Young geniuses rock at Spelling Bee awards
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Tuesday November 18, 2014 15:26
Six young masterminds were all smiles after proving to be the best in this year’s Spelling Bee competition. The winners in both senior and junior category went home with more than they hoped for. The third prize winners, Bokang Kapere from Moepi Junior Secondary School and Samson Pingurai from Maun Senior Secondary School, each went home with a mini tablet, certificate and bronze medal.
The second prize winners in both junior and senior categories, Patji Hengari of Tsodilo Junior and Lopsy Mojasagagwe of Maun Senior Secondary School, each went home with a tablet, silver medal and certificate.
The 2014 Spelling Bee champions, Ayanda Ramatebele of Maun Senior Secondary School and Tshegofatso Moakofi of Tsodilo Junior Secondary School, each walked away with a laptop, gold medal and certificate.
Other participants went home with certificates only. The phenomenal spelling bee children dazzled the audience at the award ceremony making them feel outclassed for not knowing that ‘ecclesiastic’ is an actual word, let alone how to spell it.
For children their age, nobody could have guessed that both Junior and Senior Secondary school students would be able to brilliantly spell the words such as abracadabra, illustrious, ecclesiastic, encyclopaedic, implausible, catastrophe, implausible and bureaucracy amongst others, so easily.
A group of children from Maun, Ghanzi and Kgalagadi region displayed their vocabulary and spelling skills before an audience that clearly found it difficult to spell the words correctly that the children nailed.
Each child was given a word, where he or she would either ask for its meaning, its use in a sentence or both. Only a few lost in the first and second rounds while others proved that indeed the Spelling Bee competition and clubs are really useful. After seeing how the competition was going, some audience members volunteered to showcase their genius only for a few to get their words correctly. However, they were no match for the students.
One of the brilliant students who won the 2012 Spelling Bee champion title, 17-year-old Nametso Setumba is now a form four student at Maun Senior Secondary School (SSS). She told the gathering that she felt honoured to be the first Spelling Bee Botswana champion.
“By the time I won my title I was a form two student. At the time I did not register for membership in the club, but my English teacher insisted that I do. She inspired me and motivated me to work hard and I did,” she added.
She said she felt proud that amongst the six schools that participated, she was able to win, defeating 29 students. She said the club helped her vocabulary get better and she was able to know many English words and their meanings.
However, she said she wished Spelling Bee could be spread to other parts of the country so that it can assist other young people improve their English more, especially vocabulary.