spelling contest - the day

We went to Danga City Mall to support Marsya for her spelling contest.
Apparently, finalists for the 3 categories (60 of them total) were selected from over 900 participants. Wow! Isn't that something?

For the finals, the contest format was changed. I guess to facilitate the venue and manner of judging the contestants. Finalists were given a spiral bound drawing board each, together with a black marker. They are seated on the stage, all of them, one category for a session. The word to be spelled will be announced in this manner: word, meaning, word, word. After that, 25 seconds given for the finalists to write (spell) the word on the drawing board. Then the bell will be rung. Finalists would raise their drawing board for the judges to give marks. Thus, it's not only testing their spelling ability, but other skills as well: listening and writing - neatly, legibly and big, while being quick at that. I personally do not agree wholly with the format, albeit it's the organiser's exclusive right to have it any way they deem fit.


worried mommy, among the audience

The first word was 'ambulance'. Poor Marsya managed only to write 'ambulan', and was a bit disturbed when the bell was rung as she was about to write 'c' on the paper. I'm sure she doesn't have any problem spelling the word. It was just that she didn't have enough time to write the word in big letters, neatly and fast. Not a norm for any kid her age in day-to-day schooling. Anyway, she marched on and kept giving her best.



Out of 15 words, she got 10 spelled out right (there were words not completed because not enough time). Not bad, although she didn't win anything. What I'm happy about is that she participated and didn't show any sign of stage fright, anxiety or nervousness. I guess none of the finalists were. It seems that they were at ease.

Kudos to Marsya. Also to the organiser for the event. They all did very well.