Thank you for supporting the Paris Spelling Bee!

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

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 (3^rd-8^th grade) packed a gymnasium at Ecole Sainte Catherine in the 5^th 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 (3^rd-5th grade), and Cheetahs– 6ème- 4ème (6^th-8^th 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:

************************************************************************
CHEETAH 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

2013 Preliminary Written Round

2013 Preliminary Written Round

2013 Preliminary Written Round

Hello Finalists,

Don’t forget to change your clocks tonight!
See you at the Oral Finals tomorrow morning.
All schedule and location information have been emailed to the finalists.
Please be sure to read it carefully for details concerning dress code, address, schedule, etc.
Email us if you have any questions – parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com.

Best of luck,
The Paris Spelling Bee Team

2012 PARIS SPELLING BEE

Results of the Preliminary Written Round
February 4, 2012

Almost 100 children in grades CE2-4eme (3^rd-8^th grade) packed a gymnasium at Ecole Sainte Catherine in the 5^th arrondissement on one of the coldest mornings of the year for the Preliminary Written Round of the Paris Spelling Bee.

• Sixty-nine of the 82 registered participants in the Gazelles group and 29 of the 36 Cheetahs turned up for the mandatory written competition where children were given a dictation of words.
• Participants were provided with a study list ahead of the event.

• The Preliminary Written Round was divided into two sections: the first round consisted of 25 words from the study list, and the second round included 10 challenge words not from the study guide.
• 20 Finalists from each group were selected based on their marks.
• Over 30 schools were represented.
• Contestants are divided into two divisions: Gazelles– CE2-CM2 (3^rd-5th grade), and Cheetahs– 6ème- 4ème (6^th-8^th grade).

Congratulations to all the students who registered, studied and came to the Preliminary Written Round.

Below are the groups of finalists chosen for the Oral Finals, which will be held on Sunday, March 25, 2012 (10-16h00 approx) at the American University of Paris. There will be a mock/practice session on Sunday, March 11, (10h00-13h00) for all the finalists to learn useful tips on oral spelling bees, review contest rules and have a chance to meet fellow participants. This event will also be held at the American University of Paris.

Below are results for the Cheetahs division:

IMPORTANT: Finalists will have until Thursday, February 9 at15h00 to confirm by email to parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com their participation in the Oral Finals of the 2012 Paris Spelling Bee. They must also pay their registration fees, as indicated on the registration forms. Deadline for payment of registration is Friday, February 10.  If there is no confirmation and payment, that spot will go to the next person with a qualifying mark. (Checks payable to Gifted in France, 39 ave de Versailles, 75016; same fees apply as the registration for the Preliminary event: 12 euros per child, 8 euros per each additional child in the same family.)
** A new study list for the Oral Finals will be made available to all finalists after February 14.

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 committee members who put in countless hours to make the Preliminary Round possible: Ashley Miller, Kim Siew Ngoh,  Jude Smith, Amy O’Hara, Cate O’Connor (on behalf of the Roaming Schoolhouse), Naida Kendrick Culshaw (on behalf of the ALP) and Janet Sahin in the US.

A special thanks to Starbucks for supplying enough coffee for all the parents who waited in the cold gymnasium while their children participated in the event and to Eloise Loh, Hazel Tan and Rani Kumar of the Singapore Club for making sure the coffee was delivered fresh and served.  We would like to thank the Roaming School House for their generosity in sponsoring the venue for the PSB Preliminary Written Round.  Last but not least, thank you to all the volunteers who came to lend a hand to the organizers, ensuring a smooth registration and testing session:  These volunteers include RSH staff Loretta Fox, Jennie Chiang, Sarah Glynn and Eimear Bowden.  Many thanks also to Julie Harris, Frank Connelly, Matt Benz, Chris Wyckoff, Shannon Connelly and Julia Connelly for helping the morning staff and behind the scenes in preparations.

The Paris Spelling Bee is an annual community enrichment event organized by Gifted in France in collaboration with the American Library in Paris, and hosted by the American University of Paris. We are grateful to both of these institutions for their support of the Bee.

Sincerely,
Helen Sahin Connelly
Coordinator, Paris Spelling Bee

2012 PARIS SPELLING BEE

Results of the Preliminary Written Round

February 4, 2012

Congratulations to all the registered contestants who braved the freezing temperatures on Saturday February 4, to participate in the Preliminary Written Round of the 2012 Paris Spelling Bee.

Results will be emailed to contestants, and finalists will be posted on the blog by Monday February 6, 2012 at 15h00.

The Paris Spelling Bee Team

2012

Paris Spelling Bee

Registration is now closed.
We wish our participants best of luck.

All registered contestants should have received an email confirmation by now. More information coming soon.

The Paris Spelling Bee Team

L-a-b-y-r-i-n-t-h and I-n-d-i-g-e-n-o-u-s
determine the winners at the
4th annual Paris Spelling Bee
***

*****

Thirty-nine finalists from 15 elementary and secondary schools competed in the 4th annual Paris Spelling Bee on Sunday, March 20, 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).  Yanis Cavrel, a fourth-grader from Ecole Active Bilingue Victor Hugo, won first prize in the Gazelles group by spelling `Labyrinth’ correctly in the 25th round. Thea Voyles, a fifth-grader from Ecole Active Bilingue Jeannine-Manuel (EABJM), took the second-place trophy after dueling with Cavrel for 10 rounds..

In the Cheetahs division, Loic Lescoat, a sixth-grader from EABJM, won first place by correctly spelling his championship word ‘indigenous.’  Seventh-grader Anita Youngblood, from Lycee International St. Germain-en-Laye, took the second-place trophy after a 13-round duel with Lescoat. Youngblood held her ground on words including philippic, tchotchke, aggregate, edelweiss, bezoar, bildungsroman, extravaganza, geothermal, omnivorous, chauvinism and mistletoe, before stumbling on picaresque. Lescoat correctly spelled words including pentathlon, contraband, meistersinger, vivace, maelstrom, pneumatic, algorithm, zeitgeber, mesmerize, fusillade and recidivist. His triumph comes two years after he won first place in the Gazelles group at the 2009 Paris Spelling Bee.

In the Gazelles division, after 10 spellers were still standing into the 15th round, judges moved off the study list provided to participants to the ‘surprise word list.’

Cavrel and Voyles went back and forth for 10 rounds. Cavrel correctly spelled patience, lyrics, plague, casserole and monarch before winning with labyrinth. Voyles earned the second-place trophy by spelling docile, woebegone, gyrate and idiocy before tripping up on buoyant.

The third-place trophy in the Cheetahs division went to Benjamin Macintyre, a seventh-grader from La Source. In the Gazelles group, eight spellers tied for third place: Molly Dugan, fifth grade, Ecole Massillon; Bryan Gu, fifth grade,  Marymount International School of Paris; Mallory Lewis, fifth grade, American School of Paris; Hugo Scherer,  fourth grade,  EABJM; Sebastian Macintyre,  fourth-grade, La Source; Mizuki Morio, fourth grade, EAB Victor Hugo;  Momo Ohji, fourth grade, EAB Victor Hugo;  Abdoulie Sarr, fourth grade, EAB Victor Hugo.

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 first time, 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 journalist Anne Swardson. Naida Kendrick Culshaw, the executive-assistant for the ALP, was the pronouncer for the Cheetahs.  Celeste  Schenck, President of the American University of Paris, was on hand to congratulate the Cheetahs and share an anecdote from her days as a young spelling bee participant.

In January, more than 100 students from schools in the Paris region registered for the Bee. Twenty finalists were selected in each division after a preliminary written round was held on January 29. The written round consisted of a dictation of words from a study and surprise list.

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, silver USB key from the Singapore Club, iPhone protector from Phillips Netherlands,  a fish-bowl paperweight from Marc Labat and a digital camera from Office Depot. Second prize winners also received a digital camera, iPhone protector, fish-bowl paperweight, international plug adapters and a tote bag from the ALP.

All 39 finalists received books from the ALP, as well as a computer mouse from Office Depot and accessories from Marc Labat. The International Herald Tribune donated flashlight key chains, notepads, and sweets to the children, and the weekend edition of the newspaper for the audience.

The Paris Spelling Bee is grateful to the American Library in Paris for its continued support of the Bee and thankful to the American University of Paris for being the host.  Special thanks go to the organizers who made this growing event possible: Jude Smith Matisse, Karen Simpson, Ashley Miller, Amy O’Hara, Cate O’Connor of The Roaming Schoolhouse, Rose Burke and Kim Siew Ngoh.  Bee organizers are appreciative of the time and energy that Naida Kendrick Culshaw put in helping the team.  Additional thanks go to Charlie Trueheart, Anne Swardson, ALP’s Children’s librarian Celeste Rhoads, Janet Sahin (in the US), Cathy Altman Nocquet, Janet Hoffman, Ghazala Azizullah, Frank Connelly and Chrise de Tournay Birkhahn. Thanks also to former Paris Spelling Bee champs Amelie Matisse (2008) and Shannon Connelly (2010), and three-time Bee participants Emma Newman and Julia Connelly for helping out at the Oral Finals.

As the Paris Spelling Bee continues to grow, we are always in need of donors and sponsors to help defray the cost of trophies, venues, prizes and office supplies.  We welcome parents, teachers and others interested in helping with the organization of this enrichment activity, which takes months to prepare.

Congratulations to all the children who registered for the 2011 Paris Spelling Bee and to those who made it to the Oral Finals.

Finally, we want to congratulate Tuli Bennet Bose, our 2010 winner in the Gazelles division, who recently won 2nd place in the city-wide spelling bee in Washington, D.C. Tuli’s family relocated to the US last summer.

See you in 2012!

Kind regards,
Helen Sahin Connelly
Coordinator, Paris Spelling Bee
giftedinfrance.blogspot.com

*****

******

*******

2011 PARIS SPELLING BEE

Results of the Preliminary Written Round

29 January 2011

Congratulations to all the registered contestants who braved the cold weather early last Saturday morning, 29 January, to participate in the Preliminary Written Round of the 2011 Paris Spelling Bee.

• 63 of the 75 registered participants in the Gazelles group and 28 of the 34 Cheetahs turned up for the mandatory written competition where children were given a dictation of words.
• Participants were provided with a study list ahead of the event.

• The Preliminary Written Round was divided into two sections: First Round consisted of 25 words from the study list, and the second round included 5 words from the study list and 5 more words off-list.
• 20 Finalists from each group were selected based on their marks.
• Over 30 schools were represented.
• Gazelles– CE2-CM2 (3^rd-5th grade),  and Cheetahs– 6ème- 4ème (6^th-8^th grade).

We congratulate every student who registered for this event, even those who were unable to make it to the competition.

Below are two lists of finalists chosen for the Oral Finals, which will be held on Sunday 20 March 2011 (10-16h00 approx) at the American University of Paris. There will be a mock/practice session on Sunday 6 March (10h00-13h00) for all the finalists to learn useful tips on oral spelling bees, PSB contest rules and have a chance to meet fellow participants. Tentative time: 10h00-13h00. This event will also be held at the American University of Paris.

1. Gazelles: Finalists for the 2011 Paris Spelling Bee

2. Cheetahs: Finalists for the 2011 Paris Spelling Bee

IMPORTANT: Finalists will have until Thursday 3 February to confirm by email to parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com their participation in the Oral Finals of the 2011 Paris Spelling Bee. They must also pay their registration fees, as indicated on the registration forms. Deadline for payment of registration is Friday 4 February. If there is no confirmation and payment, that spot will go to the next person with a qualifying mark. (Checks payable to Gifted in France, 39 ave de Versailles, 75016; same fees apply as the registration for the Preliminary event: 12 euros per child, 5 euros per each additional child in the same family. )
** A new study list for the Oral Finals will be emailed to all finalists upon confirmation.

A big thank you to everyone who participated and supported the efforts of the Paris Spelling Bee, especially the American Library in Paris who has been so generous to the Bee with their space, time and membership prizes for the top winners.  An even bigger thanks to all the volunteers who helped out at the event with pronouncing the words, correcting papers, and watching over the venue. Thank you to the key players  who put in countless hours to make the Preliminary Round possible: Jude Smith, Rose Burke, Ashley Miller, Kim Siew Ngoh, Janet Sahin, Amy O’Hara,  Cate O’Connor (on behalf of the Roaming Schoolhouse) and Naida Kendrick Culshaw (on behalf of the ALP).

Also, a final thanks to all the participants who registered, studied and came to the Preliminary Written Round. Even if you didn’t become a finalist,  you tried something new and showed up for it. Bravo to you! There were many participants this year who returned from last year and the year before. We hope you’ll do the same.

The Paris Spelling Bee is an annual community enrichment event organized by Gifted in France in collaboration with the American Library in Paris, and this year hosted by the American University of Paris. We are grateful to both of these institutions for their support of the Bee.  We are also in search of sponsors to help us offset the costs of venues, trophies, supplies and prizes. If you would like to donate prizes and supplies or be a sponsor please contact us by email.
Best regards,

Helen Sahin Connelly

Coordinator,

2011 Paris Spelling Bee

parisfrancespellingbee@gmail.com

Parisfrancespellingbee.wordpress.com

giftedinfrance.blogspot.com