RHB-New Straits Times Spell-It-Right challenge (SIR): Rising to the challenge

The RHB-New Straits Times Spell-It-Right challenge has brought English spelling back to the fore and into the weirdest of places, as its three guest judges and presenters can attest, writes NURJEHAN MOHAMED

(From left) Roopvanti, Jagdish Bhain and Jagdish Kaur are pleased that English spelling and pronunciation are back in the spotlight, thanks to a little friendly competition. — Picture by Surianie Mohd Hanif

THE RHB-New Straits Times Spell-It-Right challenge (SIR) has taken on a life of its own, helping restore intellectual discourse among a new generation of Malaysians.

This is the observation of SIR’s guest judges and presenters Roopvanti Gulabrai, Jagdish Bhain and Jagdish Kaur.

Former teachers with 85 years of teaching experience among them — excluding the time they’ve spent as facilitators for the NST’s Newspaper in Education (NIE) unit — they really appreciate what the challenge has done for the promotion of the English language.

“We came in because of (NIE manager) Mary Chandapillai, and we didn’t hesitate,” says Roopvanti.
“We are so excited to be a part of this. The challenge is something that Malaysia really needed, and the timing could not have been better.”

Her colleague Jagdish Bhain adds: “This is all the more important as spelling these days is appalling because of SMS, email and the confusion between English and Bahasa spelling that we’ve had for years.

“It has woken everybody up to spelling and the awareness of British and American conventions.”

Jagdish Kaur observes: “Students are now referring to dictionaries, which is something they seldom did before.”

While teachers may have been quite complacent in just accepting British or American spelling previously, the competition has made them aware of the differences between the two standards.

While there is nothing wrong with American spelling, having SIR based on the British spelling means that those involved will be sensitised to the differences between the American and British ways of spelling and pronunciation.

“They are becoming more aware of how important the development of the language is,” says Jagdish Bhain.

And this, says Jagdish Kaur, is just the beginning. “With schools knowing that this competition is going to be around in the coming years, they would start holding their own spelling competitions whether at the inter-class or inter-school level,” she says.

Spelling contests used to be done in schools in the past, but became sidelined in favour of more communicative activities such as choral speaking, public speaking and debates.

“The syllabus in government schools is based more on communication English, which means that as long as you can communicate, it’s accepted,” says Jagdish Bhain.

“But that is why there is this slack and the standard of English we have is not very good.”

The Education Ministry is attempting to rectify the situation by reintroducing Literature in the English curriculum and having the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English.

“I think there has been an improvement in the attitude of teachers and students towards the exploration of English,” says Roopvanti.

Jagdish Kaur gives the example of teachers who can hardly speak the language but are learning from their English-speaking colleagues and making a conscious effort to speak it at home with their families.

Roopvanti recalls meeting a teacher in Kelantan who confessed she was often accused of “showing off” whenever she tried to speak English.

“Teachers should realise that learning English is not just about trying to cover the syllabus,” says Roopvanti. “They’ve got to make it fun and useful, and they have to think out of the box so students will be interested.”

One example of this comes from a school headmaster in Kota Tinggi, Johor, who displays newspaper articles in English under plastic sheets on his school’s canteen tables, so that students can read while they eat.

The teaching of spelling cannot be isolated from the teaching of English as a whole, says Jagdish Bhain. “English cannot be separated — every day, there is grammar and spelling that is related to the learning of the language.”

Roopvanti says spelling is the basis of good writing; it demonstrates an awareness of words in the English language — not just how they are spelt but how they are used.

In this computer age, software programmes can spell check but students cannot rely on computers to do the job during examinations.

“Spelling is the cornerstone of knowing and understanding the language and it also gives insight into the origin of words,” says Jagdish Kaur.

The students that they have seen in the competition so far have impressed them greatly.

“I was quite impressed with the standard of English among the students in Alor Star,” says Jagdish Bhain. “I don’t know if they went through all the words in the dictionary but they must have made an effort to learn the words, which is commendable.”

She only hopes these contestants won’t consign their dictionaries back to the shelves once the contest is over.

Jagdish Kaur adds that knowing how to spell is but a first step; students need to know how to use them in sentences, in context.

Teachers and parents are also responding to the challenge, as Roopvanti noted in Johor Baru. “They were very interested to know the spelling and meaning of the words, and I think this will carry on.”

Their involvement in SIR has even these judges testing their vocabularies with their families and peers at the dinner table and among themselves.

“This challenge has brought a lot of intellectual communication into the weirdest of places,” says Jagdish Bhain.