SpellBound!

A documentary "Spellbound" was screened on Australia's SBS earlier this evening and I've always wanted to watch the show ever since I saw the DVD in our local video shop. I just haven't gotten round to renting it.

Phill was really reluctant to watch it but I wanted to cos I enjoy spelling.

It was a great film but then it also showed the kind of pressure the 10-12 year olds were put through 'studying' for the National Spelling Bee held in America each year after they were selected state champion. The filmmaker followed eight children and featured their family background, the involvement of each family in their child's route to the National Spelling Bee.
Interestingly enough, one of the 8 children chosen by the filmmaker eventually went on to become the national champion - Nupur!

It was a fascinating film and the work the kids put in was astounding. And the words they had to spell, most of which I've never heard before, was so difficult, which put me to shame. I really need to brush up on my vocabulary!

But Phill said it's also the luck of the draw cos if you were assigned words you had learnt, then it's easier. It's true cos one of the kids were saying how they didn't know some of the words assigned to other spellers and fortunately, knew the ones assigned to them. But you can see how some of them did try to spell words they hadn't heard before through phonetics and breaking up the words into syllables!

It's definitely a film worth watching again!!!