Guidelines for Coaches in Preparing Students for Spelling Bee Events

Guidelines for Coaches in Preparing Students for Spelling Bee Events

Spelling English words is quite a tricky and complex ordeal, especially for the fact that English is largely a non-phonological language(English words are not really spelt according to the way they are pronounced). There is actually nobody who knows and can spell all the words in English. Even among teachers of the language, the dilemma of spelling is encountered amidst the irregularity and inconsistencies in spellings — the confusion is multi-faceted as complicated by the realities of innumerable and inconsistent spelling rules.

When the responsibility to teach spelling arises, a lot of concerns are faced: which words should be studied? How should they master words? How can they master spelling unfamiliar words? What are the tricks to spelling correctly? What kind of students should I select to represent my school? Etc.

As an experienced coach and professional pronouncer for years, here are some tips I’d like to share with coaches in training spellers for spelling bee events:

If you are training secondary school students, identify students who understand phonetics. By that, I mean, select students who understand English sounds. In fact, the first test you should administer before selecting students for a bee is phonetics test. You see, students who understand English sounds have high chances of excelling in spelling bee events. There are tricky situations in spelling bee events that make a lot of spellers fail or drop out at early stages. Issues like understanding the difference between long and short vowels in spelling, differentiating the various spellings of English diphthongs, understanding the spellings of words with confusing sounds such as /ʌ/ˌ /ʒ/ˌ /ɜ:/ˌ /θ/ˌ /ð/ˌ etc. A student who doesn’t have much mastery about English sounds can only attempt to spell by familiarity of words or presumption.
Select students who naturally love reading. Such students have a high command of vocabulary, thus have more words in their head bank. Students who don’t read a lot can only depend on the words they know; they will require extra practice to get in more words in their head.
If the students you are training are in senior classes, have a mixture of art and science students in the team. There are words that they can independently spell as learnt from their different or peculiar subjects. With that, they can complement and make a strong spelling team.
Don’t just give students word lists and go to sleep, expecting that they are supposed to cram all the words well. Yes, that is part of it. But beyond that, you need to organize a schedule where they compete among themselves as an in-house challenge/contest. If you need five students for the event, choose 10 or 25 students and create a schedule for an in-house challenge. With this, more seriousness is imbibed and the students will want to do all they can to qualify for the challenge out there.
Identify students with high retention/cramming memory. Yes, cramming words is also a required technique/skill for spellers. Where you have a given word list that will be used for the contest, students with high level of retention can do well in that.
Teach spellers some spelling rules – rules that are quite consistent, like I before e except after c, (relief, receive, etc.), doubling the consonant after short vowels, but a single consonant after long vowels or diphthongs(peeling, pilling, baling, balling, reaping, ripping, etc.) and more rules, especially those amounting to a lot of confusions. Don’t give students word list and go to sleep. Teach them spelling rules as well; it will help them understand some peculiarities in spelling.
Identify students with high level of confidence. I have seen excellent spellers who misspell simple words because they could not bear the pressure on stage. How to hold the mic, speak into the mic and even how to stand on stage tells the level of a speller’s confidence. Look out for all of that as you prepare them.
Teach correct pronunciation of words. I highlighted this point because it accounts for 50% of failure in spelling bee events. Even as a coach, if you don’t even know how to deduce correct pronunciation of English words through their IPA’s, you are not qualified to teach spelling, because you will not be able to proffer solutions to effective and correct pronunciation of words. Most students have failed in spelling events because the word they naturally know, was pronounced correctly, as opposed to what they know, but they took it to be an unfamiliar word, or spelt another word in assumption. For instance, if a student doesn’t know that ‘prophet’ is also pronounced as ‘profit’, they will spell ‘profit’ when the pronouncer asks them to spell ‘prophet’. The only escape route is where such a student is smart enough to ask for the meaning of the word or its usage in context.
Spellers should always use their spelling live lines even when they are sure of the words: ask for the meaning, sentence usage and re-pronunciation. With that, presumption is minimized.
Lastly, PRAY for luck. I usually tell spellers that in spelling events, 40% of your chances are based on LUCK. Yes, luck. Imagine a student who practiced and memorised one thousand words, but gets unlucky to be given an unfamiliar word, and they get eliminated? In some cases, the best spellers get unlucky. Painful! So you also find spellers who get lucky to spell a word out of the 100 words they’ve practiced, then they immerge the winner. That’s life, actually. However, preparation is key, and should be taken seriously.

For further professional advice, or you need someone to train your students for spelling contests, reach out to me on 08080538089.