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When it comes to spelling girls are the queen bees!

Posted by CaribShout on November 23, 2009 at 10:30pm

Saint Lucia's Governor General Dame Pearlette Louisy started the spelling bee which saw students from across the island take part. In the end Clendon Mason took the top spot. An article by Howard Wolinsky, in the Chicago Tribune, tells of research done at Northwestern University’s Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory. The study suggests that girls are superior to boys in language abilities, such as reading. The reason: girls’ and boys’ brains perform differently while doing language tasks. There may be implications in the way boys and girls are taught in the classroom, as well as the way men and women communicate with each other. A neuroscientist at the lab, Doug Burman, says, “Language areas of the brain are more active in girls. But even more surprisingly, boys and girls rely on different areas of the brain for processing language accurately.” Another study thinks that boys are as good as girls at reading and spelling, but need to be taught systematically by synthetic phonics. Whatever the case one thing was certain this week—when it comes to spelling in Saint Lucia it would seem that our girls are by far superior. This is what the finals of the LIME/Subway Secondary School Spelling Bee Competition which was held Thursday November 19th at the NIC Conference room proved. All of the seven finalists who were the winners from their respective education districts were girls. Representing district 1 was Vircasey Samuel of Corinth Secondary School, district 2; Naomi Etienne of the Castries Comprehensive Secondary School, district 3; Ferdania Charmon of Saint Joseph’s Convent, district 4; Tanix Stanislaus of Ciceron Secondary School, district 5; Isha Prospere of Clendon Mason Memorial School, district 6; Merle Placide of Vieux Fort Campus A and Isis Allain of district 8, representing Soufriere Secondary School. The Spelling Bee is the brainchild of Saint Lucia’s Governor General who attended Thursday’s event and spearheaded by CAMDU and the Ministry of Education here. Welcoming students and participants on Thursday was Dr Anthony Felicien of the Ministry of Education. “Spelling continues to be an area of the English language arts curriculum that concerns educators,” Felicien informed the gathering. “The perennial cry of many students is “I cannot spell,” he added. Felicien went on to say that as an examiner with the Caribbean Examination Council, that he could attest that spelling affects the writing of many Saint Lucian and Caribbean students. “The ministry of education therefore salutes CAMDU for this competition,” he stated. After the introduction of the judges and participants and a review of the rules, students were given a few test words by word pronouncer Jerry George before the first elimination round. After that round Isha Prospere of Clendon Mason Memorial was victorious leaving the rest to battle it out in round two for the second and third place. In that round after four were eliminated, it was down to Isis Allain of Soufriere Secondary and Ferdania Charmon of SJC in a word volley for the second and third place. In the end Isis Allain was the first to get a word wrong relegating her to third place leaving Ferdania Charmon of SJC in spot number two. Two of the main sponsors LIME and Subway had representatives present who addressed the students Thursday. Alana Simmons of Subway thanked the organizers for the initiative and expressed how pleased Subway was to be a part of the event. LIME, who presented a Lenova Notebook to the first and second place winners and a cell phone to the third place winner, was represented by Sharlene Jn Baptiste. In her brief remarks she pointed out to students the importance of reading, writing and spelling correctly. “You students today are fortunate that you do not necessarily have to go through loads of books and were fortunate that they did not have to be carrying around lots of books and encyclopedias for research and information although in my days it was fun having to go to the library for research. Today you have computers and the internet which has made it easier,” she stated. However she went on to remind students that it was not just about using the internet for email and msn, but that they could explore new places and learn new positive and valuable things via the world wide web. The students also won cash prizes for their schools on behalf of Subway as well as personal trophies compliments the Trophy Centre. While the Spelling Bee is a commendable program, Thursday’s exercise showed up a few flaws in the format and the need for greater coaching and preparation of students for this valuable exercise.
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Tags: lucia, st

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