The 8th edition of the Spelling Bee of China (SPBCN) International Finals ended in Beijing on July 16, and Team Bolt from SUIS Qingpu finished their second showcase with an impressive performance, taking the honour of being this year’s champions!
Originating in the United States with an almost century-long history, the Spelling Bee is now an international competition. The competition includes nine different events, requiring participating teams to be well prepared. The English Department in SUIS Qingpu’s Middle School started preparing for the competition since September of last year. The Chinese Head of English Department, Ms. Du, and Grade 6 English teacher Ms. Jiang recruited students from each class to form a school team, and set up weekly CCA sessions for intensive training over two semesters in order to prepare them well for the contest. In addition, students made a final push during the summer vacation through online classes right up until the competition.
Speeling Bee
The Spelling Bee competition originated in the United States in 1925 and is held nationwide in May of each year in the form of an individual competition. In 2015, the Spelling Bee of China (SPBCN) officially introduced this international English event in China for the very first time, where it has been successfully held for the past eight years. The first team-based Spelling Bee competition, called the International Team Spelling Olympiad (ITSO), took place in 2016. It was in this competition that our students recently participated and achieved great success.
The Middle School team competition includes nine types of events: Speed Spell, Letter by Letter, Guess and Spell, Show and Spell, Laser Letter, Super Words, Word Link, Mystery Sentence, and Language Origin. Each member of the team participates in 1 or 2 events. Each event won during the competition earns one point for the team, and the team with the most points in total wins at the end.
The coach and contestants all shared that they gained a lot from this competition. Let us meet the members of Team Bolt as they share their personal experiences about the competition.
这是我们第二次参加年度总决选。此次比赛的结果让我感到非常欣慰和自豪。获得这个荣誉，肯定了我们学生们一年以来的付出和努力。然而，除了荣誉之外更重要的是学生通过一年的训练学习了3000多个词汇，同时提高了个人能力。现在的他们更坚持不懈、更努力、更有韧性！
我为我们学生出色的勤奋和合作感到无比自豪。他们坚定不移的奉献精神、卓越的团队合作以及对学习英语的坚定确实值得赞扬。最重要的是，他们对英语的热情以及他们一贯阅读原版书籍以提高词汇量的习惯在夺冠之路上发挥了至关重要的作用。
作为第二次参加SPBCN的老队员，这个比赛真的让我受益匪浅。在比赛过程中时常会出现一些小的surprise ，让气氛更加活跃起来。这次最激动的就是突破speed spell两分钟 拼出30个单词的难关！Pronouncer， judge和director都很给力！
大家好！我是负责词源的杨奕辰Luna。
第二次参加SpellingBee我已经不是当初毫无经验的小白。通过多次历练，当时那个站在舞台上双腿发抖的女孩已经不在了，现在我可以从容的面对考官以及台下的观众，这是值得骄傲的。
参加SpellingBee使我懂了很多英语的神奇之处。英语单词平常背起来看似乏味，但是当我们领会它有趣的灵魂的时候，便像开通了另一个大门。尤其是词源，在参加SpellingBee之前，我并没有接触这个板块的单词。但是里面包含各个国家独特的拼写和习俗使我被它深深地吸引了。
事实证明，SpellingBee不仅给我提供了展现自我的机会和舞台，还让我更加中意英语，领会它的内涵。
本次能参加SPBCN令我感到非常兴奋激动，同时能在冠军队伍里我也倍感荣幸。SPBCN给了我们更大的锻炼机会与展示舞台，同时也能在这里认识不同的人。希望队伍能继续努力变得更强，也希望Spelling bee这一比赛欣欣向荣。
I was proud of myself for achieving the status of ‘champion’ at the 2022-2023 SPBCN. After the first round our teacher was worried that we might not have the chance to be in the top two teams, upon seeing all our forceful opponents. However, I thought that we still had a little chance, perhaps one percent, to be the winner. Surprisingly, that one percent was magnified in subsequent stages, and we earned an unprecedented honour for our school, being the national champion of the 2022-2023 SPBCN.
It was an amazing experience joining the Spelling Bee Competition for the first time. I was so glad to meet and work with my reliable teammates, dedicated teachers and respectable competitors. The moment I experienced holding the trophy and gold medal was exciting and sweet!
这次参加比赛，我不仅学习了许多新单词，还锻炼了团队合作能力和赛时的抗压能力。在团队的共同努力下，我们最终获得了冠军，这让我深刻地认识到只有不断努力才能取得成功。
这次的比赛不仅是对词汇的考验更是对大家心态、团队合作的考验。我们每个人在比赛中的职责都随着比赛的推动而变化着。我们队友之间甚至对手之间都会一起练单词，收获了快乐，也获得了友谊。
