Region Four wins education ministry’s first Spanglish bee competition

As part of a collaborative effort to help migrant children in the school system, the Ministry of Education’s National Literacy Department in partnership with the Disaster Risk Prevention and Migrant Unit hosted its first Spanglish Bee Competition on Wednesday.   

The event was held at the National Centre of Educational Resources Development (NCERD). 

The education districts of Georgetown, Region Three, and Region Four participated in the competition. It sought to promote literacy by providing students with a positive goal to work towards and a platform to display the fruits of their hard work.

Participants were quizzed on spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension with specific focus on antonyms, synonyms, homophones, and riddles.

Coordinator of the Disaster Risk Prevention and Migrant Unit, Rampattie Bisnauth expressed, “So, this activity was something that myself and Miss Williams would have thought of when we think of our migrant children within our school system. We want to ensure that they have equal opportunities for educational activities, like our other Guyanese children, you know we have a spelling bee, literacy, and other competitions.”

Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Education Officer, Samantha Williams noted that the competition was designed to assess the literacy skills of the migrant pupils of Grades four to six.

DPI spoke to some participants who expressed elation about the competition.

“I feel so happy because my mother tells me she’s happy for me because I get second place. And she feels happy for me because I’ll learn more,” pupil, Viviana Saborit expressed.

Maikel DeAbreau noted happily that the spelling segment was the easiest for him, “it was great and awesome… I would advise them that you will not be shy when you go on stages when you have to.”

Another elated pupil, Yissel Flores highlighted, “Like they feel that they can win and they can participate. If you’re like me, I feel I will win, that’s why I participate here.”

Another participant, Uriah Hernandez said it felt amazing participating in the competition.

Region Four won with 148 points, Region Three received second place with 121 points, and Georgetown received third place with 86 points.

Electronic tablets with pre-loaded applications and four different google translators to translate information in the classroom were presented to Maikel DeAbreau who scored 48 points, Viviana Saborit who scored 50 points overall, and Melody Cox who scored 58 points.

Each participant in the competition was presented with a certificate.