Spanish Spelling Bees

Spelling bees have long been a staple of elementary schools throughout the United States as well as other parts of the world.

I remember when I was a kid in elementary school, one of the fourth grade teachers decided that it would be a good idea to hold a spelling bee during class.

Now, I was a decent student and I liked to read so I thought that this would be a fun activity to do. (I mean, hey, whatever it takes to get out of class, right?) So the different fourth grade teachers all asked their students who would like to participate in the spelling bee. Since I wanted to get out of class, I volunteered.

What they didn't tell everyone, though, was that whoever didn't participate would be able to go out to the playground for the duration of the spelling bee.

WHAT!?? I couldn't believe it. I volunteered to do the spelling bee to get out of class and here I am stuck in a classroom while everyone else (except those other poor fools who signed up like I did) got to be free playing tether ball and kickball?

Unbelievable.

Well, there were about 20 kids in the classroom and the way the spelling bee worked was that when it was your turn, you got a word. If you spelled the word wrong, you were out. Well, they went down the row and finally it was my turn. Nobody had gotten one wrong yet but that changed. The word was fragrance and I don't remember how I spelled it, but I didn't spell it incorrectly on purpose. I actually tried to get it right.

I was subsequently kicked out of the spelling bee and got to go play!

So what does all this have to do with Spanish?

Glad you asked. I just read an article in the Chicago Tribune about how there are now Spanish spelling bees. That's right, spelling bees with Spanish vocabulary!

That is one of the coolest things I have ever heard of. I didn't realize that these have been going on in other parts of the country, as well. What a great way to not only give students some incentive or something to look forward to in studying a second language, but for those students for whom Spanish is their first language, holding a Spanish spelling bee is awesome for helping them to see the value that their language, and subsequently their culture has in the United States.

We often hear about how people want English-only this and English-only that, and it's very refreshing to see that people are in fact embracing Spanish and showing native speakers that "Yes, we are glad to have your culture here and we value it as well."

Maybe this will help children of parents from Latin America not feel ashamed of the countries and cultures they come from and will be proud of who they are .

Who would have thought, Spanish spelling bees the answer to foreign language phobia in the United States?