Fairmont K-6 Spelling Bee|力邁中美國際學校雙語融合項目小學K-6年級英語拼詞大賽

　　This November, Fairmont grades K-6 completed their semiannual spelling bee. The school hosts a spelling bee in each semester as an opportunity for students to demonstrate the literacy, phonics, and vocabulary acquisition skills they have practiced throughout the semester.

　　Fairmont Academic Director Ms. Rosa emphasized that the spelling bee was “a fun competition for our students. We want all of them to understand that they can take these skills from the classroom and out into the world, and this spelling bee lets them begin to do that.” Due to epidemic control and prevention policies, each class hosted their own competition, with a challenging list of words specially curated by each classroom’s Language Arts teacher. These wordlists consisted of 80-100 words chosen from the content of previous Social Studies, Math, Language Arts, and Science Lessons.

　　After studying their lists, students steeled themselves for the first round of the competition: a written spelling test consisting of thirty words read aloud by the class’s Language Arts teacher. In the second round, the ten highest scoring students performed in another written test, this time with more challenging words. Finally, the top five students entered the most challenging phase of the competition. Now, rather than writing words on a test, students spelled orally on stage in front of their cheering classmates. Some of our winning words included: government, performance, addition, comprehension, and Antarctica.

　　Winning students received a variety of prizes. School administration awarded the top three students of each class a certificate signed by Principal Liu, as well as a bilingual dictionary for the first place student, a special pencil case for the second place student, and a set of markers for the third place student. Additionally, teachers provided gifts of their own to their classes. Some of these prizes included ice cream, engraved trophies, and books.

　　The spelling bee provides an important opportunity for LiMai students to demonstrate the knowledge and language skills they have acquired in class. On the value on the competition, Ms. Esther, homeroom teacher for grade 4’s Eagles class, said “our students really need this chance to enhance their functional vocabulary, and it gives us a big moment to recognize our achievements in phonics, reading, and also in spoken English. The skills are all crucial for longterm development of literacy.”

　　FAIRMONT

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