Semifinalists Announced/Recap on Preliminaries

After two grueling rounds today, semifinalists have been determined!

There are fifty semifinalists, and that is a first in such as very long time!
http://internal.spellingbee.com/files/spellingbee.com/semifinalists.pdf

This is Utah's second year advancing to semifinals, and the first time a speller from the Salt Lake Valley has gone this far! Go Vismaya Kharkar! She has competed in the Salt Lake Valley Spelling Bee since it first began in 2009. I think she placed ninth her first year, sixth the second year, and she finally made it in 2011 and 2012). Last year she did not advance to semifinals, but one of her fellow Utah spellers did.

Both five-peats, Nicholas Rushlow and Rahul Malayappan advanced to semifinals.

Two of three Canadians: Jennifer Mong and Mignon Tsai will be on stage tomorrow.

Two of three 2011 Championship Finalists: Nabeel Rahman and Arvind Mahankali will be vying for that trophy.

Vanya Shivashankar will be heading to semifinals! She is the sister of 2009 Champion, Kavya Shivashankar!

There is one speller who is at the national bee for his first time: Jae Canetti. He did very well in 2010 (fourth) and 2011 (second) at his local bee, and he finally came to nationals this year! He started competing as a second grader, and he was also in the same local bee as Tim Ruiter back in 2010. Tim tied for second at the 2009 National Spelling Bee which made him a favorite to win in 2010, even if he did not.

I also have to congratulate Speller #238, as well, because she commented on my blog on one of my posts. Congratulations, Abigail Spitzer, and good luck tomorrow!

Preliminaries Recap

I was only able to watch the first half of Round 2 before heading to school. During my first period today, we did not do anything, so I followed the results on the Bee website. There were many known words, but there were some I had never heard of before. A lot of the words came from Spell It! apparently, then the rest came from the Sponsor Bee Guide. I am about to watch the replays of the Bee, but I will post on what I had while I was watching.

Before one of the spellers received her word, there was a long pause. That must have been very nerve-wracking for her, but she got through her word flawlessly, and she will be going to semifinals!

The sentences were pretty hilarious this year. One of them was with the word irrepressible. "...irrepressible urge to shout "Hi, Mom and Dad!"

I have been impressed with the Jamaicans at the National Spelling Bee. Every single speller from there has had amazing manners, such as "Please" and "Thank You, Sir". Great job on keeping that up, Gifton Wright, and good luck tomorrow!

Great job, Vanya on using your knowledge of roots on debellation!

Since I'm from Utah, I should post the words the the spellers from my state spelled in Rounds 2 and 3.

Round 2:
Jared Ward: etesian
Sophie Choate: mellifluous
Vismaya Kharkar: kielbasa


Round 3:
Jared Ward: rayonnant
Sophie Choate: amniocentesis 
Vismaya Kharkar: Requiem 


I was just watching speller #126 in Round 3 when he received the word idiosyncratically. When he realized that he misspelled the word, he just started to mix in a bunch of random letters and numbers. That is the best mess-up I have ever seen so far in all the years of the Bee! This was what he spelled: i-o- (he knew he messed up) q-r-s-z-3-4 (he said cuatro) - f-l-v-r-q. I think this is funnier than sardoodledom!
Good luck to the fifty spellers heading to semifinals tomorrow!

Round 1 Test/Rounds 2 and 3

Many of you, spellers, have completed the Round 1 Test, but some of you have not even taken the test yet. It is very nerve-wracking to wait, but remain calm and relax. Remember that once you are finished with the test, you must not tell other spellers the words, because you may be eliminated. The same goes for school: Do not tell other students who have not taken the test what is going to be on it, or else it will result in a zero (at least at my school). One 25 of the 50 words will be chosen as score words.

Rounds 2 and 3
You will be facing the lights, cameras, and audience tomorrow, but do not worry. All you need to do is block out all the distractions around you, and focus on the word. Make sure you look presentable and clean, because you will be in front of the cameras. Do not bite your nails, run your fingers through your hair, etc.

When you get your word, make sure you ask the questions you can ask. These words will come from the Sponsor Bee Guide List you were given and Spell It! If you misspell a word, the bell will not ring, but Dr. Bailly will provide the correct spelling for you. Each word spelled correctly in these rounds are three points.

After Rounds 2 and 3, semifinalists will be announced. Rounds 1, 2, and 3 can total up to 31 points. No more than fifty spellers will be named semifinalists. Last year only forty-one spellers advanced to semifinals.

I do not want to put a lot of pressure on any of you, but remember to be confident while you are spelling. Good luck!

Round 1 Test, Tomorrow!

I know today is the barbecue, but tomorrow is the notorious Round 1 Test! From what I've heard, it is computerized this year.

1. Make sure you read a lot tonight, because those words may appear on the test.
2. There are fifty words on the test, but only twenty-five will go to your full score (combined with Rounds 2 and 3). This score will determine if you advance to semifinals or not.
3. Relax and listen to the word. Pay attention to the pronunciation, and read all the information.
4. If you do not know how to spell a word, make your best guess using your knowledge of patterns.
5.You can go back to a word and change it.
6. After the test, do not talk about the words to the other spellers, because this may cause elimination.

Here is the test from last year to help you practice: http://spellingbee.com/sample-test

Good luck!

Five-Peats, and Possibly Six-Peats and Seven-Peats!/Do Not Underestimate What a Young Child Can Do

What does it take to be a five-peat? A lot of diligence, dedication, and time and effort. Not very many spellers become five-peats. This year, Nicholas Rushlow and Rahul Malayappan are the first five-peats since 2008, and both of them said that it is a lot of hard work! For example, Nicholas said that he spent hours studying, and ever since his first year in 2008, he never took a break from studying.

In a few years, we will probably see six-peats and seven-peats. Lori Madison (Age 6) is the youngest speller in the history of the Bee. This proves that you should not underestimate what a young child can do.

It is not just Lori, but others, as well. Sriram Hathwar was the other record holder before Lori, and he did very well his first year, even if he did not advance to semifinals. His second year, he was able to advance to semifinals, then he missed 2010, but he improved his ranking in 2011 tying for sixth. Unfortunately, he will not be heading to nationals this year, but we hope to see him in the upcoming years.

Other than the spellers, you may have seen Andrew Johnston on Britain's Got Talent and Jackie Evancho on America's Got Talent. They are amazing and beautiful singers, and they both placed very high. Someone younger than you can do better than you, but age does not matter.

Good luck!

Bee Week Has Arrived/Memorial Day/Fun Facts

It is time for Bee Week to begin, but let us begin with important business. Tomorrow is Memorial Day - a day to honor those who died for our country.

Here are some words in honor of this important day:

• patriotic
• honor
• flowers
• barbecue
• monument
• marines
• soldier
• memories
• unknown
• tomb
• battle
• legion
• cemetery
• remembrance 
• casualties
• ceremonies
• commemorate
• valor

Fun Facts About the Scripps National Spelling Bee: 

• It is the nation's longest educational program!
• The first National Spelling Bee (1925) only had nine spellers. This year, there are 278 spellers going participating, but the record was in 2009 (293 spellers). 
• The first winning word was "gladiolus", and last year's winning word was "cymotrichous". The Bee has come a long way since then.
• Bee Week has more than just spelling; it takes place in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, so I think you can assume what many spellers love to do: sight-seeing! Spellers also go to a barbecue on Memorial Day, they hang out with friends, they cheer for and congratulate each other, there is a banquet on Friday, and so much more!
• The official pronouncer of the the Bee, Dr. Jacques Bailly, was the 1980 Champion (winning word: elucubrate); The director of the Bee, Paige Pipkin Kimble, was the 1981 Champion (winning word: sarcophagus); One of the judges, Blake Giddens, was the 1983 Champion (winning word: Purim); another judge, George Thampy, was the 2000 Champion (winning word: demarche).

I will post more facts as the week goes along! For now, good luck spellers and "may the odds be ever in your favor!"

Most Spellers Will Arrive in D.C. Tomorrow!/Spelling Bee Trailer

Good luck, spellers! Most of you will be headed to the Bee tomorrow, and I cannot wait to watch the Bee!

Here is a Spelling Bee Trailer I Made in Honor of the Bee

8 More Days Until Spellers Arrive in D.C.

It has been a while since my last post! I have had a lot of testing, activities, choir performances, and student council elections.

Here are some study tips:

• Study word origins - roots, patterns, exceptions, and words from unknown and imitative origins
• Parts of Speech - patterns and exceptions
• Rules to Words
• Memorize rules, such as i before e, except after c, but there are exceptions to this rule, as well.
• Practice as if you were actually in a spelling bee (ask questions and think deeply)
• If this helps, do something while studying, such as video games, jump rope, Legos, basketball, and more!

Some Rules 

-Ent/-Ence and -Ant/-Ance

-ant and -ent: used to create nouns and adjectives, and -ance and -ence are used to create nouns. There are not many rules that will help with most of these words, so memorizing is the best way to go. 

• After a soft c (with an s sound) or g (with a j sound), use -ent/-ence (rubescent/acquiescence)
• After a hard c or g, use -ant/-ance. (mitigant/elegance)

-Ise, -Ize, and -Yze Ending

All of them have the eyes sound. 

-ise  is usually from French (abscise)

-ize (cause to form) is usually from Latin (systemize)

-yze is usually from Latin, which is found in the root -lyze meaning to produce or go under disintegration (acetolyze) and comes from the Latin root -lysis (decomposition; breaking down) 

If if an l is heard before the eyes sound, check to see if it is a variant of one of the verbs (-lyze), and if it is not, spell it -lize.

Good luck, and I will try to post more!