Bulgarian National English Spelling Bee

The competition continued with the national finals for Spelling Bee and Spelling Bee Junior.

The Spelling Bee national final happened on April 16^th at the big hall of the American colleagues in Sofia. All 24 national finalists and their teachers arrived the previous day and at the dinner the students got their competition numbers and were acquainted with the rules and logistics for the final.

It started with greetings from the main partners – representatives of America for Bulgaria Foundation, The US Embassy in Sofia and the Sofia Regional Education Inspectorate. The acapella choir of the American college presented a few songs and contributed to the high spirits among the competitors and the audience.

The competition was very emotional and all the participants demonstrated good knowledge of English and the ability to stay concentrated for long hours. After more than 20 rounds of serious “spelling battle” the 7^th grader Teodor from Markovo won the competition and became the 12^th National Spelling Bee champion. All participants and teachers received certificates, trophies and gifts. But the best award for all of them was the opportunity to participate in a week-long Spelling Bee summer camp in July.

The national final for Spelling Bee Junior was held on May 14^th and gave the opportunity to the 22 national finalists to demonstrate what they have learned during the preparation period and after the first 2 rounds of the competition.  The 4^th grader Iva from Botevgrad proved that she deserves the victory and won the competition. She spelled correctly the word psychology. All the participants and their teachers were rewarded for their efforts and received certificates, trophies and gifts.

The summer camp for the Spelling Bee national finalists and their teachers was held from July 3rd till July 9th at Godlevo village, near Razlog. The program was very intensive and diverse and it aimed to satisfied the needs and the interests of all the participants. 5 Spelling Bee alumni served as camp counselors and demonstrated dedication to the Spelling Bee cause, as well as great organizational and presentation skills.  They often say:  "Once a bee, always a bee".

The 4^th of July was celebrated with a trivia game about US followed by traditional American outdoor games. Around the camp fire the participants had the pleasure to make and try s'mores and sang American songs.

The agenda included also sessions on Internet culture and literacy, emotional intelligence, negotiation and cooperation, being grateful, as well as a lot of games, sports, hikes, etc. The teachers had the chance to share best practices with their colleagues and built a professional network for sharing resources and ideas.  

The camp was instrumental for building long term friendships among the students, professional network among the teachers and added a lot of new members of the big Spelling Bee family.