Thursday 3 August 2017

YOUNG KENYA'S 2017 TOP THREE SPELLERS

By Tebby Otieno; tebbyotieno62@gmail.com

Victor Ng’uono, an astute pupil at MM Shah Academy in Kisumu County scooped the most coveted trophy during the recently concluded Kenya National Spelling Bee Championships held at Nyali Beach International Hotel and Spa in Mombasa on 24th July 2017. Victor Brian Maina of Nyeri Primary School and Christina Njeri of Tender Care Nairobi emerged first and second runners up respectively. The Kenya National Spelling Bee (KNSB) is an English spelling competition, which is an adaptation of the Scripts National Spelling Bee which is an annual spelling competition held in the US and in Canada mainly to promote English literacy. The KNSB was started in a quest to improve literacy in the English language as well as improve the reading culture among primary school pupils in Kenya.

In the stiffly contested battle of wits and words, the three students tied before judges tightened the rope by injecting new technical words into the contest. These included: DIPHTHONG, FELINE, ENCUMBRANCE, OBSCURANTISM, SCHIZOPHRENIA, ASCERTAIN and MENINGITIS. However, still Victor Ng’uono sailed through making him the overall champion having been the only one who got right the spelling of the word SCHIZOPHRENIA. The three contestants all got the spelling of the word ASCERTAIN correctly. But when it came to spelling the word MENINGITIS, Christina Njeri was unable thereby breaking the tie to get the first and second runners up.
The trio bagged home fat education scholarships.Victor Ng’uono, the one who took the cake, went home smiling with a colossal amount of Ksh. 500,000 thanks to his razor-sharp intelligence. The first and second runners up were also awarded Ksh. 300,000 and Ksh. 100,000 respectively. The teachers for the three also received cheques worth Ksh 50,000, 30,000 and 20,000 respectively. This was in a bid to motivate them for their relentless efforts and knack for details matter of factly spelling of words.

In an exclusive interview with Mtaani Radio during an educational programme, The Kenya National Spelling Bee, Chief Judge – Mr. Jeremiah Makau said the participants in the spelling bee championship were each given four books namely The Winner, Let Her Be, The Village Fool and Miss Uhuru three months prior to the competition. Mr. Makau showed confidence that the three spelling giants will enable Kenya emerge the top in the African championships slated to take place September 2017 in the coastal city – Mombasa when they will battle it out with other budding grammarians from 18 countries dotting the vast African landscape

"Actually, we expect them to do far much better this year than last year because, last year we had taken the three students who represented us in the African Spelling Bee Championships, we took them from only Nairobi County. This time round because we have taken the finest from all the 47 counties, we expect that we have got a better lot. So we are expecting that they are going to perform far much better. Now that we are going to be at home, where our national competition took place, our students are already familiar with the venue and will sure enough have an upper hand over the other contestants." Mr. Makau expressed his expectations.
Proponents of grammar and its correct usage adduce that frequent use of dictionaries by learners who are not native speakers aid in the correct spelling and retention of words. Speaking during the launch of the third edition of the Oxford Primary Dictionary for East Africa (OPDEA) on 18th May, 2017, Oxford University Press East Africa, General Manager Mr. John Mwazemba termed the launch as a milestone in learning and teaching English in primary schools in Kenya and beyond. Mr. Mwazemba added that the third edition of the OPDEA has been well researched in relation to the advancing technology.

`Oxford Dictionaries is home to the world-famous Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the definitive guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of more than 280,000 entries – past and present – from across the English-speaking world. The third edition of the OPDEA not only has additional vocabulary, but also has 600 illustrations which reflect the people, environment and the culture of Eastern Africa. We believe that the addition of this feature will go a long way in aiding students’ comprehension and retention of words. This dictionary has been made child-friendly, with shorter entries, written in simpler language and larger text size, making it the ideal dictionary for all Primary Students in East Africa.’ Said Mwazemba.
Speaking during the launch of the National Spelling Bee Championships in Mombasa, Principal Secretary for Education, Dr. Belio Kipsang’ said that people who are exposed to books and a lot of vocabulary are often good spellers unlike those who depend on spell checker, a handy tool for general use
‘Our research has shown people who are exposed to books and a lot of vocabulary are often good spellers, those very high-achieving spellers have heightened sensitivity to those letter patterns. They can proofread and edit by identifying quite easily what parts of words might be correct or incorrect. However, we have noted with growing concern that with the advancement of technology, people have resorted to the use of spellcheckers to autocorrect their spelling mistakes. This includes the use of spell checkers in communication gadgets such as Mobile Phones, Computers, Tablets and Laptops. Although a spell checker is a handy tool for general use, it will never fully take the place of educating yourself properly and polishing your vocabulary, grammar and writing skills,’ noted Kipsang’.

The 2017 edition organized by the Kenya National Spelling Bee (KNSB) targeted 50 schools in each of the 47 counties. KNSB Programme Manager, Mr. Eric Mosoti said the competition was set to involve four rounds and the pupil who will emerge top in the national category,

'Children who are good spellers are often avid readers; they can unpack words and understand all the meaningful parts of words and how they go together. Our key objective is to build a greater appreciation for the importance of spelling in the development of English language literacy among young learners in school` explained Mr. Mosoti.

The African Spelling Bee was founded in 2016 by 10 Spelling Bee organizations from Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe and they had the very first African Spelling Bee in the same year in Johannesburg, South Africa, bringing together 27 National Champions from each of the countries to participate.

2 comments:

  1. Good work Tebby... You are a source of motivation to me...

    ReplyDelete

  2. Invest with 200$ and get a returns of 5,000$ within seven business working days.
    Why wasting your precious time online looking for a loan? When there is an opportunity for you to invest with 200$ and get a returns of 5,000$ within seven business working days. Contact us now for more information if interested on how you can earn big with just little amount. This is all about investing into Crude Oil and Gas Business.

    Email: HappyInvestment-world_inc@protmail.com

    ReplyDelete