have difficult spellings. For all 10 words, each individual should do the following:
- Make sure they know how to pronounce the word
- Identify whether the word is a plural noun, singular noun, verb, adjective or adverb
- Write a definition of the word
- Write a sentence containing the word
Offer your students help while they do this. It is also good if you can allow access to dictionaries.
5. Drill the three relevant questions:
- Could you give me the definition?
- Could you use it in a sentence?
- What part of speech is it?
6. Let students play the game in pairs using the same format that was seen in the clips.
i enquired my english about not having a spelling at our school, and she said she did not know exactly what happens there, thefore asking me to find out.
My question is exactly that: what happens at spelling bee competitions.
i got interested when i watched the movie akeelah and the bee.
Left by sebabatso khonkhe on February 17th, 2009