Language acquisition begins with knowing how to spell. This was the view of teachers and parents of participants in the Kelantan and Kedah legs of the RHB-New Straits Times Spell-It-Right challenge, writes NURJEHAN MOHAMED.

Fathin Nabilah's triumphant smile is in stark contrast to the pain on

Tengku Nadiah Liyana takes her turn as teammates Rachel Huang Rong Hughes and Alia Almaz Arni Shah clasp each other's hands for support.

There is no hiding Auni Amirah's delight at the news of her victory in the Kedah primary school leg of the competition.

SPELLING is the first step towards literacy. And there’s hardly a better way to encourage it than through a competition such as the RHB-New Straits Times Spell-It-Right (SIR) challenge.

Not just students but teachers and parents are becoming more aware of and excited by the potential of such contests to encourage reading and writing among children.

SIR Kedah primary school champion Auni Amirah Abdul Rashid is lucky to have a teacher who is as passionate about spelling as she is. SK Taman Uda teacher Pagjono Kaur says the SIR challenge is “very interesting”.

A competition like this, she says, encourages children to read widely and motivates them to look up words in the dictionary.
“They are more motivated to look up difficult words and learn the pronunciation,” she adds.

She observes, however, that the “gladiatorial” approach in the preliminary rounds of the competition — where a single wrong spelling means elimination — adds the element of luck in determining those who move on to the final rounds.

“If we had the round robin way of running the competition in the preliminaries,” — in which each contestant has a set number of words to spell, as in the finals of these state-level contests — “we might have seen a different set of pupils in the final round.”

SIR content committee chairman Rehman Rashid acknowledges the point, but counters that such an approach would extend the length of the contests beyond practicality. “In selecting the words presented at the challenge, the judges and presenters are conscious of ensuring consistency for fairness,” he says. “But luck does play a part, in whether or not a contestant happens to be familiar with any given word.”

This competition has also brought up the importance of phonetics, especially with unfamiliar words, as contestants would rely on how such words are pronounced to guess their spelling.

Some kindergartens teach children how to read by teaching them phonetics first.

“We used to have it in our syllabus but in an isolated manner,” says Pagjono. “By introducing the sounds first, children can learn how to pronounce before they string words together.”

She runs her own mini tests by throwing out a word to the class if there is any free time during lessons. “In addition to helping Auni, the whole class learns new words as well.”

Norkhalidatul Asreen Khalid, an English teacher from SMK St Anne's Convent Kulim, Kedah, which topped the school category in the state, is now inspired to start running her own spelling competitions in school.

“I think the challenge is great because previously most students didn’t think spelling is anything special,” she says. “This competition has helped them get excited about spelling.”

She adds that since fifth-former Kameelia Noor Haja Mohideen became the state champion in the secondary school category, more people are asking about the contest and about spelling.

Norkhalidatul thinks teachers should use SIR as a way to enhance the pronunciation and spelling of students.

“If you can write but cannot spell, it is still considered bad writing, so you need to know your spelling,” she says.

SK Zainab 1, Kelantan, teacher Farhanah Lee says the SIR challenge is most familiar to parents who read the New Straits Times and its related publications. “Many schools did not take part because they were not aware of the competition,” she says.

Farhanah was excited about SIR the first time she saw the advertisement in the paper, and is now planning to put together a team for the Junior SIR challenge, for lower primary pupils, starting later this month.

On the whole, she says, the competition provided good exposure for the children.

She agrees that a contest like this spurs students to brush up on their spelling.

“The challenge not only tests pupils on their spelling but also their listening, as they are given the definition and usage of the words in a sentence,” she says.

She also thinks that spelling can be incorporated into classes more than just once a week.

“You can do it several times a week with your students; in an hour-long lesson, I can do three rounds of spelling tests with my pupils.”

As an added incentive, Farhanah sometimes treats the best spellers to a snack after school.

For Kelantan secondary school champion Fathin Nabilah Abdul Rashid, participation and victory in the state challenge was thanks largely to her mother Dr Noorliza Mastura Ismail, a dentist by training.

Noorliza, who teaches dentistry at Universiti Sains Malaysia in Kelantan, sees the spelling competition as an excellent tool for encouraging students to cultivate a love for the language.

“I always tell my students that it is important to know English at their level because it is the language of knowledge,” says Noorliza.

“Fathin’s success has opened their eyes to this.”

Noorliza says parents have also been made aware of the importance of spelling because of SIR.

“This is a good step by RHB and NST,” she says. “Children have good potential if they are trained and geared towards literature and vocabulary.”

The teaching of mathematics and science in English has also encouraged the use of the language.

“English is the language of education so you cannot take it lightly,” says Noorliza. “Students must know English, and they can't learn it if they can’t spell.”