“Dawn’s Spelling Bee Word List is not for the purpose of rote learning of spellings,” says Rabeea Salman, Manager Marketing and Planning at Dawn in Lahore. “We want it as a reference guide for students. It only serves as a base for them, while the words in the competition can also come from elsewhere according to their difficulty level,” she adds.

Rabeea has been involved with the preparation and compilation of the list for several years now. “There used to be a time when there were only about 3,000 words in our word list, but today it comprises 13,000 words,” she says.

The preparation and compilation of the list has been nothing short of an adventure. Earlier, all the Dawn stations in Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore were involved in the putting together of the list but of late, it has all been taking place in Lahore.

“For the purpose we engage external persons who help in compiling and editing the list. Then there is more editing in store. There is a need for a language expert for the fine tuning followed by another round of editing and proofreading under our own supervision,” Rabeea explains.

“We are looking to see if the words in the list are not too archaic or old-fashioned. They shouldn’t be very odd as well,” she says.

“There are side-by-side discussions under way regarding things such as definitions — being simple enough to comprehend — sentences — whether they are easy and simple enough for the student to understand a word’s meaning or usage. Of course, there should be no repetition of words across the age groups.

“For example if there is a word ‘depart’, there should also not be ‘departed’ anywhere else. Then we also have to check if there is a word we have used, which doesn’t change too much in its plural form. There shouldn’t be too much of a variation there,” she points out.

“And mind you, the Spelling Bee Word List is not to be followed to the core. As I have mentioned earlier as well, it is only to serve as a base for the students, for each team in the initial rounds or regionals will only be asked six words of which just four are from the book. For the nationals and elimination rounds, we use new words. They are not from the list,” she shares.

Message

Ameena Saiyid

(Chairperson OUP)

Dawn’s Annual Spelling Bee Event that is held nationally is a unique, innovative initiative that helps pupils learn a range of skills. It does not encourage pupils to learn spelling by rote but by reading extensively.

Playing word games is another way to improve spellings. In addition, children participating in Spelling Bee are empowered and they learn the skills that increases their vocabulary, they also learn to collaborate and follow the rules of the game. They learn to question and analyse and, above all, think.

I found the participants to be passionate about spellings and going through the whole process. Many of them went to great lengths to travel to Karachi from other provinces for the finals.

I would like to congratulate all the participants in addition to, of course, the winners, and Dawn as well for organising the Spelling Bee so professionally. Even though everyone could not win, they enjoyed the entire process and were excited to be a part of such a great event.

Bravo to all.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 1st, 2018