On May 12, 2012, 20 students aged 9-14 from 18 towns and villages all over Bulgaria competed for the title of Bulgarian Spelling Bee Champion. After a challenging three and a half hour contest and having exhausted the words from the predefined list, the word “Emphasis” determined the winner.
The 12-year old 5th grader from Friedrich Schiller School in Russe triumphed over his peers under the applause of the audience. Mr. Pforzheimer, co-chair of the Board of Directors of the America for Bulgaria Foundation (ABF), Mr. Bauer, ABF President, and Mr. Mikel Herrington, Peace Corps country director in Bulgaria 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.
The second Bulgarian National English Spelling Bee was launched on March 23, 2012 and was conducted in three rounds. More than 4,500 from 200 schools all over the country competed in the first phase. The 200 winners from the school round continued to the regional phase of the contest that took place in ten cities: Sofia, Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovo, Varna, Vratsa, Bansko, Smolyan, Haskovo, Burgas, and Rzagrad. The top two spellers from each of the regional bees competed for the title of Bulgarian Spelling Bee Champion.
The 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. Bulgaria joined the Spelling Bee club in 2011 as a result of the initiative of the Peace Corps volunteers in Bulgaria, their close collaboration with the Centre for Inclusive Education, and the funding provided by America for Bulgaria Foundation.
