On May 14, 2011, 21 students aged 9-14 from all over Bulgaria competed for the title of Bulgarian Spelling Bee Champion. After a challenging two hour contest and having exhausted the words from the predefined list, the word “Recommendation” determined the winner. The 13-year old 6th grader from Dr. Peter Beron School in Kostinbrod Alexander Alexandrov triumphed over his peers under the applause of the audience.
The U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria James Warlick congratulated the finalists and recognized each one of them with a certificate of achievement and a trophy. The special award for the winner was a Kindle, an electronic reading device. All finalists and their English language teachers will camp for a week in the summer to further improve their language skills.
A Spelling Bee is a traditional American competition in which contestants spell an English word and are eliminated for misspelling. It was first held in the United States in 1925 and has since grown into a renowned and coveted competition. Nowadays, spelling competitions are held in many countries worldwide and have been adapted and implemented as a proven and effective English-language teaching tool.
This first Bulgarian National English Spelling Bee was organized by volunteers from the Peace Corps in partnership with the Centre for Inclusive Education and funded by America for Bulgaria Foundation. The competition had three phases. The first phase took place during the week of March 21 with over 1,000 students, 9-14 years old, participating from nearly 60 schools in 50 cities around the country. Over 120 students competed in the second phase at 7 regional competitions, which took place on April 16, 2011 in Sofia, Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo, Rousse, Sliven, Plovdiv and Gotse Delchev. The top three spellers from each of the regional bees competed for the title of Bulgarian Spelling Bee Champion.
