Ear on Chicago; Daily News Spelling Bee

This is Hugh Hill speaking from Room 111 of the Nightingale School out on Chicago South side. We are going to tell you the story of the Daily News Spelling Bee. In a few moments, the students who are being given instructions of this Room 111 will move out and go over to the auditorium of the Nightingale School and begin their spelling bee. Now, in order that I may fully describe exactly what the Chicago Daily News Spelling Bee is, I would like to read briefly from the forward in the book at which they pass out. Each year, more than three -quarters of a million Chicago and Cook County Elementary School pupils participate in the Chicago Daily News Spelling Bee program. The spelling bees are sponsored as a public service in the interest of promoting better spelling on the part of Chicago area school children by providing proper incentives to motivate them toward a greater interest in the subject of spelling. Through the spelling bees, it is hoped that the excellent work done in the Chicago area elementary schools may be called to the attention of the public, both through publicity in the Daily News and attendance at the

contests. The spelling bee is split into four separate divisions, one for each of the four great school systems involved. Chicago Public Schools, Cook County Public Schools, Chicago and Cook County Catholic Schools, and Chicago and Cook County Lutheran Schools, a combined total of more than 1 ,100 schools participates in the contests which have been held annually since 1946. At the end of a series of school level and district and sectional semi -final contests, two grand final spelling bees are held. The first pits the winners of the Chicago Public School District bees for the Chicago Public School Championship, the second matches district winners from County Public, Catholic and Lutheran Schools for the County Spelling Championship. The winners of each contest go to Washington, D .C. to represent their schools in the National Spelling Bee. Now that's a brief description of exactly what the Chicago Daily News Spelling Bee

is, and now to become a little bit more specific I'm going to talk to Dr. Dorothy Kelly, who is the spelling master here at today's spelling bee. Could you tell us what your duties are, Dr. Kelly? It would be my duty to present the words which will be used to determine the winner of the Daily News Spelling Bee. Now we'll be listening a little bit later when some of the children are spelling out the words, but I assume that you start out with easy ones and grow more difficult as you go along. That is right. Right, we have a few words that we present as a practice list before we actually begin the contest. Do you think these children are pretty bright? Well, I'm sure of it. I wonder if I could spell some of those words. Well, I'm quite sure of that too. Well, I doubt it very seriously. From the words that I've heard that these children spell, I doubt very seriously where there are very many adults could really spell. Now, seriously, do you think adults can spell as well as children? Yes, I think so. Even the more difficult ones? I don't know why, of course. Why not? They were children once upon a time, and if the children do better, why they should do better later on in life. Well, I know, but I thought perhaps a lot of adults

would forget the rules of spelling, which you learn as a child. Well, it's true that many of us grown -ups do forget things that we learned in school, and sometimes we have to refer to sources, such as the dictionary, or the books that we have read to remember how to spell words. Well, Dr. Kelly, do children still use some of the old rules of spelling A before, what is it, A before E, I before E, except after C? That's right. They do. They taught those things in school today. Let's see, I even forgot the rule, but they still use a lot of those rules. That's right. And I suppose it comes to their mind when they're in the spelling B's. Well, we hope so. Well, Dr. Kelly, thank you. We'll be hearing your voice throughout the program when we go into the auditorium and the spelling B actually starts. But until we talk to you again, thank you very much. You're welcome. Before we have the instructions given to the youngsters who are going to be spelling here in this room and over in the auditorium, I'd like to talk to just a few of them and find out some of the names and some of the things that they do to remember how to spell. Could we have your name? My name is Pamela

Duboric. Where do you live, Pamela? Fifty -seventh in our region. Now, Pamela, while Dr. Kelly and I were talking, she suggested that perhaps some of you students actually do use rules of thumb in spelling, do you? Well, that little poem you said about I before, I always use that. You always use that? Yes. What about this, Carol? What's your name? Laura Lystrom. Where are you from, Laura Lyme? I'm from Fifty -seventh and Killborn. And do you make good grades in school, Laura Lyme? Yes, I do. What are they? Ease? Ease. Now, I asked you a little while ago if you got AIDS, but Ease is the highest here. Ease is the highest. I see. Here's a young boy over here. What's your name, son? My name is Tracy Allen. Tracy, where do you live? 58 -28 Wales. You're a pretty smart boy? I think so. I think you are too. Here's another boy. What's your name? Charles, my hand. What kind of grades do you get in school, Charles? How old you say Charles? Yes, sir. How old Ease? All Ease. I bet every student in this room gets all Ease. What's your name?

My name is Marilyn, you're Justin. Where do you live, Marilyn? 50 -46 South, Damon. Do you think you can win this contest? I hope so. You're a pretty good speller? Yes. That's good. What's your name? My name's Denise Shorzek. Denise, where do you live? I'm just a nice and homie. Are you an E -student, also? Yes. Well, I think every student in here is an E -student. What about you? My name's Dan Snadoff. Out of it, 53rd and Campbell. Danny, you look like you're about what? 12 years old? 13. 13 years old. OK, well, I'm not going to ask you to spell anything because you fuck people in here, or racking your brains about what you might have to spell when you get in the other room. There's a little girl here, but I can't quite reach her with a microphone. Can you come over here? What's your name? My name is Mary Caius. Mary, where do you live? 63rd one, Champlain. Are you an E -student, also? Yes. Well, how about you? Are you an E -student? Well, I get medium grades. I don't get all these. What's your name? Lester

Harris. You don't get all E's, Lester? No, sir. Well, what do you get E's in? Well, spelling, reading, arithmetic, and English. And what do you get medium grades in? The rest of my subjects. I see. OK, Lester. Well, that's about all the time we had. I'd like to talk to each and every one of them, but we'll be hearing their voices anyway when they get out there on the platform at the auditorium. And I think now that Richard Collins, who is associated with the daily news, is going to give these children some instructions. So why don't we just listen to Richard Collins? And let me ask Richard just a couple of questions. Richard, now, you give these instructions before each spelling be at each school. That's right, you. Every time we have a spelling bee, we go through the rules with the children to make sure that they understand them. And then the students will leave the room here, room 111, and go to the auditorium for the spelling bee itself. That's right. Well, now I'll tell you what, Richard. I'll let you go ahead and give the instructions. And then I would appreciate

it very much if you would take the microphone out there. And because I know very little about the spelling bee, I'll let you describe the action out there and we'll listen to them spell. And then you can tell us as it goes along just exactly what's going on, OK? Fine, OK, you. All right, from now on, we'll be listening to your voice instead of mine. And I think that's a much more pleasant occasion. Oh, well, I don't know about that, but thank you. When you start to spell, you can say the word before you start to spell after you have finished, before and after you've finished or not at all, depending on however you want to do it. There's no set rule on that. But once you start to spell and say a letter, you may not change that letter. If you give three letters, you can't change the order of them, even if it's a slip or a tongue or anything else. Whatever you say, that's it. That's for the record. So I'll think very carefully before you start to spell and then begin to spell. If you're given a word, which is a homonym, and no definition

is given with the word, then we will accept any spelling of the homonym. For instance, if we give you the word C and you say S -E -E or S -E -A, either one is fine. But if you are given the word C meaning the ocean, then you have to say S -E -A. You may ask that a word be re -pronounced to you, used in a sentence, or defined. If you're not sure the word, please ask, because you can be disqualified if you spell a word different than the one you were given. And that's very important. In every week, we have someone who spells the wrong word. They know how to spell, but they just spell the wrong word and they have to be eliminated. Now the word list today doesn't have any words which require capital letters, apostrophes, or hyphens, dashes, or anything else in it. They're all good, simple words. You've heard all of them before, and some of them are hard, but you won't have any trouble with it. Thank you very much, Richard. And now I think it's time

for us to go in and listen to the spellers themselves as they go through the spelling B. The first voice you will hear will be that of Mr. Ross Herr, who is Superintendent of District 12. We are assembled this afternoon to have our annual spelling B contest for District 12. If you come to attention now, everybody sit back, relax, and let's have a good time this afternoon. Mr. Collins, are you ready now to have the contestant's come up? Mr. Collins from the Daily News. Good afternoon, and thank you, Mr. Herr. As you know, this is the semi -final spelling B for District 12. The purpose of this contest is to select the two finalists from the district for the Chicago Public Schools spelling B finals that will be held in the spring.

There are 20 contestants here on the stage, each of whom is a school champion, and then of course, I think they're some alternates in the auditorium. Before we start the contest, I wonder if those alternates would mind standing, so I can see them, because I think they all do a real good job. Okay, thank you very much. The winner of this contest this afternoon is going to get a Clinton wristwatch and a spelling B plaque for his or her school. The runner -up will receive a copy of Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, and all 20 of the contestants will receive paper -mates spelling B pins. That is, and then the two top winners go to the City Finals. Dr. Kelly, if you're ready to start, I think. Fine, we can get started.

Ketel, K -E -T -T -L -E. Solution. S -O -L -U -T -I -O -N. Accus, accused, AC, C -U -S. Accus, accused, AC, C -U -S -E, accused. Neighbor, neighbor, N -E -I -G -H -B -O -R. Unusually, unusually, U -N -U -S -U -A -L -L -Y. Battalion, battalion, B -A -T -T -A -L -I -O -N. Persuade. Persuade, P -E -R -S -U -A -D -E. Service. Service. S -E -R

-V -I -C -E. Arrange. Arrange, A -R -R -A -N -G -E. Sub -C. Sub -C. S -U -C -C -E -E -D. Positive. Positive. P -O -S -I -T -I -V -E. Attack. Attack. ATT -A -C -K. Pigment. Pigment. P -I -G -N -E -N -T. Scower. Scower. S -C -U -R. Frequency. Frequency. Frequency. F -R -E -Q -U -E -N -C -Y. Symphony. Symphony.

S -Y -M -P -H -A -N -Y. Sorry. Freight. There were several frames, there were several cards on the freight train. Freight. F -R -E -I -T -H -T. H -R -S -Y. H -R -S -H -I -N -D -R -A -N -C -E. S -L -I -V -L -L -L -E -H -H -E -N -C -E. S -L -I -V -L -L -E -H -N -C -E -N -C -E. V -E -L -I -H -O -O -D. Materity. Materity. N -A -T -U -R -I -T -Y. Cartel. Cartel. C -A -R -T -E -L. Occurrence. Occurrence.

O -C -C -U -R -A -N -C -E. Sorry. These two contestants are the representatives from this district in the finals. I think Gary, one of the contestants here this afternoon, has done a real good job of spelling, but these two, of course, are the champions, so I think we ought to give them all a hand. Now, from this point on, there will be a changing procedure. The next word, I believe, will go to number eight. If she misses the word, then the same word will be given to number ten. Number ten will spell that word, plus the next word on the list, to be the champion. If number ten misses either of those two words, then the contest will continue. Until one contestant can spell two words in a row from the pronouncers

list. Okay? Respectful. Respectful. R -E -S -P -E -C -T -F -U -L. Appridge. Appridge. A -B -R -I -D -G -E -D. Monotony. Monotony. M -O -N -O -T. N -Y. Sorry. Monotony. Monotony. M -O -N -O -T -O -N -Y. Gymnasium. Gymnasium. G -Y -M -N -A -S -I -U -M. Appridge. Jackman, you are the winner of our district number ten spelling bee. And I want to

congratulate you. Here is a beautiful watch, which I'm sure that you will cherish for a long, long while. Certainly it's been a pleasure to have you on the spelling bee. And I think you did a very, very fine job. Virginia, you are a runner -up in our spelling bee for district number twelve. I'm presenting you with this Webster's new collegiate dictionary. And I want to congratulate you. I think you did a swell job. And to all of the others, you folks are champions too. You're champions in your own school. And you know, we only can, in a group, have one winner and one runner -up. But each one of you folks are a very fine product, a very fine representative of your school. And we're very proud of you, as we are very proud of the winners. We appreciate all of you coming this afternoon. We hope you have enjoyed this contest. And we'll be listening for this program on radio. And then watching on television for the finals, which will be sometime either in April or May. Thank you again for coming. And thanks to the judges and the spelling

master for their fine work. We are now in the office of Dr. Don C. Rogers, Associate Superintendent and Charge of Administration and Research. Dr. Rogers, tell us something about the spelling bee and how it is operated in the Chicago Public Schools. Each year, all Chicago Public Elementary Schools select their best pupil spellers and enroll them in a district spelling bee, sponsored jointly by the schools and by the Chicago Daily News. The district winners participate in a citywide championship spelling bee or tournament. The pupil who wins goes on to Washington DC to take part in the national finals. These spelling bees arouse and stimulate a great deal of interest in the subject of spelling. There are three necessary parts

to a good spelling program. First is a basic list of words to be learned by the pupil. These words are determined by research studies. That is, basic words most frequently and commonly used in people's writings. 3 ,000 basic words represent 97 % of all the words typically used in a lifetime of writing. Second, proper grading of these words for children's learning so that such words as doll, play, candy are taught in the second grade. And such words as message, progress, and telegraph are taught in the eighth grade. Third, a good teaching method which uses proved principles of learning, such as pronouncing the word, memorizing it. Studying its meaning and using it in written practice exercises. Formerly, a great deal of time was wasted, teaching children to spell such out landish

words as as a fetita, lexivium, the garyotype, which were almost never used in life's writing situations. Even a few years ago, Chicago schools taught such words as veg, canna, dryad, and wit. They were easy enough, but since they are rarely used, the time needed to teach them might better be spent on more common words. In one of the newest textbook series in spelling, the three most difficult words in the entire series are committee, intelligent, and attorney. They are really useful words. Because Chicago teachers and pupils give spelling a good deal of attention, our pupils have ranked high in spelling in recent years. Dr. Rogers, what is the value of the spelling B to the education of

the student? Well, primarily, as a means of motivating or stimulating pupils to greater effort, it arouses their interest and an interested pupil has already made a start toward learning. Well, is it really important for a student to learn spelling in the Chicago schools? Well, we think so, we think it's very important, perhaps not as important as reading, perhaps not as important as arithmetic, but it is certainly one of the skill subjects which people should achieve. As a matter of fact, there's a cruciality about spelling, and in the eyes of the world, a person who miss spells a word in a letter to a friend or particularly when he might be seeking employment, it's pretty important because if he miss spells too many words, he may not get the job. And one shouldn't learn to depend too much on the dictionary? Well, I agree, but I'm still

quite a fan for use of the dictionary. Well, I certainly hope Dr. Rogers, as this will be one of the big years in the spelling B, I know that I've followed it, and I'm sure that many other people in the city of Chicago have followed it for a good number of years. And it's growing to be one of the major things in education throughout Chicago. And on behalf of the people of Chicago, we want to express our thanks to you and to the Chicago Daily News for sponsoring such a fine event. Thank you, sir. And that's the story of the Chicago Daily News spelling B, and this is Hugh Hill speaking.