Registration for Dubai Spelling Bee open till October 20

The preliminary rounds will run from October to December and the semi-finals will be hosted on January 10 and 11. Finals will be held on February 8, 2014.

By Staff Reporter

Published: Wed 16 Oct 2013, 12:44 AM

Last updated: Sat 4 Apr 2015, 10:57 AM

The hunt for Dubai’s best spelling bee has started with the third edition already getting underway. Students from all over the UAE have been invited to register for this year’s competition, with the winner receiving an all-expense paid trip to watch the finals in the USA.

Student registrations are open till October 20 and the contest will follow a series of elimination rounds in the lead-up to the semi-finals and the finals.

The preliminary rounds will run from October to December and the semi-finals will be hosted on January 10 and 11. Finalists will join a grand showdown on February 8, 2014 at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. The competition which started in 2011 as the first of its kind in the Middle East region is built along the lines of the hugely popular Spelling Bee in USA. Every year, around 11 million school children worldwide participate in local spelling bee contests.

Participants have a chance to learn the intricacies of the English language, and master words not only from Latin, French and Greek but also from other esoteric languages such as Arabic, Hindi, Persian and Malay.

The focus of the contest is not only in memorising spellings and in getting them right but also increasing the understanding of words, their meaning, history and use. The contest format in the UAE has been slightly modified to be fair to students from different curricula. Special allowances will be made for pronunciations and spellings that differ in American and British English.

Students from grades 6 to 10 can participate in the event with special scholarships and cash rewards for teams. A reward of Dh85,000 will also be distributed under the Metlife Alico Gulf Scholarships with the champions getting Dh25,000! In addition to cash prizes EMAX will give away Galaxy Note2, Ipad New, Laptops and so on.

Last year’s winner Pranathi Rao from Gems Modern Academy was invited by the US Scripps National Spelling Bee to witness the finals in Washington DC. For more information or to download the registration form, visit www.spellingbeeuae.com or call 0505017735.

muaz@khaleejtimes.com