Spelling bee puts UAE pupils’ word power to the test

More than 700 pupils showed off their word spelling prowess during the semi-finals of the Danube Spelling Bee Championship in Dubai

Mahima Jaikanth, a pupil at the Indian High School in Dubai, takes her turn during the semi-finals of the Danube Spelling Bee Championship in the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai. Jeff Topping/ The NatioShow more

DUBAI // Hundreds of children are facing an anxious wait to find out if they have qualified for the finals of a national spelling competition.

More than 700 youngsters competed in the semi-finals of the Danube Spelling Bee Championship at the Ductac Theatre in Mall of the Emirates on Friday and Saturday.

Only the top 60 who excelled in the written and oral tests will make it to the finals next month.

“I was more nervous sitting on the chair waiting for my turn than I was when I finally got up,” said Prerana Pai, 11, an Indian pupil at the Delhi Private School in Sharjah.

She said she studied hard to make sure she was prepared for the second semi-final, which took place on Saturday.

“I was confident beforehand and the words I got weren’t that difficult for me,” she said.

“I was really happy because I got both right and I think I did well in the written test in the morning as well. I do a lot of reading so many of the words and meanings I already knew.”

She said she was hopeful of making it to the finals.

“The training I did for the semi-finals took about three weeks, and my mum helped me a lot.”

Mohammed Hashir, 14, a Pakistani pupil from the Cambridge High School in Abu Dhabi, was confident before the competition started but felt a lack of preparation let him down.

“Unfortunately, I only got to practise last Thursday so I don’t think I was able to give it my best shot,” he said.

“The written one went well but I got both of the oral words wrong. I think the pressure of being under the lights got to me a little as well.”

Despite this, he has set his sights on taking part next year.

“I’ll definitely make sure I’m better prepared next time,” he said.

Mridhula Mukund, 11, an Indian pupil at Our Own English High School in Sharjah, found the words difficult to learn but enjoyed her experience.

“My mum helped me a lot by going through some spellings of words with me every night,” she said.

“I was really nervous when I got up on the stage but I had done a lot of revision for both the preliminary stage and this one.

“I got one right and one wrong, so now I’m just hoping I’ve scored enough points from the written test to make it to the final.”

Sri Lankan Panchal Jayasundera, 10, from Cambridge High School in Abu Dhabi, had to focus on his black belt karate grading while also revising for the spelling bee.

“Actually the karate helped me a lot in terms of developing my focus for this competition,” he said.

“I’m hopeful about my chances of getting to the final and even if I don’t I definitely want to take part again next year.”

Nida Samreen, 14, an Indian pupil at Our Own English High School in Al Ain, said it was a daunting task to learn all the words in time for the competition.

“We were given around 2,000 words to learn along with definitions, so it was impossible to get them all down perfectly,” she said.

“I practised an hour a day and I think I did reasonably well with the words I was given.

“I wanted to take part because this was probably the last year I’ll be able to do something like this and I wanted to test myself.

“I read a lot so this is something I’m interested in. Hopefully I’ve done enough to get through.”

The children had a written test in the morning, in which they had to correctly spell 25 words from the list they had been given, as well as some more challenging, surprise words.

The top ranked 60 children will progress to the final on February 8.

Those who qualify will be informed by email on Monday by event organiser Exquity Events.

Details of the winners will also be available on the company's website at www.spellingbeeme.com