At the end of March, Stephens Elementary School held its first set of spelling bees in Spanish — one for Grade 2/3s and another for the 4/5s.

Nineteen students studied for over a month from a list of some 500 words! Most of our brave participants are not even fluent in Spanish, so they took on quite an admirable challenge.

The bees were conducted on a 'personal best' basis. Whoever was left standing after half an hour, or last, was declared a winner.

Students who don't speak Spanish learned how hard it can be to spell in a foreign language and students who speak Spanish at home loved this opportunity to study with their parents and to shine at school.

The ESL staff at Stephens hopes to share their bee materials with other elementary schools and to sponsor a city-wide bee in the Spring of 2008.

Photographs courtesy of The Capital Times