THE little wonder boy who won the RHB-New Straits Times Spell-It-Right (SIR) National Challenge in the primary category is still a picture of calm although visibly more relaxed.

In the competition which saw 13 other state champions vying for the title of best speller, Victor Teoh’s face betrayed no emotion even when he was pronounced the winner.

For his poker-faced expression, Teoh was dubbed “the robot” by fellow participants.

Since his victory, the Year Five pupil from SK Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, has received many congratulatory messages.

You only need to log onto the school’s website to see the enthusiastic comments from parents, teachers and peers.

“I didn’t expect to win,” he says, with a smile. “I only knew for sure I could win towards the end of the competition.” At the interview for this story, Teoh was all smiles.

On the day of the competition, his outwardly composure prompted guest of honour Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to lift the corners of his mouth during the prize-giving ceremony.

He had only tripped up once during the competition on “abrade”. He knew the rest of the words as he had come across them in his extensive reading.

“He would read anything except his textbooks,” says his mother Jeannie Goh, a homemaker. His good performance in school is mainly due to paying attention in class and doing some revision prior to examinations.

Even when it comes to playing computer games, Victor would read up on tips and techniques.

His interests lie beyond the usual fare of Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven or Famous Five — he prefers to read newspapers, Wikipedia articles and books related to general interest such as war stories and aeroplanes.

Teoh, or “Wiki” (alluding to his passion for the online encyclopaedia) to his parents, is planning on treating his classmates and teacher Norsihar Jamaluddin who helped him prepare for the competition by giving him words to spell.

His parents also fed him words to spell daily.

“Whenever I came across a strange word, I’d ask him to spell it,” says Goh. She also circled odd words whenever she came across them in the newspaper so when he read them after school, he paid more attention to them.

Other than that, she says, it is Teoh’s own effort.

Like secondary school champion Bessima Jamal, Teoh did not do anything much outside of his normal routine to prepare for the finals.

Goh says: “Being a good speller is an acquired skill, you cannot just learn it overnight; you have to start young.” At school, Teoh is a computer prefect and is active in scouts, badminton and the computer club.

He also represented Kuala Lumpur in the recently held National Science Olympiad.

His parents enrolled him on the school’s newly created Gavel Club (similar to a Toastmasters Club), where he is the vice-president of education, to encourage him to speak more.

From SIR, Teoh learned the importance of spelling and good English.

“It has also given me more confidence,” he says. He found the challenge interesting and intends to compete again next year.

“We are amazed at how many words he can spell,” says father Brian Teoh, an architect. “I think he’s also amazed himself. He always knew he had a wide vocabulary, probably just didn’t realise how wide until the competition.” Words spelled correctly: “copious”, “affront”, “noxious”, “acquit”, “prudent”, “morose”, “commodity”, “profligate”, “haphazard”, “vacillate”, “capricious”, “allegiance”, “egalitarian”, “acquisitive” and “ingratiate” Misspelled word: “abrade”