George Nettels students compete in Spelling Bee |
Huinam Bae is not your average student at George Nettels Elementary School. The fifth-grader just moved to Pittsburg in August from her native country of Korea and has spent two hours every day in addition to her usual schoolwork in tackling English. Apparently, her tutor did a good job, as Bae finished second at the school's spelling bee Friday afternoon. Third-grader Joseph Mathew won the bee, and along with Bae and fellow third-grader Mark Weaver, will go to Girard for the Crawford County Spelling Bee on Feb. 24 in Girard. Bae was stumped on the word theory, spelling it t-h-e-r-y. Mathew calmly stood up and slowly spelled the word, t-h-e-o-r-y, then handled antelope in the same fashion for the title. And while some students may have thought Mathew was not very confident in his spelling ability, he was just taking good advice - from his parents. "My parents told me to," he said. Mathew and Weaver didn't do too bad either, considering they were first-timers at the bee. "I studied all the words every day," Mathew said of his strategy to get ready for the competition. "My mom kept giving me spelling words to spell," Weaver said. Bae actually had a chance to win the bee as soon as the field was trimmed down to herself and Mathew. But she tripped over unnecessary right after Mathew missed it. Then Mathew correctly spelled leopard, Bae misspelled theory, and Mathew correctly spelled theory and antelope. "I'm nervous and happy," Bae said about the opportunity to participate in the county bee. As for preparing for the county bee, it's back to the drawing board for the trio. "I've got to get all the words ready," Mathew said," referring to studying the list provided for the county bee. In two weeks, we'll know how well they did. The Morning Sun, (www.morningsun.net) February 11, 2006 |
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