Up against the best in Asia

Freshfrom the Spell-It-Right Challenge last month, NST Malaysia Spelling Team members siblings Ng Wan Wei and Anna Ng did the country proud at the event

T4th Asia Spelling Cup (ASC) held in Bangkok, Thailand on Nov 12 ended with two Malaysian spellers — Anna Ng, 12, and Ng Wan Wei, 14 — winning top spots in the primary and secondary schoollevel categories respectively.

Still fresh from the RHB-New Straits Times National Spell-It-Right (SIR) Challenge in October, siblings Wan Wei and Anna, representing the NST Malaysia Spelling Team, kept their nerve during the gruelling competition in their respective categories.

Held at Conrad Bangkok Hotel, the ASC 2016 saw 52 primary and secondary school students from Malaysia, Indonesia and China competing to claim the mantle of Asia’s best speller, tackling words such as “braggadocio”, “gnathonic” and “schipperke”.

Wan Wei had to face his challenger, Cheng Chi, from China, in a record 18 rounds, before taking first place in the secondary school-level while Anna battled seven rounds with Thai student, Pitiprapa Tanawattanakul, 11, before she won by spelling “salmonella” correctly.

Pitiprapa successfully spelt words such as “rhinoceros” and “benefactor”, before incorrectly spelling “vigilante”.

With a different format compared to the SIR Challenge, the Malaysian spellers had to familiarise themselves with ASC, dubbed the largest spelling bee in Asia.

Wan Wei, the SIR 2016 national champion in the secondary school category, said he had to familiarise himself with the competition format so that he would not get too nervous on stage.

“The formats for the ASC and SIR Challenge are totally different. It was nerve-racking as I had to go through 18 rounds in a final showdown of two contestants before I won.

“The SIR Challenge was good preparation for the ASC 2016, and learning the dictionary paid off in the end. In the weeks leading up to the ASC, I spent few hours every day after school learning words from the dictionary,” he added.

Wan Wei from SMK St Francis, Malacca said the ability to place words in context helps him to remember them.

“I had a great weekend, starting with the flight where I watched X-Men Apocalypse. The Thai food on board, while spicy, was delicious.

“I intend to take part in ASC again next year,” he added.

Anna also enjoyed competing in the ASC 2016 as it gave her international exposure.

“I prepared for the competition in the same way as my brother, by learning words from the dictionary. I also read and listed words from classic books which is a good way to learn words new to me, and much more fun.

“I had a great trip to Bangkok and I also brought back a cheque,” said Anna, from SK Convent Infant Jesus 2 in Malacca.

Michelle Ong, 16, from Sekolah Methodist Wesley, Kuala Lumpur won third place for the secondary level of the ASC 2016.

“My experiences in the SIR Challenge helped a lot during the ASC 2016. I have always been interested in language.

“Even though the format is different but in terms of preparation, I count reading as the best practice. Some people learn words from the dictionary, but reading over a lifetime beats slogging any day,” Ong said.

Another NST Malaysia Spelling team member, Engku Adriana Sofiyah Wan Ahmad Shukri, 16, from SMK Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam said the ASC 2016 was great exposure as she was able to broaden her vocabulary.

“As the levels progressed, more of the words presented had their origins in other languages such as Greek or French. For me, the word ‘rejoneador’ — a bullfighter who fights the bull on horseback — is a tough one and I spelt it wrongly,” said Engku Adriana Sofiyah.

For Sidessh Sivalingam, 10, from SK Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, competing against students from Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and China was overwhelming as he did not know their abilities.

“For the first two rounds I felt fine but in the third round I got quite nervous and lost focus. I felt I had prepared well by reading the dictionary daily. But it was indeed a very good experience,” said Sidessh, who won the SIR 2016 primary school-level category.

Nur Sarah Qistina Helmy, 10, from SK Bandar Baru Uda 2, Johor Baru said she was up against a bigger number of participants and had shorter time to spell a word.

However, her strategy was the same for both events.

“I had prepared a lot for the ASC, reading the dictionary every day and my dad asked me to write down complex and hard-to-spell words and learn them.

“My spelling has improved and I would like to compete in ASC again,” she added.

Darren Leong, 17, from SMK St Michael, Ipoh also had to adjust to the ASC format. “In the ASC, you have to ask for the definition and its use in a sentence while the SIR Challenge provides them.

“Additionally, at the SIR Challenge finals, you have five words to spell but in the ASC, it is a knockout,” he said, who had to sit the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia exams two days after the ASC 2016.

The ASC is organised by Qooco, a mobile language solutions provider. Qooco chief executive officer David Topolewski said that it has been another successful ASC, following three editions.

“This year we have doubled the number of finalists, and we saw a marked improvement in performances from the Thai and Chinese students who performed admirably. Many of the words were long and very tricky, with hidden letters and pronunciations, yet the students confidently spelt them correctly, which was a joy to see. We will be back next year with an even bigger event.”

For the first time, the ASC 2016 was broadcast via Facebook Live, with more than 4,000 viewers following the action from around the region. View the video on the ASC Facebook page @AsiaSpellingCup.