Learn That Word

Categories

Video: Why vocabulary matters

Video: Who uses it


Video: What people say
Rewards and prizes!

The history of the spelling beeWith this year's finals around the corner (Thursday, 5/30, 8 pm EST), here some history of the spelling bee.

The good ol' spelling bee, it seems, is an American tradition older than even American independence.
According to this article by Merriam-Webster, Benjamin Franklin recommended a similar contest already 1750.

Connecticut school’s tradition in 1795 was to have the bad spellers clean the schoolhouse while the good spellers went out to play. 
Spelling bees then evolved into social entertainment, their geeky appeal going in and out of fashion over the years.

Please keep your fingers crossed for all LearnThatWord members trying out in Washington, D.C. right now!

Click here to learn some trivia about why the spelling bee is dominated by kids of Indian/South Asian decent.

Posted by Rosevita Warda in fun with English, history, spelling bee.

Leave a Reply

(default) 45 queries took 57 ms
NrQueryErrorAffectedNum. rowsTook (ms)
1SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `classes`11111
2SELECT CHARACTER_SET_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLLATIONS WHERE COLLATION_NAME= 'utf8_general_ci';111
3SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `chapters`331
4SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `users`55552
5SELECT CHARACTER_SET_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLLATIONS WHERE COLLATION_NAME= 'utf8_bin';111
6SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `keys`551
7SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `users_keys`441
8SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words`24241
9SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `limericks`441
10SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `roots`441
11SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `senses`441
12SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `videos`14142
13SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words_chapters`441
14SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words_alternates`10101
15SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words_antonyms`551
16SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words_limericks`441
17SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words_related_words`441
18SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words_roots`441
19SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words_same_context_words`441
20SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words_senses`441
21SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words_synonyms`551
22SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words_quiz_synonyms`331
23SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `words_videos`661
24SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `user_practice_words`16165
25SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `word_lists`12122
26SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `schools`24241
27SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `partners`11111
28SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `partners_classes`441
29SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `partners_users`441
30SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `users_chapters`441
31SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `user_preferred_words`991
32SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `user_unwanted_words`331
33SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `user_spelled_words`441
34SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `word_list_bookmarks`441
35SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `word_list_ratings`441
36SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `teachers_students`551
37SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `classes_students`331
38SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `classes_teachers`331
39SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `schools_teachers`441
40SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `schools_admins`771
41SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `users_sponsors`661
42SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `users_friends`554
43SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `users_family_sponsors`331
44SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `classes_chapters`442
45SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM `pages`18182