The Spelling Bee Contest at AMICUS Elementary School

Yesterday, a Spelling Bee contest was held at AMICUS elementary school. The Spelling Bee is a competition where participants compete in spelling words accurately. For example, when the announcer says “January,” contestants must spell it out correctly as “J-A-N-U-A-R-Y,” either by saying it aloud or writing it down.

According to Wikipedia, the Spelling Bee is a nationally popular competition in the United States. The national competition, where children who have won regional contests compete, is so highly regarded that it is even broadcast live on television.

Why Does the Spelling Bee Exist?

The Spelling Bee exists as a competition because spelling English words correctly is extremely difficult. For instance, in Japanese, once children learn hiragana, they can combine the characters to create an almost infinite number of words. Combining “や” (ya) and “ま” (ma) forms “やま” (yama, meaning “mountain”), and combining “み” (mi), “か” (ka), and “ん” (n) forms “みかん” (mikan, meaning “mandarin orange”). Once a child learns the letters of hiragana, they can start reading and creating new words naturally.

However, English does not work that way. Even if someone learns that the letter A is called “A” (ei), that does not necessarily mean they can read the word Apple correctly. The pronunciation of the letter A in Apple is not “ei” but “a” as in “ah.” Likewise, the C in Cool is pronounced as “k,” but in City, it is pronounced as “s.” This complexity in English spelling and pronunciation makes it difficult to learn through simple rules.

Is English Spelling the Most Difficult in the World?

A reading comprehension study conducted on first graders in 14 European countries that use the alphabet examined how well students could recognize words and understand their meanings. The results showed that children whose native languages were not English, such as French or Spanish, had an accuracy rate of 87%, whereas English-speaking children had only 34%.

This suggests that English spelling is among the most difficult of all alphabet-based languages. Even for native English speakers, spelling words correctly is challenging. Therefore, for Japanese children, who do not use the alphabet as their native script, learning English spelling is even more difficult.

Spelling Bees Are Rare in Japanese Schools

Spelling Bee contests are rarely held in public schools in Japan. However, at AMICUS, this contest is conducted annually.

For example, second-grade students were confidently spelling words like tourist, internet, favorite, future, advertisement, suspicious, audience, vicious, environment, and prediction—words that even university students might struggle with. In higher grades, even more complex words such as novella, genres, and tableau appeared.

Observing a Spelling Bee for the first time, I was astonished by the high level of English proficiency displayed by AMICUS students.

What Moved Me the Most

However, what impressed me even more than the students’ spelling abilities was what happened after the contest ended.

Some students who were eliminated from the contest shed tears. Seeing this, their classmates immediately ran over, placed a comforting hand on their shoulders, and offered words of encouragement. Witnessing this warm and heartfelt moment, I couldn’t help but be moved to tears myself.

In any contest, there are always winners and losers. However, seeing students support and care for one another beyond winning or losing made me realize that there is something even more valuable than competition itself.