KUALA LUMPUR: THE search for the top spellers from primary and secondary schools in the country continues with only two more states remaining before the National Finals in October.
Entering into its ninth edition, the RHB New Straits Times Spell-it-Right (SIR) Challenge saw 11 states champions being named and four more spots left for the finals.
The journey has so far seen more new faces taking part in the challenge with new state champions being crowned.
The competition was fierce for Negri Sembilan, the home of Kenneth Wu who was crowned the national best speller for six consecutive years, during the primary and secondary state-level challenges held at the Seremban Prima Mall.
The contestants were all well-prepared while teachers and parents were seen to give them moral support as well as helping the participants with their last revision.
V Latashah, 17, student of SMK King George V had stood out among the 100-odd spellers for secondary category.
Latashah, despite having to prepare for her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia trial examination rather than the competition, had spelt all her words right from the preliminary round.
The secondary school winner was also confident that she could be the national best speller and hope to continue her senior, Kenneth’s legacy.
In Malacca, two siblings took the centre-stage at the recently concluded primary and secondary state-level challenge.
Twelve-year-old Ng Anna from SK Convent Infant Jesus (2) in Malacca is the primary state-level champion while her brother Ng Wan Wei, 14, from SMK St Francis is the secondary state-level champion category.
Last year, Wan Wei took the third spot and was the youngest of all the 10 finalists, and this year he beat much older competitors as well, including last year’s state champion.
Their father, Ng Swee Poh, 71, was thrilled that both his children made it to the National final.
Being supportive of his children’s involvement, Swee Poh was seen penning down every word that was spelt by the contestants.
First-timer Nor Sarah Qistina Helmy, 10, from SK Bandar Baru Uda 2 in Johor Baru managed to overcome her nervousness every time she had to spell all the words given to her.
Though she had stumbled at spelling the word “fiduciary”, and thought that she had lost hope of winning the challenge, she stood tall and emerged the champion, beating 91 other spellers.
“The younger pupils showed more commitment to the challenge but I would say that the older ones were more knowledgeable about how to spell and it was obvious they had the exposure to reading.
“They were more relaxed compared to the primary students who didn’t know the word most of the times,” said judge Selva Rany Appuduray.
Selva Rany who took the role in the state level challenge in Malacca recently, advised the state champions to be prepared, listen to a word being pronounced along with the phonetic symbols as this can help them to spell better.
“During the challenge, they have to listen to the presenter carefully on the word, meaning and sentence.
“I would suggest they spell the word slowly and clearly. Only then the judge and auditor can get them clearly. Sometimes even an ‘a’ and an ‘e’ cannot be differentiated.
“Last but not least, of course the three magical steps. ‘Say the word, spell and submit the word’,” she said.
During the state level challenge in Johor Baru, presenter Anne James can’t help but have a soft spot for the primary school students who are literally trembling in fear.
“I always endeavour to calm them down and get them to focus on something else before we get down to the spelling. The secondary school students, due to their age, appear for the most part, to be better able to calm their nerves.
“I remember there was one student who asked for the origin of the word, I hope she keeps at it.
“I believe there is always room for improvement. As English standards steadily drop in the country, it becomes ever harder for students to become better spellers.
“But their attempt to become good spellers will help them become better English language speakers. The proximity of Johor Baru to Singapore is an advantage that should be exploited for improvement in language acquisition,” said Anne.
She added that memorising the spelling for words is good but learning the meanings of words is important as understanding English spelling rules gives the disciplined speller an
added advantage.
Another familiar face for the challenge, Raymond Goh, who was the presenter at the Negri Sembilan state challenge, said many of them are first-timers and a small percentage have wide vocabulary.
While most secondary school students have better vocabularies, they are not far off from some of the better primary school students, he added.
“As far as I can recall, many primary school pupils struggled with the words. But this could be attributed to the tougher wordlist. Overall, both groups of students had difficulties from Round 2 onwards.
“My advice for them would be to practice spelling as much as they can, especially multi-syllabic words.
“Most times they know how to spell but carelessly leave a letter out or add one in and sometimes just jumble up the whole word when they spell,” he said.
The State Challenge will continue today in Sarawak and Pahang with Kuala Lumpur and Perlis being the last two venues next week.