I received an urgent email last Wednesday when I was in Costa Rica. The email was from the principal of my school asking if I would be willing to serve as a judge for a spelling bee on March 14-15. The spelling bee is sponsored by the Association of Christian Schools International and 5th graders from our school will be participating. Of course, I said I'd be happy to help. After all those years of helping my kids study spelling words, I guess what goes around, comes around.
Decisions always have consequences, right? Today I received an email letting me know that I have been selected as the "Spelling Master" for the 5th and 6th grade students. Here's the job of the spelling master:
1. Initiate the bee with a practice round. (There is no elimination during the practice round.)
2. Pronounce the word to be spelled and automatically give a sentence. Address it to the contestant.
3. Listen as the contestant spells, and kindly communicate whether he or she can continue in the bee. (Example: “That is correct” or “I’m sorry. That is incorrect.)
It didn't sound impossible until I saw the list of words! Oh my goodness, get a look at some of these words--profligacy, chasuble, matronymic, thaumaturgist, wedeln--just to name a few. Nope, never heard of nor pronounced many of the words. The really bad thing is my ability to pronounce words in English is now all messed up by trying to pronounce words in Spanish. Note the directions say I have to use the words in a sentence--I'm assuming that they will provide the sentences for me as there is no way for me to create a sentence "on the fly," especially since I'm clueless as to the meaning of many of the words!
Please pray for me as I try to prepare . . . I've been looking the words up online and listening to the pronunciation! I want all the kids to do well, but I really hope that we can stay on the easy and average word list!
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