a great american tradition d - effinghamschools.com

C H A P T E R 1

A Great American Tradition

Did you feel a little tingle the first

time you got a perfect score on a

spelling test? Let’s extrapolate

(Webster’s Third New International

Dictionary of the English Language,

Unabridged: “predict by projecting past

experience or known data”) and imagine

that that perfect score had earned you a

big cash prize, a guest spot on a hot late-

night talk show, and your picture in every

major newspaper in the country. Now we’re

talking more than a tingle. Most spelling bee

champions would call it a pretty big buzz!

/ 3 /

The National Spelling Bee is really just amore public, more difficult, but much coolerspelling test, where a huge audience applaudsevery time you get a word right. So if you’vealready taken part in a spelling bee and want tokeep working your way up the ladder or you’vewondered what it would be like to be the lastone standing—or rather, spelling—out of tenmillion American students who participate inthe Scripps National Spelling Bee at the locallevel, read on. As Anurag Kashyap, the 2005national champion, says:

“I loved the experience and adrenaline rush I got at the microphone. . . . It was just anamazing feeling when all of my efforts andstudying paid off in one big, climactic ending!”

What Is a Spelling Bee, Anyway?

Have you ever turned on the TV and seen the climax of the Scripps NationalSpelling Bee? Two kids, usually looking

as though they wished they hadn’t eaten break-fast, face a pronouncer, a row of judges, aphalanx (Webster’s Third: “a massed arrange-ment of persons,animals, or things”)of cameras, and ananticipatory audi-ence. Both spellershave spelled down

Spelling Beesin Pop Culture,

Past andPresent

1878: Bret Harte writes“The Spelling Bee atAngels,” a humorouspoem about a Saturdaynight spelldown betweencrusty prospectors in agold rush saloon.

1941: Laura Ingalls Wilderpublishes the autobio-graphical Little Town on the Prairie, depictinglife in De Smet, SouthDakota, in the 1880s. Ina community spellingmatch—an impromptuentertainment on a coldwinter evening—Lauramisses xanthophyll,meaning “a red-orangecrystalline carotenoidalcohol occurring espe-cially in plants, usuallywith carotenes andchlorophylls, but also in animal fat, egg yolk,and corpus luteum.” Herfather spells it correctlyto win the match. Thosenineteenth-centuryfarmers were noslouches!

(continued on page 6)

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4 How to Spell Like a Champ

not only the other spellers at the nationals, butalso a series of peers at the school, local, andregional levels, and sometimes more. And noone in the audience, not even the seeminglyomniscient pronouncer, knows which spellerwill take home the colossal (Webster’s Third:“of very great size”) trophy at the edge of thestage. It’s reality TV, word-geek style. How didthis odd form of entertainment come about? And what’s the deal with its name?

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A Great American Tradition 5

1925 These nine students participated in the first National Spelling Bee. Can you spell“unfashionable”? Winner Frank Neuhauser is on the lower right.

The first national champion was 11-year-old FrankNeuhauser of Louisville, Kentucky, who in 1925 correctlyspelled gladiolus to beat out eight other contestants.

Spelling contests,often called “spellingmatches” or “spell-downs,” were a formof community enter-tainment throughoutthe nineteenth century,reaching a peak of popular-ity in the 1870s. In fact,there was quite a spellingcraze during that decade, notunlike that of today. Education was still at a premium, and people with a facility for language were much admired, rather like tele-vision stars and hip-hop musicians are today. In the cities, particularly in the eastern UnitedStates, spelling matches were very serious busi-ness, often requiring entry fees. It wasn’t untilabout 1875 that the term spelling bee came into common usage.

The first known recorded usage of the wordbee, meaning “a community activity,” dates from1769. It was usually used for manual activitiessuch as spinning, quilting, barn raising, cornhusking, and other necessary tasks of rural lifethat were often shared among neighbors forsocial, as well as practical, reasons in far-flungfrontier communities. Many people assume theword originally referred to the insect—after all,the bee is among the most social and industriousof creatures—but in recent years, etymologists(“word historians”) have suggested that it’s froma completely different word, the Middle Englishbene, meaning “a prayer or a favor.” (Another

1986: The Wonderful Worldof Disney airs a popularmade-for-televisionmovie, The Girl WhoSpelled Freedom, basedon the true story of LinnYann, a Cambodianrefugee who became a1985 National SpellingBee finalist just fouryears after escaping thebrutal Khmer Rougeregime with her family.

2000: Myla Goldberg’s first novel, Bee Season,becomes a word-of-mouth bestseller. Themain character, ElizaNaumann, discovers shehas a mystical facilityfor spelling; that,coupled with herfather’s unorthodoxteaching methods, takesher to the NationalSpelling Bee finals.

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word with the same ancestor, still in use inmodern English, is boon, meaning “a timelybenefit or blessing.”) In England, a dialectalform of this word, been or bean, referred to “voluntary help given by neighbors toward theaccomplishment of a particular task” (Webster’sThird). Bee may simply be a shortened form of been, but no one is entirely certain.

What Makes a Spelling Bee?

Not all spelling bees are alike; the difficultyof the words, the size of the audience, therules, and the prizes vary widely. But all

spelling bees, even written spelling bees,have a few essential elements:contestants, a word list, and a pronouncer who gives thewords aloud. Most spellingbees also have judges whooversee the bee to makesure it is fair to allspellers.

A school spelling beemight choose one ortwo students to repre-sent each class, or itmight be open to allcomers. Most often,


2003: Spellbound, a quirkydocumentary aboutseveral participants in the 1999 NationalSpelling Bee finals,becomes an art-househit and is nominated foran Academy Award.

2005: The 25th AnnualPutnam County SpellingBee, adapted from theoff-Broadway play C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E,becomes the first Broadway musicalabout you-know-what.

2005: Bee Season hits thebig screen, starringRichard Gere, JulietteBinoche, and FloraCross.

2006: Akeelah and the Bee,written and directed by Doug Atchison andstarring LaurenceFishburne, AngelaBassett, and KekePalmer, opens justbefore the NationalSpelling Bee finals.

2006: American Bee: The National SpellingBee and the Culture ofWord Nerds by JamesMaguire is published.

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“Bene . . . boon . . .been . . . bean . . . bee!”

Noah Webster,the father ofthe Americandictionary.

a teacher or principal serves as the pronouncer.There could be a separate judge or judges, or itmight be up to the pronouncer to make sure thatall students are given a fair chance to spell cor-rectly. Homeschooled students might competeindividually in a school spelling bee near theirhome, or they might spell against other home-schoolers to produce one or more homeschoolingchampions for an area.

As a speller moves ahead, spelling competitiongets more serious. A local spelling bee can bewritten, oral, or a combination of both. Manyspellers prefer competing in written bees. Since they take less time, why aren’t allspelling competitions written? Spelling bees are held only partly for their educational value.They are also community events, and let’s face it: Watching a roomful of kids writing on piecesof paper can be a snooze. Local and regional

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The HumanBodyLEVEL: Beginning

abdomenanatomyarterycadavercranialdorsalelbowfacialgallbladdergastricinfluenzaintestineknuckleboneligamentmembranemetabolismmidriffmuscularneonatalpacemakerpectoralreflexscalpserumshoulderskeletontendonthyroidtonguetorsovertebrawaist

Victory of a school spelling bee.

spelling bees that feed into the NationalSpelling Bee are usually sponsored by newspa-pers, and an oral spelling bee is more excitingand makes better news. If a regional bee is verylarge, there may be a written round before theoral finals just to winnow the field of contest-ants down to a number that will fit onstage.

Local and regional bees are usually a lotbigger than a school bee, although they maysometimes be held in a school auditorium. Theycan be a blast to watch! There are always par-ents and teachers in the audience, and so thereis usually some entertainment. Often, a masterof ceremonies gives a funny or interesting pre-sentation before the spelling starts. Sometimesthere are free cookies. Soon, though, everyoneturns to the matter at hand: determining achampion (or sometimes multiple champions)who will represent the area at a larger bee,perhaps at the National Spelling Bee.

Top TenReasons to

Enter aSpelling Bee

10. There’s an off-chancethey’ll make a movieabout me.

9. Classrooms that have100 percent participa-tion get to have pizzaparties.

8. Want to impress a geekyheartthrob in chemclass.

7. My class will get anextra field trip.

6. Want to humiliate a really annoyingclassmate.

5. Need the trophy to keepmy unmatched socks in.

4. Need a new dictionary.

3. Could use the T-shirt.

2. Will do anything to getout of class for an hour.

1. Mom is making me do it.

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Reason #9 to Enter a Spelling Bee: Classrooms that have100 percent participation get to have pizza parties.

These bees typically have a more experiencedpronouncer than school bees do. They also haveone or more judges who pay careful attention toeach contestant’s spelling, determining whetherthe word has been spelled correctly. The judgesalso handle formal protests about the fairnessof a speller’s elimination and may reinstate aspeller if they decide that it is the right thing todo, according to the rules of their contest.

The path to the National Spelling Bee is notthe same for everyone. Some sponsoring news-papers are small, with a subscriber base thatcovers only one county, so some spellers win aschool bee, then a county spelling title, and gofrom there straight to the national finals inWashington, D.C. Others must win or be in thetop group of finishers in a county bee and thenwin a regional bee that covers multiple countiesor even an entire state. At the national finals,contestants who represent a large areaoften arrive very wellprepared, having com-peted several timesover a few months—but that doesn’tguarantee them a spot at the top! Anumber of nationalchampions have represented smallgeographical areas.

Bee There

Most local spellingbees are open to thepublic. If you want

to attend one near yourhome, contact your area’ssponsoring newspaper to find out when and where its local or regionalcompetition takes place.Direct your inquiry to the“spelling bee coordinator.”

The National SpellingBee finals are not open tothe public; there simplyisn’t a room in Washington,D.C., big enough to hold all who would like to attendit. Media representativesneed space for theirequipment and a clear view of the contestants,and the finalists’ familiesand friends take up the rest of the available seats.But the National SpellingBee is always televised, so it’s available to anaudience of millions and is often rebroadcast againand again.

Of course, one of thebest ways to see a spellingbee is from the stage—as a participant.

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In 1925, the first national champion won $500 in $20 gold pieces.

History of the National Spelling Bee

The National Spelling Bee began in 1925with nine contestants. It was sponsored by the Louisville Courier-Journal, which

had conducted a statewide match to find thebest grade-school spellers in Kentucky, and thendecided to extend a challenge to other newspa-pers to choose their own champions to take partin a spelling showdown in Washington, D.C., to determine a national champion. The DetroitNews, the Akron Beacon Journal, the SouthBend News-Times, and the Hartford Timeswere also among the sponsors that first year.

In 1941, Scripps Newspapers took over spon-sorship of the National Spelling Bee. There wasno Scripps National Spelling Bee during the waryears of 1943–45.

The first national champion was eleven-year-old Frank Neuhauser of Louisville, Kentucky,who in 1925 correctly spelled gladiolus to beatout eight other contestants and win $500 in $20 gold pieces. As national champion, he shookhands with President Calvin Coolidge. He went

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Food andCookingLEVEL: Beginning

applesauceaspicburritocaramelizecasserolecheesesteakclambakecondimentcornflakesdinettedumplinggourmethomogenizekickshawluncheonmacrobioticsmarmaladepandowdypercolatorpiquantpumpernickelraviolirefreshmentsscampishorteningsubgumsundaesushitapiocatortillavenisonvinegar

on to study electrical engineering, and later hebecame a patent attorney. Mr. Neuhauser, whoturned 92 in 2006, says that since his triumphhe has always grown gladiolus in his garden.

Hey, Maybe I Could Win!

Whether you’re talking about your schoolbee, a local bee, or the National SpellingBee finals in Washington, D.C., one

thing’s for sure—the person who will win oneday is thinking the same thing right now: “Itcould be me!” But becoming a spelling championdoesn’t mean spending a couple of afternoonswith a computer game. It’s a major project.

Scratch any spelling bee contestant andyou’ll find a regular kid, a cool kid—one wholoves basketball, plays the trumpet, likesMexican food, has a Labrador puppy, or dressesas Voldemort or Buffy the Vampire Slayer forHalloween. What do spelling bee winners do that’s differ-ent from mostkids? Theyread for fun—a lot—andthey careabout gettingwords right. Areyou up for that?

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A number of national champions have represented smallgeographical areas.

P-H-O-O-E-Y!

Each of the words belowwas misspelled at theend of a National

Spelling Bee, making thedifference between first and second place.

apotropaiccervicornchrysanthemumcortilecrescivedyscalculiafarragogeophagyglitchmorigerationoligarchyonomasticsopsimathparvenuismphilippicprairillonratatouilleresipiscenceRoscianschwarmereisenescingseriatimsesquipedaliantrouvaillevelleityvirescence

As you go through this book, you’ll likely see many new words. If some of them seemdifficult, you’re in good company, so don’t beintimidated. You can learn them just as youlearned the multiplication tables: by memorizingthem. But just as math facts are interrelated,so are words, and the more you know about howthey’re related, the better you’ll remember howto spell them. We’ll show you how to get moreinformation about the words you study.

If you’re ready to become a word whiz, let’sget started! First, a few tips: In this book, wesometimes use the term phoneme, meaning“the smallest unit of speech that distinguishesone utterance from another,” when we discussthe various spellings of a sound. For example,the phoneme /f / is usually spelled f or ph atthe beginning of a word; but itcan sometimes be spelled gh,as in laugh, at the end of a word. To indicate thespelling of example words,we use italic letters: cat.To show a pronunciationusing phonemes, we useforward slashes: / kat /.(The linguist’s term forthat slash, by the way,is virgule—a wordwhose Latin rootmeans “small rod.”)Occasionally, weuse quotes todesignate

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So What’s It Like to Be a Champion?

“Being a spellingchampion is awonderful thing.

It gives you two pillars of identity that will last you your whole life. First, you are a speller, aconscientious person whocares about the details, anauthority that other peoplecount on and turn to.

Second, you are a champion,a hard worker, an ambitiousperformer who saw a thingthrough to the end and wonthe rewards, at whateverlevel.”

—HENRY FELDMAN, 1960 National Spelling

Bee champion(winning word:

eudaemonic)

“Fee fi phoneme. Words aren’t always

spelled like they seem.”

some sounds, such as “uh” for the schwa, forwhich linguists would use a special symbol, or symbols, instead of English letters. If thissounds confusing now, it should all become clear somewhere around Chapter 3.

The CD that comes with this book takes youon a realistic journey from classroom bee to theNational Spelling Bee. Along the way, the pro-nouncers will pronounce and give informationabout each word and then give you enough timeto spell the word yourself. So when you’ve fin-ished the book and are feeling good and ready,assemble your audience (dogs and hamsters justlove this kind of thing), pop the CD into yourplayer, and get ready to stand up and spell.Good luck!

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A Close Call

“Iwant to tell youngerstudents that theyshould never give up.

The spelling bee has a hugeluck factor, and it’s verylikely that you’ll be asked to spell words that youdon’t know. It’s hard workto study for another year,but it’s certainly worth it.”

KERRY CLOSE, 2006 National

Spelling Bee champion(winning word: Ursprache)

a great american tradition d - effinghamschools.com

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