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REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED FOR 2016!               2013 Paris Spelling Bee sign and trophies, by Cecilia BaronWelcome to the 8th Annual Paris Spelling Bee (PSB). Registration for the 2016 Bee opens on December 1, 2015. The event is open to English-speaking students currently in CM1-6ème (4th-6th grade). Click here to download the registration form.

Please also visit the 2016 Invitation, FAQs and Registration Form pages on our blog.

Here are some important dates for your 2015-2016 calendar.

COMMUNITY BEE EVENTS

Saturday December 5, 2015 — Language Comes to Life : 12h00-13h30, at The American Library in Paris (ALP).  For ages 8-12. Come join the Paris Spelling Bee team and have fun learning prefixes and suffixes, guaranteed to help you unlock some of the mysteries of the English language!  Space limited to 12 children. To RSVP, please email Celeste,  ALP’s  youth librarian at rhoads@americanlibraryinparis.org.

Saturday January 9, 2016 — PSB Family Pizza & Movie Night: 19h00-21h30, to be held at the ALP.  Join us for the annual screening of the movie Akeelah and the Bee. Pizza and refreshments will be provided by the ALP.  Click here to reserve your spot. RSVP is mandatory.  Space is limited to 80 people. Deadline is January 5. 

KEY DATES FOR THE 2016 PARIS SPELLING BEE COMPETITION 

  • 2011 Paris Spelling Bee Oral Finals, Sebastian Macintyre (tied for 3rd place) March 20, 2011Tuesday December 1, 2015 — Paris Spelling Bee Registration Opens for children in CM1-6ème.  The Registration Form can be downloaded from our How to Register page.  The form will also be mailed to schools, community leaders and parents.  The Registration sheet must be returned by mail to the address indicated on the form along with the participation fee. We do not accept electronic registrations.
  • Wednesday January 13, 2016 — Registration Deadline!!  Forms must be postmarked on or before January 13. Registration is first come first-served, and limited to about 80 applicants.  To add your name or your school’s contact information to our updates, please use our Contact page.
  • Saturday January 30, 2016 — PSB Written Preliminary Round ––  For registered participants. Tentative time is 09h30-12h30. The location, in the 5th arrondissement, will be provided to registered participants at a later time. Twenty finalists will be chosen to advance to the Oral Finals, which will be held on March 20.  A Study Guide for the 2016 Preliminary Written Round has been posted on our Study Guide page as of December 1, 2015,  and will be emailed to registered participants. The Preliminary Written Round consists of about 35 words, most of which will be drawn from this Study Guide.  Additionally, there will be some surprise words in the written test.
  • IMG_8720Sunday February 14, 2016 — PSB Mock/Practice Session — Tentative time: 10h00-12h00:  This event is organized for finalists chosen from the January 30 Preliminary Written Round.  The Mock Bee (practice session) will be held at the American Library in Paris.  A separate Study Guide for the Oral Final Round of the Paris Spelling Bee will be made available to finalists after the Preliminary Written Round.
  • Sunday March 20, 2016 — Oral Final Round of the Paris Spelling Bee — Tentative time is 09H00-12h30. This event is open to finalists and their invited guests and will be held at the The American Library in Paris.

To sign up for PSB updates and registration information, or if you have questions about the Paris Spelling Bee, please email Helen Sahin Connelly through our Contact page.  The Paris Spelling Bee is organized by Gifted in France,  a non-profit association loi 1901, in collaboration with the The American Library in Paris and with the support of AAWE. PSB is grateful to the ALP for its continued support of this community-wide enrichment event open to children throughout Paris.

ALP Director Charlie Trueheart presents Janis Cavrel with a free annual membership to the library

In the 2015 Paris Spelling Bee,  72 children in grades CM1-6ème (4th-6th grade) from over 35 schools, including 20 public schools, participated in the Preliminary Written Round. Twenty one students advanced to the Oral Final Round on March 20. For more information about the 2015 Bee, please scroll down on this page.

Best of luck to everyone entering 2016 Bee.
We are happy to be back for our 8th season!

2016 Paris Spelling Bee Committee

 Follow us on  our Facebook page

2015 PSB results…

NALUKURTI WINS THE 2015 PARIS SPELLING BEE LE HELLOCO FINISHES IN SECOND PLACE  

1st place winner of the 2015 Paris Spelling Bee, Riti Adrija NALUKURTI (CM1/ 4th grade), EIB Victor Hugo International School
1st place winner of the 2015 Paris Spelling Bee, Riti Adrija NALUKURTI (CM1/ 4th grade)

Fourth-grader Riti Adrija Nalukurti won the seventh annual Paris Spelling Bee at the American Library in Paris on Sunday, 15 March, while fifth-grader Alex Le Helloco finished in second place. Both winners attend the École International Bilingue -The Victor Hugo International School. Twenty-one finalists in the fourth to sixth grades (CM1-6ème) vied for the title. During the first 13 rounds of the bee, the contestants were asked to spell words from a study guide of 499 words. Starting in round 14, the pronouncers went “off list” and asked the contestants to spell words that were not from the study guide. In the 24th round, Riti Adrija Nalukurti took the top prize by

spelling “composition” correctly. During the competition, she also correctly spelled: voortrekker, subterfuge, insidious, illusion, altruism, ruckus, inconvenient, triathlon and siege. The second-place winner, Alex Le Helloco, successfully fielded words including:  perestroika, ridiculous, alderman, laboratory, patriarch, unduly, referee and fascinate. Each winner received a trophy and a complimentary annual family membership to the American Library in Paris. Fifth-graders Emma Mieszala, from Lycée International Saint-Germain-en-Laye; Wazeen Karkachi, from École élémentaire Louis Pasteur; and Alex Ravel from École Jeannine Manuel tied for third place. The three spellers lasted through round 17. Fifth-graders Elliot Gampel from École Massillon and Emily Baily from École Jeannine Manuel tied for fourth place in round 17, while Hanif Caesarian, from École International Bilingue – The Victor Hugo International School; Siddharth Chaitra Vivek, from École Jeannine Manuel; and Akanksha Rai, from the International School of Paris tied for fifth place in round 15. “The finalists were well-prepared, poised and they looked like they were actually having a little fun,” said Helen Sahin Connelly, coordinator of the event. The early Sunday morning event began with fresh coffee and tea from Starbucks and snacks and juice from Marks & Spencer. Each contestant took home a medal, a certificate and an American Library in Paris tote bag containing a book and gifts from the Bilingual Connection, Marc Labat, the Bilingual Acting Workshop and Sobral.

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The Paris Spelling Bee is a community enrichment event organized and sponsored by Gifted in France in collaboration with the American Library in Paris. The pronouncers were Library director Charlie Trueheart and Anne Swardson, editor-at-large at Bloomberg News. Words for the Paris Spelling Bee’s Oral Finals were taken from “Spell It!” an official study guide published by the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the United States in cooperation with Merriam-Webster, Inc. The list is often used in regional spelling bees in the United States and features US spelling. Additional words were taken from Brain Facts Book, A Primer on the Brain and Nervous System. This book is one of the official study guides for the International Brain Bee (IBB), a worldwide neuroscience competition for high school students, which is hoping to start a chapter in Paris. Paris Spelling Bee events will resume in the fall with “Language Comes To Life” workshops for children at the American Library in Paris and a family pizza movie night featuring the film “Akeelah and the Bee.” To sign up for updates about the 2016 Paris Spelling Bee, please email parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com, or use the ‘contact’ page on this blog. Special thanks to the organizing team: Helen Sahin Connelly, Kim Siew Ngoh, Ashley Miller Benz, Jenny Bateman-Irish, Karen Simpson, Jude Smith Matisse, Pauline Lemasson, Celeste Rhoads, Naida Culshaw, Shannon Connelly and devoted volunteers Laetitia Nail, Jan and Scott Smith, Loretta Fox, Clarence Tokley, Janet Sahin, Amy O’Hara, Julia Connelly and Frank Connelly. Congratulations to each of our 2015 finalists, and to all the students who participated in the Preliminary Written Round in January.

2015 PARIS SPELLING BEE PRELIMINARY WRITTEN ROUND

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“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.”

Results of the Preliminary Written Round – Paris Spelling Bee
26 January 2015 

Seventy-two spellers in grades CM1-6ème (4th-6th grade) packed a gymnasium at the Ecole Sainte Catherine in the 5th  arrondissement early last Saturday morning to participate in the 7th annual Paris Spelling Bee’s Preliminary Written Round.

  • Contestants from over 35 schools (including 20 public schools) in Paris and the surrounding area registered for the Preliminary Written Round. Of the 80 registered contestants, 72 made it to the event.
  • The Preliminary Written Round consisted of 25 words drawn from a study list provided in advance to participants plus 10 words not from the study guide.
  • 21 finalists were selected based on the total number of words that they spelled correctly out of 35.

We would like to congratulate all the students who registered, studied and participated in the Preliminary Written Round.  Each speller received a certificate of participation to acknowledge his/her hard work in preparing for and completing the written round.

Below are the spellers who qualified for the Oral Final Round of the 2015 Paris Spelling Bee. Finalists needed a score of 32/35 to qualify. The Oral Final Round will be held on Sunday, 15 March  2015 (09h00-12h30 approx) at the American Library in Paris.

Finalist for the 2015 PSB Oral Final Round (Gampel, Elliot was mistakenly omitted from the original list)
Finalist for the 2015 PSB Oral Final Round (Gampel, Elliot was mistakenly omitted from the original list)

IMPORTANT: Finalists will have until Thursday, 29 January at 19h00 to confirm by email to parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com their participation in the Oral Final Round of the 2015 Paris Spelling Bee. They must also pay their registration fees, as indicated on the registration form. 

The deadline for paying the registration fee is Saturday, 31 January.  (Make check payable to Gifted in France, 39 ave de Versailles, 75016; same registration fees apply as for the Preliminary event: 10 euros per child, 7 euros per each additional child in the same family.)

A new study list for the Oral Finals will be sent by email to all finalists by 13 February.

A mock (practice) session will be held for all the finalists on Sunday, 8 February (09h30-11h30 approx.) at the American Library in Paris. At the mock session, finalists will learn useful tips on oral spelling bees, review contest rules and have a chance to meet fellow participants.

As the spellers prepare for the finals, we would encourage them not only to memorize the words, but also to learn their meanings and their origins.

We are grateful to the sponsors of the Paris Spelling Bee! Thank you to the American Library in Paris for generously providing use of the library for the mock and final rounds of the spelling bee, for offering staff support during all phases of the bee and for furnishing supplies. Thank you also to Starbucks for supplying hot drinks and pastries to all the contestants and their parents at the Preliminary Written Round and to Bilingual Connection, for donating the trophies for the spelling bee winners.

A big thank you to the Spelling Bee Team and volunteers for making the Preliminary Round possible: Ashley Miller, Kim Siew Ngoh, Pauline Wong-Lemasson, Karen Simpson, Jenny Bateman-Irish, Naida Kendrick Culshaw, Shannon Connelly, Jude Smith Matisse, Jan Smith and Amy O’Hara in the US. Special thanks to Laetitia Nail and Loretta Fox for managing the registration desk once again on the day of the event. Thanks also to Celeste Rhoads, Minette Juric, Chiew Terrière, Josh O’Donovan and Padma Prat.

Heartfelt thanks also to Mme Florence Dollé, Directrice of the Ecole Sainte Catherine, and her assistant Mme Deletang, for their support of the Bee and the use of the venue.

Last, but not least, thank you to all the parents who brought their children to the Preliminary Round on a cold and early Saturday morning, and patiently waited until the end.

The Paris Spelling Bee is an annual community enrichment event organised by Gifted in France in collaboration with The American Library in Paris.

Sincerely,
Helen Sahin Connelly
Coordinator, Paris Spelling Bee
parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com
parisfrancespellingbee.wordpress.com

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 2013 Paris Spelling Bee sign and trophies, by Cecilia BaronWelcome to the 7th Annual Paris Spelling Bee (PSB). Registration for the 2015 Bee opens on December 1, 2014. The event is open to English-speaking students currently in CM1-6éme (4th-6th grade). This year, there is only group.

Here are some important dates for your 2014-2015 calendar. Please also see the updated ‘pages’ on this blog for the 2015 Invitation, FAQs and Registration Form. These pages will updated by December 1.

COMMUNITY BEE EVENTS

Saturday December 6, 2014 — Language Comes to Life — for ages 8-13: 12h00-13h30, at The American Library in Paris (ALP).  Come learn why it’s good to be friends with prefixes and suffixes in the English language.  Space limited to 12 children. To RSVP, please email Celeste,  ALP’s  youth librarian at rhoads@americanlibraryinparis.org.

Saturday January 10, 2015 — PSB Family Pizza Movie Night: 18h30-21h00, to be held at the ALP.  Join us for the annual screening of the movie Akeelah and the Bee. Pizza and refreshments will be provided by the ALP. The event is free for ALP members. Please RSVP by filling out the required online form, which will be posted here on December 5.  Space is limited to 80 people. Deadline is January 4.

KEY DATES FOR THE 2015 PARIS SPELLING BEE COMPETITION: 

  • 2011 Paris Spelling Bee Oral Finals, Sebastian Macintyre (tied for 3rd place) March 20, 2011December 1, 2014 — Paris Spelling Bee Registration Opens for children in CM1-6ème.  The Registration Form will be posted here on December 1, and emailed to schools, community leaders and anyone interested in signing up. You can email us to request your copy of the form. The Registration sheet must be returned by mail to the address indicated on the form. We do not accept electronic registrations.
  • Tuesday January 13, 2015 — Registration Deadline!! This is the last day to register for the Bee. Forms must be postmarked on or before January 13. Registration is first come first-served, and limited to about 90 applicants.  To add your name or your school’s contact information to our electronic updates, please email parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com or sign up through the blog.
  • Saturday January 24, 2015 — PSB Written Preliminary Round ––  For registered participants. Tentative time is 09h30-12h30. The location, in the 5th arrondissement, will be provided to registered participants at a later time. Twenty finalists will be chosen to advance to the Oral Finals, which will be held on March 15.  A Study Guide for the Preliminary Written Round will be posted on this page starting December 1, 2014, and emailed to registered participants. Preliminary Written Round consists of about 35 words, most of which come from this Study Guide.
  • IMG_8720Sunday February 8, 2015 — PSB Mock/Practice Session — Tentative time: 10h00-12h00:  This event is organized for finalists chosen from the January 24 Preliminary Written Round.  The Mock Bee (practice session) will be held at the American Library in Paris.  A separate Study Guide for the Oral Finals of the Paris Spelling Bee will be made available to finalists after the Preliminary Written Round.
  • Sunday March 15, 2015 — Oral Finals of the Paris Spelling Bee — Tentative time is 09H30-12h30. This event is open to finalists and their invited guests and will be held at the The American Library in Paris.

To sign up for PSB updates and registration information, or if you have questions about the Paris Spelling Bee, please email Helen Sahin Connelly at parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com.  The Paris Spelling Bee is organized by Gifted in France,  a non-profit association loi 1901, in collaboration with the The American Library in Paris. PSB is grateful to the ALP for its continued support of this community-wide enrichment event open to children throughout Paris.

ALP Director Charlie Trueheart presents Janis Cavrel with a free annual membership to the library

In the last Paris Spelling Bee, held in 2013, 100 children in grades CE2 through 4ème, from over 40 schools in the greater Paris area, participated in the Preliminary Written Round. Twenty students from each division, Gazelles CE2-CM2 and Cheetahs 6ème-4ème, advanced to the Oral Finals on April 7, 2013. For more information about the 2013 Bee and the winners, please scroll down on this page.

The PSB team took  a year off in 2014, and has returned with a restructured Bee open to students currently in CM1-6éme (4th-6th grade).

Best of luck to everyone entering or following the 2015 Bee. We are very excited about our 7th season!

2015 Paris Spelling Bee Committee

 Follow us on  our Facebook page

 Thank you for supporting the Paris Spelling Bee!

2009 Paris Spelling Bee finalists

As we announced at the 2013 Oral Finals, we are taking a year off from organizing our city-wide competition in 2014. However, we will continue to organize spelling bee-related activities at the American Library in Paris. Upcoming events:  The Spelling Bee Hornet for Teens on Friday November 15 at 19h00-21h00. Click here to reserve your spot.  Language Comes to Life: All about prefixes and suffixes, Saturday January 11, Ages 8-12.  More activities will  include: Spelling Hornet, part 2, for ALP’s Friday Teen Night and Mock Spelling Bee for ages 8-13, dates to be announced. Stay tuned for more updates. Here are some highlights from past Paris Spelling Bee events. We will update this slide show with more pictures in the weeks ahead.

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Once again, we would like to thank Starbucks, The International Herald Tribune, The American University of Paris and our friends and collaborators at the American Library in Paris for their support and sponsorship.  Heartfelt thanks to all the students who have braved the Paris Spelling Bee, the schools for getting the word out, and to all the families who have returned to the Bee year after year.  Thank you to all the organizers and volunteers for devoting so much of your time and making such a special contribution to the community. Special thanks to the key Bee-team: Ashley B. Miller, Naida Culshaw; Kim Siew Ngoh; Pauline Lemasson, Jude Smith Matisse, Amy O’Hara, Karen Simpson, Amy Bereiter, Bettina de Catalogne, and Janet Sahin, in the US.

For questions, to help as a volunteer, or to be added to our email updates, please contact: parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com.

Thanks again, everyone!
Helen Sahin Connelly
Coordinator, PSB

41 Finalists vie in Paris Spelling Bee Championship
Molly Dugan wins Cheetahs
Minsung Cho wins Gazelles

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From left to right: 2nd place winners Smitha Shreya (C109) and Adhya Sharma (C107). 1st place winner Molly Dugan (C116) at the 6th annual Paris Spelling Bee, Cheetahs division. Photo by, Stuart Culshaw

Forty-one finalists competed in the sixth annual Paris Spelling Bee at the American University of Paris on Sunday, April 7.  Spellers in the third to fifth grade (CE2 to CM2) competed in the Gazelles division, while sixth- to eighth-graders (6èmes-4èmes) vied for the Cheetahs title.

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Left to Right: 2nd place winner Elliot Alibert (G707) and 1st place winner Minsung Cho (G719)) in the Gazelles division of the 2013 Paris Spelling Bee.
photo by Stuart Culshaw

In the Cheetahs division, 12-year-old Molly Dugan from Ecole Massillon took first prize, while Adhya Sharma and Shreya Smitha from the International School of Paris tied for second place. The three sixth-graders lasted 31 rounds before Dugan won by spelling `mnemonic.’ Before that, she fielded words including accomplice, paramecium, subterranean, psychoanalysis and oxymoron. Sharma, who placed second in the Gazelles division at last year’s Bee, correctly spelled words including adjudicate, circuitous, clandestine and anticoagulant, before missing genealogy. Shreya handled words such as quarantine, omniscient, hysterical, adolescence and photosynthesis before stumbling on chrysalis.

Eighth-grader Hari O’Neil from Collège Camille Sèe and sixth-grader Inuri Tennakoon from Collège André Malraux hung on until the 23rd round, tying for third place, before the final three spellers battled it out.

In the Gazelles division,  Minsung Cho, a fifth-grader from Ecole Active Bilingue Victor Hugo, took the first-place trophy by spelling benignant correctly in round twenty-nine.  Fourth-grader Elliot Alibert from Ècole Elèmentaire Jacques Jorissen placed second. Third-grader Charlotte Kundi

2013 Paris Spelling Bee Finalists in the Cheetah Division
2013 Paris Spelling Bee Finalists in the Cheetah Division

from Ecole Notre Dame and fourth-grader Vaishnavi Sridhar from the International School of Paris tied for third, just ahead of third-grader Alex Ravel from Ecole Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel.

Cho fielded words such as interrupt, aught, formidable, incorruptible, exhale, autumn, applause and bereaved, while Elliot correctly spelled haversack, prospective, meticulous, bandersnatch, esteem and exercise. Cho and Alibert are 11 years old.

Before the competition began, spellers and guests were greeted with a video message from Dr. Jacques Bailly, the official pronouncer of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the United States. “Je vous souhaite bonne chance,” said Dr. Bailly, who won the 1980 Scripps championship.

Kate Souami, finalist in the Gazelle division reads the opening poem "Our Deepest Fear," by Marianne Williamson
Kate Souami, finalist in the Gazelle division reads the opening poem “Our Deepest Fear,” by Marianne Williamson.            photo by HS Connelly

Dr. Geoffrey Gilbert, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the American University of Paris, welcomed the contestants on behalf of the university. He spoke of the importance and pleasure of words’ origins in giving access not only to the history of a language but also to ways of feeling and thinking that can be a resource as we face the baffling complexities of contemporary global experience.

The Paris Spelling Bee thanks all 99 contestants from almost 40 schools in and around Paris who participated in the Preliminary Written Round on February 4, and all the spellers who continued on to the Oral Finals.

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The Paris Spelling Bee is a community enrichment event organized by Gifted in France in collaboration with The American Library in Paris. The American University of Paris hosted the event for the third year in a row. Pronouncers for the Gazelles were Charlie Trueheart, director of the American Library in Paris, and Celeste Rhoads, the library’s Children and Teen Librarian. Naida Culshaw was the pronouncer for the Cheetahs.

A Spelling Bee requires contestants to spell a word out loud correctly; the winner is declared when she or he is the only person to spell a word correctly in a round. Words for the Paris Spelling Bee’s Oral Finals were taken from “Spell It!” an official study guide published by Scripps National Spelling Bee in the United States in cooperation with Merriam-Webster, Inc. The list is often used in regional spelling bees in the United States and features US spelling.

In addition to a trophy, the first-place winners in each division received a one-year family

Charlie Trueheart and Celeste Rhoads, pronouncers for the Gazelle Division
Charlie Trueheart and Celeste Rhoads, pronouncers for the Gazelle Division

membership to the American Library in Paris along with an ALP tote bag. Second-place winners also received a trophy and a tote bag from the library. The International Herald Tribune donated a copy of “120 years of Front Page News: 1887-2007,” to each finalist plus delivered the weekend paper for members of the audience.

Gifted in France provided the trophies plus medals and certificates for finalists. For each participant, the American Library in Paris kindly gave a book, and Paris Spelling Bee volunteer Kim Siew Ngoh prepared homemade treats. Marc Labat provided designer watches to every finalist.

Starbucks  generously donated coffee, pastries and other treats for the audience at the Oral Finals.

Heartfelt thanks go to our Spelling Bee Team: Ashley B. Miller, Naida Culshaw; Kim Siew Ngoh; Pauline Lemasson, Jude Smith Matisse, Amy O’Hara,

Alexi Henri, finalist in the Cheetah Division
Alexi Henri, finalist in the Cheetah Division

Karen Simpson, Amy Bereiter, Bettina de Catalogne, Rose Burke and Janet Sahin in the US.

Many thanks also to Dr. Celeste Schenck and Susan Mackay of the AUP; Celeste Rhoads; Mathieu Motta, Phillip von Eiff, Frank Connelly, Laetitia Nail, Cecilia Baron, Stuart Culshaw, Josh Hakim, Elizabeth Farhi, Ursula Liu, John Newman, Matt Benz, Lee Lee Camilleri, Julie Casara, Anita Youngblood, Emma Burke, Eloise Loh, Hazel Tan, Loretta Fox, David Whitehouse, Monia Hamani, Shannon Connelly, Julia Connelly and Chrise de Tournay Birkhahn.

A special thanks to all the families and schools who have supported the PSB over the last six years.
Here’s an interesting and humorous blog, maternal dementia, written by a parent who blogs about life and motherhood in Paris. This entry is about her daughter’s experience, as a four time participant in the Paris Spelling Bee, before taking the winning title in the Cheetah’s division.

Gazelle finalists of the 2013 Paris Spelling Bee
2013 Paris Spelling Bee Finalists in the Gazelle Division.        photo by Cecilia Baron

Check back here to find out more information about our upcoming events and latest news.

Helen Sahin Connelly
Coordinator, Paris Spelling Bee

Highlights, more pictures to come:

Spellers in the 2013 Paris Spelling Bee competition watch a video clip from the movie Akeelah and the Bee, followed by a surprise video message from Dr. Jacques Bailly, the official pronouncer for the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the US

Hari O'Neil, tying in 3rd place in the 2013 Paris Spelling Bee Cheetah Division
Hari O’Neil, tying in 3rd place in the 2013 Paris Spelling Bee Cheetah Division
Spellers in the 2013 Paris Spelling Bee competition watch a video clip from the movie Akeelah and the Bee, followed by a surprise video message from Dr. Jacques Bailly, the official pronouncer for the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the US. photo by HS Connelly
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Vaishnavi Sridhar tying in 3rd place with Charlotte Kundi in the 2013 Paris Spelling Bee Gazelle’s division.
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2013 Cheetah Finalist kicking off her division’s competition with the reading of “Our Deepest Fear” by Marianne Williamson.

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results:

2013 Paris Spelling Bee “Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.

 

Results of the Preliminary Written Round February 4, 2013 Ninety-nine spellers in grades CE2-4eme (3rd-8th grade) packed a gymnasium at Ecole Sainte Catherine in the 5th arrondissement early last Saturday morning to participate in the 6th annual Paris Spelling Bee’s Preliminary Written Round.

  • Contestants were divided into two divisions:  Gazelles– CE2-CM2 (3rd-5th grade), and Cheetahs– 6ème- 4ème (6th-8th grade).
  • 120 children registered for the Preliminary event from 40 different schools in Paris and its environs, including one student from Rennes.  47 children were from private schools, 32 from public and 40 from semi-private. One student registered as a homeschooler.
  • 63 of the 78 registered participants in the Gazelles group and 36 of the 42 registered participants in the Cheetahs group turned up for the mandatory written competition where they received a dictation of words.
  • The Preliminary Written Round was divided into two sections: the first round consisted of 25 words from a study list provided in advance to participants, and the second round consisted of 10 challenge words not from the study guide.
  • 21 finalists from each group were selected based on their marks.

We would like to congratulate all the students who registered, studied and participated in the Preliminary Written Round.  Each speller received a certificate of participation to acknowledge how hard they prepared for the written round and how early they had to trek to the venue on a cold Saturday morning.  We are especially impressed with children who keep coming back year after year.  One family has participated every year since the Spelling Bee began in 2008, and this year has two children in the finals.

Below are the spellers who qualified for the Oral Finals, which will be held on Sunday, April 7, 2013 (10h-16h approx) at the American University of Paris (AUP).  There will be a mock (practice) session on Sunday, March 24 (10h-13h) at the AUP for all the finalists to learn useful tips on oral spelling bees, review contest rules and have a chance to meet fellow participants.  As the spellers prepare for the finals, we would encourage them not only to memorize the words, but also to learn their meanings and their origins. Finalists in the Gazelle division needed a score of at least 28/35 to qualify and Cheetahs needed 22/35 to qualify.
GAZELLE FINALISTS:

Gazelle finalists 2013feb2 ************************************************************************
CHEETAH FINALISTS:
Cheetahs 2013 finalists
IMPORTANT:
Finalists will have until Thursday, February 7, at 19h to confirm by email to parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com their participation in the Oral Finals of the 2013 Paris Spelling Bee. They must also pay their registration fees, as indicated on the registration forms. The deadline for paying the registration fee is Monday, February 11 If there is no confirmation and payment, that spot will go to the next person with a qualifying mark.

 A new study list for the Oral Finals will be made available to all finalists after February 18. Thank you to everyone who participated and supported the efforts of the Paris Spelling Bee, especially the American Library in Paris, which has been very generous to the Bee with its space, time and supplies.

A big thank you to the Spelling Bee Team for making the Preliminary Round possible: Ashley Miller, Kim Siew Ngoh, Amy O’Hara, Naida Kendrick Culshaw, Karen Simpson, Pauline Wong-Lemasson, Jude Smith Matisse, Rose Burke, Amy Bereiter, and Janet Sahin (in the US.) A special thanks to Starbucks for supplying coffee and pastry for all the parents who waited in the chilly gymnasium while their children participated in the event. We are thankful to Eloise Loh, Hazel Tan and Monia Hamani for making sure the coffee arrived and was served on time.  We are also grateful to the following volunteers: Loretta Fox, Laetitia Nail, David Whitehouse, Bettina de Catalogne, along with IB students Eva Hachem, Anne Gallego Martin, Elisa Lasry and Leonie Cruanees for helping with preparations, taking care of check-in and supervision at the venue.

Thanks also to Mme Christine Meyrignac, Directrice de l’Ecole Sainte Catherine, for her support of the Bee over the past three years. Last but not least, thank you to all the parents who brought their children to the Preliminary Round and patiently waited until the end.

The Paris Spelling Bee is an annual community enrichment event organized by Gifted in France in collaboration with the The American Library in Paris, and hosted by the American University of Paris. We are grateful to these institutions for their support of the Bee, which is an all-volunteer effort. Best regards, Helen Sahin Connelly Coordinator, Paris Spelling Bee

Update:

Aine Sadlier, 2012 PSB Oral Finals Gazelles Division (photo by C. Rhoads)

2013 Paris Spelling Bee

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED
WE WISH OUR 2013 BEE PARTICIPANTS
BEST OF LUCK!

Gazelles (CE2-CM2)
Cheetahs (6ème-4ème)

Welcome to the 6th Annual Paris Spelling Bee (PSB). Registration for the 2013 Bee is now closed.
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Here are some important dates for your 2012-2013 calendar. Please also see the updated ‘pages’ on 2013 Invitation, FAQs and 2013 Registration Form on this blog.

COMMUNITY BEE EVENTS

Saturday December 1, 2012 — Language Comes to Life — Time 12h00-13h00, at The American Library in Paris.  Come learn what’s the big deal about prefixes and suffixes in the English language.  Space limited to 12 children, to RSVP  please email Celeste, the youth librarian at rhoads@americanlibraryinparis.org.

  • Saturday January 12, 2013 — PSB Family Pizza Movie Night —  18h30-21h00, to be held at the ALP.  Join us for a  special screening of the movie Akeelah and the Bee. Please RSVP by filling out this required online form.  Space limited to 80 people. Deadline is January 5, first-come, first-served. THIS EVENT IS NOW FULL. 

MAIN PSB DATES FOR 2012-13:

  • 12 November 2012– Paris Spelling Bee Registration Opens  for children in CE2-4ème.  Please click here or go to our 2013 Registration page on this blog for a copy.
  • Thursday January 17, 2013 — Registration Deadline!! Last day to register for the PSB. Registration is first come first received, and limited to the first 100 applicants.  To add your name or your school’s contact to our electronic updates, please email parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com or sign up through the blog.
  • Saturday February 2, 2013 –PSB Written Preliminary Round —  for preregistered participants. Tentative time is 09h00-13h00. Location to be announced. Confirmation, by email, will be sent to preregistered participants. Twenty Finalists will be chosen from each division: Gazelles CE2-CM2, Cheetahs 6ème-4ème.  Study List for the Preliminary Written Round is available under “2013 Study Guide,” page or by clicking here.  The study guide will be emailed to registered participants.
  • Sunday March 24, 2013 — PSB Mock/Practice Session — Tentative time: 10h00-13h00:  This event is organized for
    Finalists chosen from the February 2  Preliminary Written Round.  To be held at the American University of Paris.  Study List for the Oral Finals of the Paris Spelling Bee will be made available to Finalists after the Written Round.
  • Sunday April 7, 2013 –Oral Finals of the Paris Spelling Bee – Tentative time is 10h00-16h00. This event is open to Finalists and their invited guests. To be held at the American University of Paris.

To sign up for PSB updates and registration information, or if you have questions about the Paris Spelling Bee, please email Helen Sahin Connelly at parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com.  The Paris Spelling Bee is organized by Gifted in France, in collaboration with the The American Library in Paris and hosted by the American University of Paris. PSB is grateful to the ALP and AUP for their continued support of this community-wide enrichment  event open to children throughout Paris. The 2012 PSB drew more than 110 children, grades CE2-4ème, from over 30 schools in the greater Paris area. Twenty students from each division, Gazelles CE2-CM2 and Cheetahs 6ème-4ème, advanced to the Oral Finals on March 25, 2012. For more information about the 2012 Bee and the winners- please scroll down.

Best of luck to everyone entering or following the 2013 Bee. We are very excited about our 6th season!

Helen, Ashley, Naida, Amy, Jude, Cate and Kim.
2013 Paris Spelling Bee Committee

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2012 results…

YOUNGBLOOD, SINHA, WHITEHOUSE AND SHARMA
are top finishers at the
2012 PARIS SPELLING BEE 

Anita Youngblood, 1st prize winner in the Cheetahs Division of the 2012 Paris Spelling Bee

Sunday March 25, 2012 — Forty finalists from 18 elementary and secondary schools
competed in the 5th annual Paris Spelling Bee, held at the American University of Paris.

Spellers were grouped into two divisions: the Gazelles, in third-fifth grades (CE2-CM2), and the Cheetahs, in sixth-eighth grades (6ème-4ème).

Jahnavi Sinha, 2012 PSB winner/ Gazelles
Jahnavi Sinha, 1st place winner in the Gazelles Division of the 2012 Paris Spelling Bee

In the Cheetahs division, Anita Youngblood, eighth-grader from Lycée International de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, won first prize by correctly spelling her championship word “putrescible.” Thomas Whitehouse, a seventh-grader from Ecole Active Bilingue Jeanine Manuel, took home the second-place trophy.  When judges moved to a surprise list of words, Youngblood plowed through exegetical, benignant, characteristic, blasphemous, saprogenic and visinage.

Thomas Whitehouse, 2nd place winner, Cheetahs Division, 2012 Paris Spelling Bee

Whitehouse held his place in the competition with words like erroneous, enunciation, vociferous and ascensor before stumbling on susurration.

Adhya Sharma, 2nd place winner, Gazelles Division, 2012 Paris Spelling Bee

In the Gazelles Division: Jahnavi Sinha, a fifth grader from the British School of Paris, won the first place trophy and Adhya Sharma, a fifth grader from the International School of Paris, won the second place trophy. Sinha successfully fielded terrific, pungent, muscular, puree, serenade and parasite before winning with piece. Sharma held her ground with replete, toilsome, microphone, pristine and punctual before tripping on awry to land in second place.

2012 PSB Cheetahs Group Cathy AN IMG_1834
2012 Paris Spelling Bee- Cheetahs Division

Tying in third place in the Cheetahs division were Pauline Delarue from St Jean de Passy and Yanis Cavrel, from Ecole Active Bilingue Victor Hugo.  Phoebe Turner from the American School of Paris, Jeanne Naila Anstyadi and Yu Yoshitake, from EaB Victor Hugo all tied for third place in the Gazelles group.

Dr. Neal Gordon, Dean of the American University of Paris and Vice President for Academic Affairs, dropped in to congratulate the spellers for building rich vocabulary, which he added will undoubtedly help them express their ideas and improve their communication skills in the years to come.  Dr. Gordon is also the author of several books, including The Company You Keep, which will be released as a Robert Redford film in the fall.

2012 PSB Gazelles Group by Celeste IMG_0154
2012 Paris Spelling Bee - Gazelles Division

Thank you to all 98 contestants who participated in the Preliminary Written Round on February 4, and all the finalists who continued on to the Oral Finals last Sunday.

The Paris Spelling Bee is an annual community enrichment event organized by Gifted in France in collaboration with the American Library in Paris.  For the second year in a row, the event was hosted by the American University of Paris. Pronouncers for the Gazelles were Charlie Trueheart, director of the American Library in Paris and Anne Swardson, editor at Bloomberg News.  Naida Kendrick Culshaw, the external relations manager at the ALP, was the pronouncer for the Cheetahs.

Words for Sunday’s Oral Finals were taken from Spell It! an official study guide published by Merriam-Webster in association with the National Spelling Bee in the United States. The list is often used in regional spelling bees across America.

In addition to the trophy, first-place winners in each division received a one-year family membership to the American Library in Paris along with an ALP tote bag. Second prize winners also received a trophy, tote bag from the ALP and an atelier of their choice at Une Mère, une Fille à Paris.  Gifted in France provided the rest of the finalists with medals, certificates and ALP tote bags. They also received prizes from Marc Labat, home-made treats baked by PSB volunteer Kim Siew Ngoh and books donated by the ALP.  Starbucks generously donated coffee, pastries and other treats to the audience at the Oral Finals.

Heartfelt thanks go to the Spelling Bee Organizers: Co-coordinators: Helen Sahin Connelly and Ashley B. Miller; Cate O’Connor, principal at the Roaming Schoolhouse; Amy O’Hara; Jude Smith Matisse; Naida Kendrick Culshaw; Kim Siew Ngoh; and Janet Sahin in the US.  
Many thanks also
to Dr. Celeste Schenck and Susan Mackay at the AUP; Matt Benz; Celeste Rhoads;  Derek Fergusan, director at the Roaming Schoolhouse; Julie Harris; Caroline Razat; Rose Burke; Chrise de Tournay Birkhahn;  Julie Casara; Mathieu Motta and Philippe Lesne.  Finally, a sincere thanks to Frank Connelly for his day-to-day support.

We also want to congratulate our 2010 Gazelle Champion, Tuli Bennett-Bose, who recently qualified to represent Washington D.C., at the Scripps National Spelling Bee to take place in Maryland on May 31st.  Tuli moved to the US shortly after her Paris Spelling Bee victory. Since then, she has not stopped entering school, regional and district competitions. Scripps is a highly competitive annual spelling bee in the United States, with participants also from Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, New Zealand, Ghana, and the Bahamas.  Go Tuli Go!!

Thanks again everyone! Please contact us if you wish to be added to our updates, help us with this massive project, or if you wish to help sponsor the PSB next year.  Preparations begin in September with several stages leading up to the Oral Finals in March.

See you in 2013!
The Paris Spelling Bee Team