This Friday on 11-Jan-14 I attended the semi-finals of third UAE Spelling Bee Championship. After successfully clearing the preliminary round it was an enchanting experience to see hundreds of students participate in Semi Final.

The selected students now will move to finals slated on 08-Feb-14. After the contest I?m keeping my fingers crossed for the result.

There was a written exam followed by oral round where all the participants are called on stage to spell two words pronounced by the pronouncer.

This contest has origin in USA way back in 1925. It is a part of US culture & the US winner is invited to the white house. It is the longest-running educational contest in the United States of America. The concept has since travelled in modified version across the world, with 11 million children participating each year at events in countries such as the UK, India, Australia, Japan, China and New Zealand, among others. The competition aims to not only improve spelling but increase understanding of words, their meaning, history and use.

It is a live spelling competition where contestants are asked to spell English words. The objective is to improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts & develop correct English usage. The championship is open to pupils from all schools across all emirates from grades 6 to 10