DNRonline http://www.dnronline.com/articles/print_preview/habla_espanol HABLA ESPAÑOL? City Schools Host First Spanish Spelling Bee Posted: March 18, 2015 By AMELIA BRUST HARRISONBURG — Many have heard of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which had its regional contest in Harrisonburg last month, but another event is debuting in the area this year for students to demonstrate their non-English language skills. City schools are competing in the National Spanish Spelling Bee for the first time to see which students have the best “vocabulario.” Nine fourth-graders competed at W.H. Keister Elementary on Tuesday for the school title. Kristy Rios Ramos, 10, took first place, and Cynthia Puerto-Ramirez, 9, took second. The National Spanish Spelling Bee is sponsored by publishing group Santillana USA, in association with the New Mexico Association for Bilingual Education and the Alliance for Multilingual Multicultural Education. Spanish teacher Kimberly Lindberg organized the bee to promote bilingualism and biliteracy at Keister. This year, the school has 231 students with limited English proficiency — about 45 percent of the student body — according to the division’s Sept. 30 enrollment data. Kristy Rios Ramos, 10, reacts to winning the National Spanish Spelling Bee at Keister Elementary School on Tuesday. This is the first year city schools participated in the Spanish Spelling Bee. (Photos by Austin Bachand / DN-R) “No matter what happens, you are all winners,” Lindberg said to the participants before the contest began. The crowd of third- and fourth-graders, as well as faculty and some parents, waited in silence 1 of 2 Cristal Acosta Cruz (left), 9, and Kristy Rios Ramos, 10, both fourth-graders at Keister 3/18/15, 7:30 AM DNRonline as each speller approached the microphone with a whiteboard to write out their word. After each correct spelling, the judges remained silent. If incorrect, a judge would hit a small bell. http://www.dnronline.com/articles/print_preview/habla_espanol Elementary School, talk about the bee during the awards ceremony. Kristy took first place. Students had to give the Spanish pronunciation of each letter, including any accent marks or tildes in the word. This was the downfall for three of the spellers, said judges Sonny Rodriguez, a home-school liaison, and Regina Shultz, school nurse. The Spanish alphabet contains 30 unique letters. Some combinations or variations, like “ch” and “?” have unique sounds. For example, in Spanish the letter “n” is pronounced “en-neh,” while the letter “?” is pronounced “en-yeh.” Kimberly Lindberg, a Spanish teacher at Keister, introduces the students before the competition begins. Lindberg organized the bee for the school. The bee lasted six rounds with Kristy winning for “asado,” or “roasted” in English. She was the last remaining speller as Cynthia misspelled “pol?tico” and Byron Diaz-Aceituno, 10, misspelled “chorizo.” In the seventh round, Byron took third place after he forgot the accent in “?ltimo,” while Cynthia won second place for correctly spelling “koala.” Although koala comes from the Aboriginal Australian Darug language, the term is the same in Spanish. “What courageous students we have here,” Principal Anne Lintner said. Kristy, Cynthia and Byron will compete against the top three spellers each from Spotswood and Smithland elementary schools and Thomas Harrison and Skyline middle schools. The division Spanish spelling bee will take place at THMS on April 8 at 7 p.m. Contact Amelia Brust at 574-6293 or [email protected] 2 of 2 3/18/15, 7:30 AM
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