Spelling fever hits Sabah

By Olivia Miwil
Pictures by Izhari Ariffin.

KOTA KINABALU:The RHB New Straits Times Spell-It-Right (SIR) challenge saw 715 students participating in the state-level preliminary round here yesterday.

Those pupils, from 28 primary and secondary schools, turned up as early as 8am at Universiti Malaysia Sabah.

Former SIR state-level champion Cristable Ndzi from SK St Francis Convent (M) said the 35-minute written test was easier than last year.

“However, I was only confident of getting 20 out of 30 words correct. I prepared by searching for difficult words on the internet,” she added.

Cristable’s elder sister Daniella, who made to the final round of the state-level SIR challenge last year,said began reading more books and online news.

“Reading classic books including Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, was a good way to improve my vocabulary.

“Occasionally, I played scrabble with my sister or online, which was both educational and fun,” said the form five student from SM St Michael, Penampang.

First timer John Hejnowski, 16, from SM La Salle in Tanjung Aru said the written test was a good way to improve his vocabulary.

“The first 20 words, with between one and four syllables, were easier or could be guessed.

“But not the words with more than four syllables such as ‘irredeemable’ and ‘susceptibility’,” he elaborated.     

The top 100 in the preliminary round will advance to state challenge scheduled to be in August.
State-level champions for the primary and secondary school category will represent own state to compete in the national challenge in October.


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