Spelling Bee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Historically the word bee has been used to describe a get-together for communal work, like a husking bee, a quilting bee, or an apple bee. According to etymological research recorded in dictionaries, the word bee probably comes from dialectal been or bean (meaning help given by neighbors), which came from Middle English bene (meaning prayer, boon and extra service by a tenant to his lord”), but what does spelling bee mean or when it started and where?  We will talk about all about spelling bee.    

A spelling bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty. To compete, contestants must memorize the spellings of words as written in dictionaries and recite them accordingly.

The concept is thought to have originated in the United States, and spelling bee events, along with variants, are now also held in some other countries around the world. Because most languages have a more predictable spelling system than English, spelling bees are common only in countries where English is spoken.

The earliest known evidence of the phrase spelling bee in print dates to 1850, although an earlier name, spelling match, has been traced back to 1808. A key impetus for the contests was Noah Webster's spelling books. First published in 1786 and known colloquially as "The Blue-backed Speller," Webster's spelling books were an essential part of the curriculum of all elementary school children in the United States for five generations. Now the key reference for the contests is Webster's Third New International Dictionary.

Spelling bees became widespread across the United States during the 1800s, to motivate students to learn standardized spelling. These spelling bees were usually held within individual schools and towns and were not nationally organized. In 1908, the NEA held what it called the "first national spelling bee" at its convention in Cleveland. Marie Bolden, a black girl from Cleveland, was named champion.

The annual United States National Spelling Bee was started in 1925 by The Courier-Journal, the newspaper of Louisville, Kentucky. The winner was Frank Neuhauser, who won the 1st National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in 1925 at the age of eleven.

In 1941, the Scripps Howard News Service acquired sponsorship of the program, and the name changed to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. Later, the name was shortened to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Besides competitors from the 50 U.S. states, several come from Canada, the Bahamas, New Zealand, and European countries.

In the United States, spelling bees are annually held from local levels up to the level of the Scripps National Spelling Bee which awards a cash prize to the winner. The National Spelling Bee is sponsored by English-language newspapers and educational foundations; it is also broadcast on ESPN. Since 2006, the National Spelling Bee's championship rounds have been broadcast on ABC live. In 2005, contestants came from the Bahamas, Jamaica, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Canada, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, and a German military base, as well as the United States. This was the first year that spellers from Canada and New Zealand attended the competition. The final authority for words is the Webster's Third New International Dictionary.^] The annual study list is available from Scripps, either online or in print.

The National Senior Spelling Bee started in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1996. Sponsored by the Wyoming AARP, it is open to contestants 50 and older. Maria Dawson is the only contestant to ever win two back-to-back titles at the National Senior Spelling Bee.

The South Asian Spelling Bee is another spelling bee platform in the US. This annual contest takes place across the US each summer in search of the next South Asian-American spelling champ between the ages of 8 and 14 years old. Launched in 2008, the South Asian Spelling Bee will tour 10 US cities in 2011 and is broadcast globally via the satellite channel, Sony Entertainment Television Asia.

Holding spelling bees in English, with its irregular spelling, makes more sense than in languages that have much more familiar spelling. Some languages, like Hindi, are based fully on phonetics and have regular spellings; and therefore, there are very few spelling bees in these languages.