Before Christmas, all Year 7 and 8 students had competed in a class Spelling Bee in their MFL1 and MFL2 classes. They had been learning the vocabulary lists at home and were timed to spell as many words as they could in the language they were learning. Two winners from each class got to go through to the final against Dartford Boys'. The standard of spelling was amazing, with students regularly being able to spell 25 words in a minute and a half, using the target language alphabet as well. There was a very positive, collaborative atmosphere where everyone enjoyed joining in and sharing their language skills. Whilst it was quite competitive, participants were supporting each other to keep going and do their best. Well done to everyone involved, in particular our BGS overall winners: Aysu Batmaz for Spanish, Suriya Ashby for Italian, Scott Morris for German and Jia Rui Ong for Chinese.

Mrs Watkins, MFL Department

I really enjoyed participating in the spelling bee as it was a fun opportunity to compete against other pupils from BGS and Dartford Grammar School. We had to compete with the other pupils studying our language, and the top two spellers from each language would go on to spell in the final, where they spelt as many words as they could within a time limit.  I found it interesting to see how words are spelt in other languages, especially Mandarin and Japanese.

Overall, I really enjoyed the Spelling Bee as it was a fun inter-school competition with a learning element!

Aysu, Year 8

It was a very nice event with lots of people who are very experienced and superb at spelling in different languages. It was fun to see other people spell in different languages.

Arthur, Year 8

I found the event extremely enjoyable and enlightening. This experience really improved my knowledge of French and expanded my vocabulary. At first, I was feeling really nervous about what was going to happen, since I was anxious about whether I would do well in the Spelling Bee Competition. I was feeling tense when we were waiting for the Dartford Grammar students, but the people at my table were really encouraging. As we went further into the competition, I was feeling less pressure and started focusing more on the competition. When it was my turn, I managed to spell 10 words and started to get used to the atmosphere. I was performing better than when I was practising with my friends, where I had only managed to spell 8 words in time. This gave my confidence a boost and in the second round, I spelt out 13 words. However, Veer from Dartford managed to spell out an astonishing 26 words and got first place in the French sector of the Spelling Bee. The two best students from each group went head-to-head. It was intense and there were some very close scores in the end.

Even though I wasn't first, I still feel extremely grateful for the opportunity of being able to take part. Everyone who participated did so well too, and congratulations to the people who got first place! 

Chloe, Year 7