In the spirit of friendly competition and cooperation, five of Franschhoek’s Primary Schools: Bridge House, Dalubuhle, Groendal, Wemmershoek and Wes-Eind came together at the 2nd Franschhoek Literary Festival Spelling Bee finale.
This competition for primary school learners is aimed at generating support for a new community library by creating a buzz about books - a vision that the Franschhoek Literary Festival supports. With technology improving, the reading ability of our next generation is decreasing and this ultimately starts with the knowledge of how to spell. The bee is just a fun way to promote a reading culture in our community and lends the opportunity for our valley schools to all participate on one level and on one platform.
This year the competition attracted a staggering 32 learners compared to only 14 the previous year. The bee started of casually with the odd learner being eliminated in the first and second rounds. This however did not last very long as the emotions soon build up to nail biting tension with just four contestants to go. What turned out to be a classic movie magic moment was when the judges ran out of words due to the unbelievable spelling knowledge of the final contestants. In the end a winner was chosen based on the amount of questions that was answered correctly.
Nina Conde (Bridge House grade 7) won first prize, with Justin Wooding (Wes-Eind grade 6) as the 1st runner up and Jasmien Ruiters (Wes-Eind grade 7) as the 2nd runner-up.
The 2 final words that placed Nina in the top spot were Philanthropist and Xenophobia. As overall winner she walked away with a cash prize sponsored by Bumble Bee Play School, a 3rd edition oxford English dictionary, a pharos bilingual dictionary an "Akeelah and the Bee" dvd and a trophy.
The bar has certainly been raised this year and the competition will be held again in 2011. The spelling bee is a great initiative which promotes the basics of education and ensures healthy competition.
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