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Collins organizes several educational initiatives for students throughout the year to help nurture and enhance important skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, communication, vocabulary, time management, and peer-to-peer learning to name a few. Collins Spelling Bee was incepted in 2020 during the pandemic to engage students in activities that promote learning beyond the textbook. The competition garnered immense popularity right from the very first year wherein all the rounds were held online. This year the preliminary rounds and semifinals were conducted online, which were a combination of quizzes and spelling rounds. Several thousands of students took part in the heats nationally, 36 top scorers got through to the semifinals, and 12 made it into the grand finale.
Spelling bees are competitive, testing not only the spelling skills of the participants, but also how they deal with channelizing their energy. The final was held at Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai in a closed setup in the presence of the adjudicators and streamed live on Collins’ Facebook page for a large audience of teachers, students, and parents. The final went up to 14 rounds, where students were given words from the same band of difficulty level. 119 words were used in the final and Madhav’s winning word was ‘dialysis.’ The participants had to spell each word within 30 seconds of it being pronounced.
Dr Elaine Higgleton, International Publisher – Collins Learning, who adjudicated the competition and prepared the word lists, said, ”It’s been a privilege to be involved with this year’s Collins spelling bee in India. All of the contestants – from the heats to the grand finale – have been true spelling stars and have shown real spelling skill. They are all keen readers, and as we all know, the clue to exemplary spelling is strong reading habits including reading for pleasure. The final twelve had to demonstrate sound knowledge of English vocabulary and to spell some really tricky words to reach the final. In the end, Inayat won third place by spelling words including excusable, assailant and euphoria (showing her mastery of tricky endings, double consonants and unusual words); Kaavya secured second place with the correct spelling of words like occurrence, notorious and meticulous (showing how wide her vocabulary is and what a voracious reader she must be); and Madhav triumphed thanks to his huge knowledge of words and secure grasp of unusual words. His winning word was dialysis. Well done to them all.” Mr Ajay Poonia, a well-known quizmaster and anchor, who co-adjudicated the competition said, ”It was a day that was awaited right from the first season of the competition. The country’s finest spellers gathered to showcase their extensive preparation in front of an audience at the venue as well as online. And what a delight it was, as these super spellers spelt word after word after word correctly. From a journey that began with thousands from across the country taking part in the preliminary round online to eventually a Mumbai vs Delhi showdown in Mumbai. My congratulations to the winners and all the participants, and compliments to Collins Learning for taking the initiative year after year to make this competition bigger and better.”
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