Croissant, subpoena, leitmotif, guillotine, rescind...whew. All correctly spelt, without right-clicking for the spell check option on a computer.

For the first time in 17 years, a Jamshedpur school won the national title of Spellinc 2015/16, organised by a leading brand of pens and stationery in India, at Calcutta's fabled National Library on Saturday.

Anish Roy and G.S. Vishnu, both Class IX students of Little Flower School (LFS), Telco, became the national champions of Spellinc by a thumping margin of 57 points. The LFS team won the competition with 155 points, far ahead of Bhavan's Vidya Mandir, Eroor, Kerala, at 98, and Cambridge School, Noida, at 88.

Spellinc prelims were held in 11 cities. Winning teams represented cities - including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore - at the grand finale on Saturday with anchor Barry O'Brien.

The LFS team faced six rounds - direct spellings, anagrams, pick the correct word, make the words (from a set of alphabets), word puzzle and challenge rounds where they were given three words to spell.

"The national level was difficult. We faced some French, Latin and Spanish words that are a part of the English language now. But we kept a cool head," said Anish when asked about how they cracked it. "We had to answer the first spelling to opt for the next and then the third. As the levels got tougher, it became both interesting and challenging," Vishnu added.

A boy from Prakash Nagar, Telco, Vishnu said he had always loved getting to know and use new words. "I think I have a knack for words. I also cultivate it. When I appear for the UPSC civil services exams, a rich vocabulary will help me express myself better," he said.

Anish, who stays in Nildih, also confessed to a love for words. "But, I want to be an engineer," said the boy who would be one of the rare techies with a formidable vocabulary.

Who did the two teenagers credit the big win to?

"The power of two," grinned Anish. "Our hard work and our teachers who worked with us every inch of the way." "True, our teachers' enthusiasm never flagged," Vishnu added.

The teenagers have won a rolling trophy, a trophy for the school and for themselves. They have also won a Dell laptop each, scrabble word finder, gift hampers and certificates. Their school will get a synthetic turf on campus from the principal sponsor of the programme.

"We stress students learn spellings. It is vital for better grammar and helps enrich their vocabulary. Later, it helps students in creative writing. We have this practice from kindergarten, and a lot of intra-school spelling contests," said Nilima Samuel, LFS vice-principal.

Teacher Ravinder Kaur, also the co-ordinator for the school's spelling activities, said she made sure that students read a lot outside the syllabus to enrich their vocabulary.

"In this age of spell check, we emphasise our children read books, newspapers and magazines so that they learn new words with their spellings and meanings," Kaur said.

 

Are today's kids worse spellers, thanks to automated tools? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com