EARLY EXPOSURE: Schoolchildren get a headstart on learning to spell by entering competitions such as the Junior Spell-It-Right Challenge
FOUR young schoolchildren proved themselves to be formidable spellers when they emerged champions in spelling competitions held in four venues around the peninsular earlier this year.
Nia Zahra Shamsul Muhardzi, Jolene Esther Tan, Carmen Ng and Muhammad Eidlan Roslee, all aged 9, triumphed at the Junior Spell-It-Right (SIR) Challenge, which was open to those aged 7 to 9, in Shah Alam, Alor Star, Johor Baru and Kuala Terengganu, respectively.
The aim of the Junior SIR Challenge was to encourage those from the lower primary category to experience the RHB-New Straits Times SIR Challenge.
“Out of the 3,084 pupils who participated last year, less than three per cent were aged 7 to 9,” said New Straits Times Press marketing general manager Puteri Shireen Syed Othman.
Nia Zahra won in a tightly-fought contest over 12 rounds.
The SK Bukit Damansara pupil beat Ashton Yang Li, 7, from SJK(C) Kuen Cheng 2 and schoolmate Natalie Gan Ming Hui, 9, after spelling eight out of 10 words correctly.
Nia Zahra’s mother, Halizah Abdul Halim, attributed the victory to her daughter’s love of reading.
“I take my children to the bookstore at least once a month. Nia is an avid reader and always reads her older siblings’ books,” she said.
Nia Zahra’s English teacher and coach, Madihah Abdul Aziz, said four of her pupils were entered for this year’s Junior SIR Challenge, and three made it to the final.
“Our strategy was to read widely and look out for irregularities in spelling. The pupils all put in the hard work, and I held a mock contest to give them a taste of the challenge and build up their confidence. The four top scorers were then entered for the competition,” she said.
Jolene from SJK(C) Khoon Aik won in Alor Star, and went on to take fourth place in the state-level SIR Challenge.
Her grandfather, Tan Kin Thang, said she was encouraged by her family to enter the competition as she had never taken part in events outside the school and they wanted her to acquire the experience.
Carmen from SK Sri Tebrau won in Johor Baru. Her teacher Suganthy Nagalingam said her pupils have entered spelling competitions every year.
She was pleased that pupils such as Carmen have the chance to take part in the Junior SIR Challenge and do well.
“The younger pupils should have their own competition as they know fewer words compared to their older counterparts, and will therefore be less likely to win,” said Suganthy.
“Taking part in the Junior SIR Challenge also prepares them with experience and help them gain more confidence for future competitions.”
Muhammad Eidlan from SK Seri Budiman won in Kuala Terengganu.
His father Roslee Ramli said Eidlan, the youngest of his three sons, had been keen on spelling competitions ever since he was 5 years old, and would watch the SIR Challenge telecast.
His mother Noor Haizan would also encourage him to read, while his teacher saw his potential and entered him for the Junior SIR Challenge.
“Eidlan went into the competition with confidence, and enjoyed his experience,” said Roslee.
“He is now looking forward to taking part every year.”
The four champions each won RM500.
Santha Devi Arumugam, who teaches in SMK King George V, Negri Sembilan, said while holding the competition was a good idea, the words should not be too difficult so that the children would not be demotivated.
The Junior SIR Challenge presenter in Shah Alam, Roopvanti M. Lakhiani, said she was most impressed by the confidence and enthusiasm displayed by the contestants, despite their young age.
“They were very mature and professional, and when they made a mistake, they took it in stride and just walked away disappointed. It was very encouraging to see such high standards in terms of skills as well as behaviour and attitude.”
She added that the judges had to use words beyond the contestants’ domain to get the top three placing, as there were no misspelled words round after round.
“These contestants can spell words beyond their domain. I am confident the winners will become future champions in primary and secondary categories,” she added.
The Junior SIR Challenge presenter in Alor Star, Sri Wahyuni Mohamed Kham, said the contest served as a good start for young children to improve on their English.
“I give them credit for being able to go up on stage and compete in public at such a young age,” she said.
“Even when they did not get a word right, most took it well although some were disappointed, but thankfully nobody cried.
“In fact, a few even came up to me to say how much they enjoyed the experience and that they would be keen to take part again in the challenge.”
Sri Wahyuni found that the contestants would simply attempt to spell the word given even when they were not sure.
“They were so focused on trying to spell that sometimes they failed to pay attention when we give the definition. As a result, a number had to learn the hard way about homophones.”
The Junior SIR Challenge presenter in Kuala Terengganu, Khairul Sufi, saw mixed reactions from the children when they were on stage.
“Some were nervous and some were afraid, but many kept their cool waiting for what was to come next. One thing for sure, when the children were with their school friends as fellow competitors, they would have greater self-confidence,” he said.
Khairul noted that many children were fine even when they got a word wrong, although some would inevitably display regret for having missed that one letter or not having listened properly to the word definition.
“Trying to comfort little children is not an easy task, so thankfully hardly any openly cried,” he said.
In Kuala Terengganu, however, there were more children who were prepared to further query on the word they were given.
Said Khairul: “Questions would be raised over particular homonyms even when definitions were provided. Well, that’s enthusiasm for you!”
All three presenters found the Junior SIR Challenge contestants to be more relaxed compared with their older counterparts.
“They look as if they were there to try their luck and would have a good time mingling with their friends or those their age from other schools. There is less pressure overall on the Junior SIR Challenge contestants,” said Khairul.
“I have to commend the teachers and parents for not putting pressure on these children. As a result, they were more relaxed and also had good rapport with each other whereas the older contestants, perhaps being more competitive, tended to be more stressed,” said Roopvanti.
“Whenever these younger contestants made a wrong attempt, they did not appear to be upset, possibly because they were not under so much pressure as the older ones.”
Sri Wahyuni said she also found more enthusiasm among contestants who were younger.
“There was even a 5-year-old boy who came with his parents all the way from Perak just to view the proceedings. He was very interested and motivated by what he saw, and said he could not wait to take part when he was old enough!”
The Junior SIR Challenge also received the thumbs up from Ariz Ramli, a Malaysian rap star better known as Caprice, who has made it his mission to see more interactive education taking place in schools.
He said: “The Junior SIR Challenge is a great idea. It’s in line with much of what I believe where education is concerned. Learning has to be more and more interactive to keep young schoolchildren engaged. As it is, children nowadays have access to so much content, games and tools outside of their classrooms. This is one way to get them interested in learning and picking up spelling skills.”
Rajalingam Pillai, a postgraduate student who used to teach in a primary school, also felt that such competitions would help to improve and enrich children’s vocabulary, and would be effective in promoting the ability to spell words correctly to young children.