RULES, PROCESS AND ADVICE AT EACH LEVEL: INSTITUTIONAL, CIRCUITAL, AND REGIONAL The ABC’s of how to do a Spelling Bee

The Spelling Bee Manual– The Key to all information! Introducing this year’s Peace Corps Volunteer Co-Coordinators…. Nicole Carrell (Los Santos) Abby Taylor (Guanacaste) What it has (all in English)… *history/description of a spelling bee *rules *procedures *dates *participation rules *roles of students, judges, teachers, pronouncers, etc. *information on how to practice *contact information

Who and When?? Who can participate?? -any MEP registered student who would like to, regardless of prior English experience (page 3) We are hoping that every MEP region will be represented this year in the Spelling Bee! When are Spelling Bees? -dates can be found in the Spelling Bee Manual for year 2014 (pages 2 & 3) Institutional Bee:  April 21- May 9 Circuital Bee:  May 19- June 6 Regional Bee:  June 16- August 8

The “Levels” “Bumble bee” level: students in 4 th, 5 th, and 6 th grades “Worker bee” level: students in 7 th, 8 th, and 9 th grades “Queen bee” level: students in 10 th, 11 th, and 12 th grades

Top 5 Rules 1. Students are ordered alphabetically; a judge calls a student and gives them a word randomly selected from the word list 2. Student has two minutes to spell the word correctly  may start a word, repeat the same letters, and continue on (demonstrated later) 3. Student may ask the judges to repeat the word, ask for a sentence, or ask for the definition ** They may also write the word down. 4. The judges will decide if a word is correctly pronounced or not… 5. All players will continue on until there is 1 winner! The winner must spell the previous word AND another word correctly to win o All rules (in greater detail) can be found on pages 3 and 4 of the manual

English, English, English!  During the Spelling Bees, please only use English!  Try to have a “motivation” in English from a student  Only the rules may be explained in Spanish for clarification  Rule Change for year 2014 *** in the Circuital, Regional, and Inter-Regional Bee, there will no longer be a Spanish translation for the Elementary competition For institutional bees, teachers/directors may opt to provide the Spanish translation….

By the numbers Institutional Bee  3 *3 students advance to circuital in each level Circuital Bee  3 *3 students advance to regional bee in each level Regional Bee  1 *1 student advances to the inter-regional bee in each level Inter-Regional Bee  1 WINNER

1: Institutional

Can be a big event Or something small in a classroom

Who Is Involved?? What resources Peace Corps has… DIRECTOR -will suggest the idea to the English teacher - he/she will plan a date to have the institutional bee English Teacher! -will commit to teaching English spelling to students On the website…  Letter to the Director  Permission slip template to stay afterschool for classes  Word lists at this level  Ideas for teaching spelling in a classroom setting Institutional Bees!

Advice… Start talking about the Spelling Bee in the first few weeks of school… Make a practice schedule with teachers/students if applicable Allow the students to choose if they want to open the event and invite parents and other students who are not participating Make the event similar to an “acto civico” Offer small prizes and a certificate

2. Circuital

Who is Involved… Resources Peace Corps has… Superviser English Teachers Regional English Adviser Template forms for getting donations for prizes, transport, etc. Certificate templates Words for this level Circuital Bees!

Advice for Circuital Spelling Bees… Not all regions will need a circuital bee…we recommend a circuital if more than 6 schools in a region are participating Try to use only English from this level forward Have the Superviser coordinate a committee of English Teachers to oversee the organization of the Circuital Spelling Bee

3. Regional

Who is involved?? What resources Peace Corps has to offer… Regional English Advisor (and the MEP office) English Teachers Template forms for getting donations for prizes, transport, etc. Certificate templates Words for this level Regional Bees

Advice for Regional Bees Try to involve as many teachers, students, Peace Corps Volunteers and parents as possible Talk to bus companies or directors to see if free transport is an option Form a “Spelling Bee Committee” Solicit local businesses to get prizes at places students frequent

Questions ?

Peace Corps Contact Information for year 2014: Abby Taylor: Nicole Carrell crenglishspellingbee.wordpress.com