Spelling bee competition comes to Tembisa

The first ever spelling bee competition in Tembisa will see learners from Tembisa and Midrand schools contending to be crowned as the best spellers.

Tembisa Midrand Spelling Bee director and coordinator Rodney Mashiane said the spelling bee event will take place on August 26 at Sam Hlalele Community Hall.

“Twenty high schools will be taking part. We did interviews at each school and four learners from each school were selected. We are in partnership with OR Tambo International Airport,” he said.

Rodney said they looked at Tembisa and realised that there were too many youth events that involved alcohol.

“We wanted to come up with an event that would be both fun and educational for young people.

“We did our research and found that learners in Grade 11 and Grade 12 were struggling with the spelling and pronunciation of English words,” said Rodney.

“We want this to instill a culture of reading and writing. Young people have poor grammar, and spelling problems; and this is influenced by their use of social networks. We are looking forward to our first spelling bee and we will have coaches who will be training these learners.”

The Tembisan spoke to some of the participants.

Maria Baloyi from Ikusasa Comprehensive School said she entered the competition because she knew that she could spell many different words.

“I was motivated by Leshole from Skeem Saam. He showed me that even shy people or misfits are able to make it in the world.

“I’m also a motivation to my little brother, Tshepo, who is seven years old,” said Maria.

“The spelling bee is interesting because it comes with a combination of feelings – fear and excitement.”

Koketso Mamogobo said she entered the Tembisa Midrand Spelling Bee because she wanted to prove to herself and others that she could spell and do well in life.

“I got motivated by a movie called Akeelah and the Bee. My English teacher Miss Hlatshwayo also motivated me to enter the spelling competition and I took her words into consideration,” said the Ikusasa Comprehensive School learner, 16-year-old Koketso Mamogobo.

Phomolong Secondary School learner Michael Sibanda said he had to lessen his time with his dance crew.

“I got rid of distractions like social media and so forth and spent less time with friends to focus on the competition,” he said.

Also read

https://tembisan.co.za/42204/make-reading-a-daily-habit-2/