How Can I Assist the Pupils for the Championship?
There are a few things you can do to help your pupils prepare for the Kenya National Spelling Bee Championship besides what you do in the classroom every day.
- Encourage your pupils to read for pleasure.
- Require pupils to use the English alphabet. In the championship, use of the names or sounds of letters in French or other languages will be counted as an error.
- Discourage pupils from spelling using the expression “double p” (or l, or any other letter). In the championship, pupils must spell each letter.
- Create a Spelling Bee Club where not only class 4 to class 8 learners but the whole school can be meeting regularly to read and share books and conduct mock spelling bee competitions.
- Encourage pupils to form study groups where they drill each other using word lists or flashcards or play word games like Scrabble.
- Hold a mock spelling bee a few days or weeks before the school spelling bee. Doing something once removes a lot of the fear people have of new experiences. The mock spelling bee should be as much like the real thing as possible.
- Encourage all learners to participate. The experience, even if they don’t go far, will help them do better in the future. It will give them a goal to aspire to, as well as provide the chance for them to meet like-minded learners from other schools and towns.