RHB-The Straits Times National Spelling Championship :Win money for good spelling?

Event that will cast a spell on the Nation’s Children!

Running for the second year, RHB-The Straits Times National Spelling Championship (NSC) 2013 is launched! Winner stand a chance to win $5,000 and a trophy for your school! The first runner-up gets $3,000 and the second runner-up gets $1,000!

NSC aims to develop a greater appreciation of the importance of spelling in literacy development among Primary 4, 5 and 6 pupils in Singapore. The competition is designed to provide pupils with the opportunities to pit their spelling skills against one another by applying strategies to help them spell words both familiar and unfamiliar to them. In the process, pupils will gain an awareness of phonemes and syllabication while enriching their vocabulary through the study of prefixes, suffixes and root words.

Last year’s winner Jordan Foo from ACS Junior was there during the media launch sharing his experience and how he felt at the point of time during the contest. He won by spelling the word ‘jodhpurs’ (tight-fitting trousers that reach to the ankle, where they end in a snug cuff, and are worn primarily for horse riding)

Phototaking with the Super Spelling Stars!

Looking at how much the students were having really gave me joy. It reminded me of the days while I was still at that age. All I think about was school work, Power Rangers and wanting to grow up quickly.

It was quite amusing to watch the kids getting restless and fidgeting while the speeches were made. The teachers were starting to get nervous, trying to control them without having to do the “SHhhhh” or shouting. This made me realise how important the PR of a company is, to make succinct yet simple speeches instead of going in rounds and making unnecessary statements. (Guess what, some statements don’t make sense.)

Fun Time for Kids!

The two invited schools- Yu Neng Primary and Tampines North Primary sent out teams to try out and play the spelling app. The students had to spell words like ‘arithmetic’, ‘monstrous’, ‘diction’, ‘meditate’, ‘zoology’, and ‘hygiene’. It was not an easy game to play, as the students had to get the letter represented by a football past the monkey defenders goalkeeper and into the net to win!

You could imagine the amount of frustration the two teams had when the football bounce back and they were just seconds from getting the last alphabet in.

Through this contest, I realise that there are actually MANY kids out there who are not good with their spelling. Just by looking at how one team tried to spell ‘monstrous’ as ‘monsterous’, and not realising their mistake when the ‘e’ keep bouncing back. Although the spelling app was really fun, I fear that some kids might be discouraged by the numerous losses (even when they know how to spell!)

The app reminded me of a childhood typing ‘game’ called “Touch Type”. It trained our typing skill as well as spelling. Any one heard of it? haha

In the end, the team from Yu Neng Primary won and went home with a huge hamper of goodies plus a digital camera each! Tampines North Primary also took home an equally large hamper.

After all the fun, we were given a treat to watch Lorax! I love it because I was listening to Zac Efron’s voice all the time! haha… Thanks omy.sg for the treat!

So You Want to be the 2013 Top Speller?

– The Contest is open to all pupils in Primary 4, 5 or 6 in any primary school or primary section of a full school, or the equivalent under the Ministry of Education (MOE).
– The pupil must be nominated by the school to participate in the preliminary round of the competition.

In March
Preliminary round with an expected 1,000 participants. Written format: Pupils have to spell 50 words that will be read out to them. Each word will be used in a sentence, so the meaning and form of the word is clear. The top scorers will then proceed to the zonal round.
In April
Zonal round with an estimated 80 participants from four zones. Grand final with an expected 20 participants. Oral format: Pupils will be seated on stage and they will take turns to spell aloud words read to them by a Pronouncer. They can ask questions to help them with the spelling. Each participant will get a different word. A participant who spells the word wrongly or is unable to spell the given word within the time limit of one minute will be eliminated. The words will become increasingly difficult.

Want to know more about the RHB and The Straits Times National Spelling Championship? Click here for the official website!

Participants who make it to the top 10 positions on the leaderboard by 19 April will be invited to the Finals of the RHB-The Straits Times National Spelling Championship happening on 27 April to vie for the Samsung tablets!

Any age limit for that? LOL.
xoxo

*Disclosure:
Event invitation from omy.sg. No monetary compensation was received for the event coverage.