Currents

To Bee or Not to Bee?

Volume 6 / Issue 1 / Fall 2005

Antediluvian ('an-te¯-di-"LOO-ve¯-un), meaning “old-fashioned” or “out-of-date,” was the winning word in the 1994 Scripp’s National Spelling Bee (www.spellingbee.com). Even though the national spelling bee began in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1925, it is anything but antediluvian.

In fact, spelling bees are hipper than ever. The 2002 Oscar-nominated documentary, Spellbound, was just the beginning of the comeback of spelling bees. This year will see the release of two movies with spelling themes: Akeelah and the Bee, starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, and Bee Season, with Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche, based on Myla Goldberg’s 2000 novel. Broadway has tapped into the craze with the hit comic musical The Twenty-fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which landed two Tony Awards out of six nominations.

Hollywood isn’t the only place where spelling is seeing a resurgence. This past summer 273 kids aged 9–14 competed for the $22,000 top prize in cash and scholarships at the Scripp’s National Spelling Bee. The event received huge media attention and was broadcast on ESPN.

Teachers are noticing inventive spelling in schoolwork as their students increasingly abbreviate words in written assignments the way they do in electronic messaging. This trend, combined with the growing emphasis on basic skills, has caused more teachers to return to spelling instruction. So spelling fever has become fashionable just when it is needed.