Multilingual spelling bee at university
OVER thirty year seven pupils from eleven schools across Wales came to Bangor University recently to compete in the national final of the Routes into Languages Cymru Spelling Bee competition, a collaborative project between five Welsh universities, the four regional consortia and the British Council to promote language learning and increase the number of young people choosing to study modern foreign languages.
Pupils competed against the clock to win the title of Spelling Bee Champion 2019 and a glass trophy in one of four categories. Competitors were supported by teachers, parents, and the student language ambassadors of Bangor University’s School of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics. The finalists had already competed in three previous rounds to make it to the national final where they had 60 seconds to correctly spell as many words as they could from a possible one hundred French, German, Spanish, or Welsh words.
Four of the five north Wales schools participating, in the GwE consortium, made it to the final round. Emma James of St. Joseph’s Catholic and Anglican High School, Wrexham came first in the German spelling final. Other finalists from north Wales include Joseph Greenall (St. Joseph’s, German), Alexandra Owen-Hatfield (Alun School, German), Grace Powell (Ysgol Eirias, German), Amelie Surridge (Ysgol Eirias, French), Safiya Wandji (St. Joseph’s, French), and Chloe Jackson (Ysgol Rhiwabon, French).
Special guests at the final included Cllr John Wyn Williams (Mayor of the City of Bangor) and Hywel Williams (MP for Arfon), the latter of whom found that “It was a great event. The young people were truly inspiring (and humbling to a mere bilingual!)”.