By Thandiwe Matyobeni
After a riveting few months of preparation and build up, the final round of the Makhanda isiXhosa Spelling Bee took place in the last week. Nine eager Grade 3 learners were seated on the stage with their first-year student mentor behind them for comfort and support.
Besides being a cute and fun way to encourage joy for words and language, the Spelling Bee is an innovative approach to improving literacy in primary schools. Grade 3 is the end of the Foundation Phase in the schooling system and is the final year for learners where reading is taught in schools. IsiXhosa is also the language of instruction in the participating primary schools.
The Top 9 learners participated in a final Round that took place at the Education Department at Rhodes. The students brought a wealth of energy and enthusiasm, with two students donning costumes to become a pair of bumbling bees hyping the learners up in between the rounds.
The top 9 were:
Henry Adams (Fikizolo); Khayone Gubevu (Samuel Ntlebi), Siyabulela Kula (Tantyi); Liphiwe Mali (Tantyi); Lifinio Mangi (Archie Mbolekwa); Sinomtha Mvane (CM Vellem); Enzoluhle Nyongoba (Samuel Ntsiko); Thawani Nzwere (Samuel Ntlebi) and Avuyile Sankobe (Samuel Ntsiko).
Thawani Nzwere was the last learner standing and took home the first-place prize.
The panel of judges included Ms Linda Nelani and Mr Ntsikohlanga Kitsili, as well as BEd1 students Anesipho Velem and Yonela Hlongwane.
The Spelling Bee is part of a service-learning course in the Education Department of Rhodes University. Tammy Booysen and Lise Westaway from Rhodes University, as well as Kelly Long from GADRA, organised the event. It’s more than just a competition, it's a collaboration! The Spelling Bee emerged as a partnership between the Department, GADRA Education, first-year Bachelor of Education students and several primary schools in Makhanda - NV Cewu, CM Vellem, Makana Primary, Fikizolo, DD Siwisa, Samuel Ntsiko, Tantyi Lower, Archie Mbolelwa, Samuel Ntlebi and Seventh Day Adventist.
The Spelling Bee takes place across three rounds. In Round 1, the BEd1 students go to schools in Makhanda to assess all the Grade 3 isiXhosa Home Language learners. The students go through a list of 50 words and tally the number of words that each child spells correctly. From this, the 24 semi-finalists are selected.
In Round 2, learners who spelt more than 16 words correctly were invited to the semi-finals. The top 10 of these learners go through to the final. Round 3 was the final stage, and the top 9 learners across Makhanda and their parents were invited to this event.
The competition is part of the Vice Chancellor’s Initiative to Revitalise Public Schooling in Makhanda. The students involved are Bachelor of Education (Foundation Phase) Year 1 students.
“This year, we welcomed Ms Kelly Long and Mr Ntsika to the organising team and they have brought a fantastic energy with them! This was Lise's last Spelling Bee as an organiser, and we would like to thank her for being the inspiration behind the whole idea. We look forward to next year’s Bee!” said Booysen.