NST Spell It Right Experience: Final Round

The final round of this state-level competition was a very heated affair. The eleven preliminary round winners, me included, took our place on the stage. This time, there was money, newspaper coverage, TV coverage and a ticket to the National Grandfinals up for grabs, so no surprise that all the finalists were fired up to do their best.

I felt that I was at the wrong place, a mismatch in other words, as before the finals, the other contestants were frantically looking up words in the dictionary, much unlike me. I took things way too lightly, but that’s how I like it to be.

The format for the finals was a little different from the preliminaries. We would all be given three words, irrelevant of whether we get it correct or wrong. The contestant who gets the most points would be crowned the state winner. But you could guess that one wrong and there goes your first-prize dreams since the level of competition was very high.

The finalists... ready for the finals to roll on

This time round, the words were freaking tough. Yeah, I say freaking tough! I was hoping for a word that I knew. And God bless my luck, I got a word that I knew: ‘Scintilla’. All sorts of things started coming into my mind. A winning start would be great. As the correct spelling played in my head, for all the reasons unknown to me, I spelt out ‘Scintella’. Holy cow!

I was very angry at myself. The stage had got the better of me. I screwed up something I knew as I had spelt it correctly many times before. First place was out of reach. Probably second and third too. As I was called up on stage for the second time, I tried to keep my composure in check.

The presenter said it was a mathematical term. Finally, after giving the meaning and stuff like that, he asked me to spell ‘Parallelogram’. I had gone through this word numerous times during my practice sessions. For a moment, I thought I was going to screw this one up too but goodness gracious me, I got it correct.

At least there was a chance for me to nick fourth or fifth place now. I was confident going into the final round of the finals. But then, disaster struck. I got a word I had never heard of before: ‘Pernicious’. I tried to get what the presenter was saying, and instinctively I spelt ‘Pernicious’, which was actually correct.

But guess what happened next? As I finished spelling the word, I paused for a second or two. The presenter was silent. I thought he was going to say that was the end of the road for me. Thinking I was wrong, I quickly changed my spelling to ‘Penicious’. Upon hearing this, the presenter straight away said that I was wrong, and my first spelling was correct! Imagine what was running through my mind at that time.

The creme de la creme

My story at the Spell It Right competition ended there. I got joint-sixth or join-seventh if I am not mistaken. The prizes were for the top five finalists only. That moment was probably one of my most frustrating, upsetting and exasperating moment in my life. It was a case of so close yet so far. I made an error at one word which I knew how to spell, and changed the spelling of another.

If I had gotten one of those correct, I would have got fifth place at the very least. If both of those correct, then third place at the very least, and a shot at the top honours. Such was the margin between winning and losing, between the correct and wrong spelling, so fine that it punished the slightest mistake I made.

Anyway, I am still happy that I made it to the final round, and I have my aunty, teacher and parents to thank for preparing me by shooting me with all sorts of peculiar words. It could have been better, no doubt, but I guess it could have been worse too. On the bright side, at least I can now spell everyday words such as ‘Embarrass’ and ‘Privilege’.

To read my experience during the preliminary rounds, click here.

A video on the Selangor Spell It Right

NST Spell It Right Experience: Preliminary Rounds

NST Spell It Right(SIR) 2010 logo

Imagine standing before a crowd and being asked to spell words that you had mostly never heard of before. Imagine getting an unsympathetic gaze from the presenter as you spell. And imagine having to spell the word out in less than 20 seconds. Well, if your imagination is spot-on, then you would know that I refer to the Spell It Right competition co-hosted by the New Straits Times and RHB Bank.

I had always wanted to enter this competition, but after two missed chances, I finally had the opportunity to pit my wits against pretty much all the best spellers from the whole of Selangor. As I prepared for the competition, I really didn’t know what to expect as I had never taken part before, but I had some clues after having watched several episodes of the competition on TV the years before.

I took part in the Selangor leg of the competition that was held at Subang Parade on the 16th of May. Officially, there were around 45 schools and over a 170 students that took part in the competition. I wanted to reach the final round at the very least, and who knows prop up with something more than that.

However, as I witnessed the first few preliminary rounds, I started getting butterflies in my stomach. Those guys and girls were superb. It was as if they had memorized the dictionary from cover to cover, something that I had not done. I still had a chance though I thought, if the words that I got were those that I knew how to spell.

Rehman Rashid, the presenter

After waiting in earnest for more than two hours, the time had come for my turn. I was third up to spell. I heard the presenter, Rehman Rashid, a senior NST man, say ‘Rustic’. Not too tough and a good warm up I thought as I spelt this first one correctly.

For the second round, the stakes were higher and the degree of difficulty was increased. Me palms were getting sweaty now. And oh yeah, did I forget to mention that one wrong alphabet at the wrong place would mean that you are on your way home. And that only one participant from each preliminary round will make it to the finals.

As I went up to the microphone for the second time, I was asked to spell ‘Hydrofoil’. I had never come across this word before but after hearing the definition which amounted to something like an aerofoil, I let out a sigh of relief as I got it right. This was followed by being asked to spell 'Vanguard'. Knew that one from the Star Wars games I play.

Now, for the fourth round of the preliminaries, there were only three of us left. The first, a Malay girl, got her spelling wrong, so it left two of us on stage. I was given the word ‘Extrapolate’. At first, I didn’t know what it was but after hearing the definition, I realised it was something I had learnt in Physics and I got it right. And I was on my way to the finals after the last contestant bungled her spelling.


Click here to read the second part of my experience, the final round that is.

Penang BRATs Camp 2010

Interviewing people, writing articles, sorting out pictures and compiling videos – that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what we BRATs – short for Bright, Roving, Annoying Teens – had been up to during the four-day BRATs Camp that was held from the 13th to the 16th of March at Penang.

Specifically targeted for those in their late teens, I wanted to attend this camp to primarily broaden my perspective on journalism. And I guess I have got more than I’ve bargained for. By attending this camp, I now know that there is more to journalism than what meets the eye. It’s not all about writing. Journalism encompasses photography and videography among others as well.

We BRATs experienced journalism first-hand, and we had to work the hard way by sweating it out all day long. First, we had to walk the streets of Penang to collect data on its heritage and background, take pictures of buildings and structures of note, and also interview laymen, tourists and hawkers alike.

Then, we had group discussions to brainstorm on what we were going to do. Some of us handled the articles, some the photographs, and others the video presentations. Fatigue took its toll on us before long, but having awesome teammates really helped, especially in staying awake till 1-2a.m. to complete our assignments.

As much as getting practical workouts, we also had theory lessons from Ivy Soon, the overall program coordinator. Being an experienced hand, she gave us pointers on how to write concise articles, and showed us the difference between school essays and news and feature stories.

Besides that, Niki Cheong, another one of the coordinators and a prominent writer himself, highlighted the paradigm shift that the newspaper industry is undergoing at the moment. He said, “24 out of the 25 top newspapers are experiencing record drop in their daily circulation.”

This means that people are no longer waiting to read the news in the newspapers – they want the news as it happens. As he explained, “Last time, you had to find news. But now, news finds you.” He was speaking of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, which, believe it or not, have loads of potential to influence the way in which news is disseminated these days.

Of course, we weren’t sharpening our so-called journalism skills all the while. We had other fun activities, such as the 'Algorithm Dance' and also group presentations. There were three groups, and all the presentations had elements of music. Seriously, the presentations were good – funny, wacky and creative. As one of the coordinators pointed out, “This is the best we’ve seen in recent years.”

There’s no forgetting the food too. Going to Penang isn’t complete till one eats the world-famous Penang Char Kuey Teow, which was yummy-licious. The hotel we stayed at also provided scrumptious food, buffet style. All of us savored the food very much. There was sushi, spaghetti and loads of other tasty foodstuff, along with tempting desserts such as cakes, puddings and ice-creams.

Just like from other BRATs camps that had been held before, there have been participants who have go on to make it real big in life – bloggers, writers, doctors, artists, you name it. What I hope is that by having attended this camp, it would have a positive impact on my life too. And I know it would!

Feel free to share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

My Very Singaporean Journal

Singapore. Who on earth hasn’t heard of it? A smallish city-state just off the southern tip of Malaysia, no larger than the Malaysian capital city of Kuala Lumpur. And a very, very ambitious and modern country too.

Me being a Malaysian, it is almost customary to visit Singapore at least once in my lifetime. I beat that though. I have been there three times in my short life thus far. My latest visit there was to attend prayers that my uncle was having at his home, and chill out and have a look around after that.

It had been some time since my last visit, which was some five years back. Since I had grown up and matured over the years and forgotten Singapore pretty much along the way, this trip of mine served as an eye-opener. That is because I am old enough to judge for myself if whether Singapore is a great city or otherwise.

My stay lasted only five days, but I did as much as I could in that period of time. My cousins were very familiar around there, and it helped a lot. I just followed them around.

Getting down to my personal experience in Singapore, I would start with my first night. I took a bus along with my mother and siblings from Kuala Lumpur and spent the night at Shangri-La in downtown Singapore. It was very late so I dozed off as soon as I got into the room.

After checking out of the hotel the next morning, I made my way to my uncle’s house in Ang Mo Kio together with my family. The prayer had commenced on Friday and was to conclude on Sunday. The continuous three day prayer is synonymous with the Sikh community and is called ‘Akhand Path’.

I was there throughout the course of the day and helped out here and there. I also took the initiative to explore the house and my, it is huge and very well done-up. That night, I stayed at another uncle’s house of mine located at Woodlands as the formers house was quite crowded. In the car, I learnt a lot about Singapore from this uncle of mine.

He explained that no one would break traffic rules in Singapore because the laws are very stringent. Not surprising since an offence would warrant 4 demerit points and should it hit 10 demerit points, severe penalties such as the suspension of driving license await. Then there are a whole lot of other laws. I deduced that there are just too many laws for such a small place.

The next morning, a Sunday, was when the prayer culminated. There was ‘Kirtan’ after that, followed by ‘Langgar’. Since it was done in a private residence, there were not that many people as compared to a Gurdwara. Then, we got down cleaning up the whole house and putting things back in order.

After a long day, my uncle said that he would treat us out for dinner. We went to Orchards Road via MRT. I realised that the transport system there is integrated and henceforth, that makes it convenient for commuters. No wonder Singaporeans need not have their own cars, and the roads are always clear.

We walked around Orchard Road, pretty much window-shopping. Then, we had to decide where to eat. First, we searched for a vegetarian restaurant, but to no avail. In the end, we settled for Grandma’s at ION Orchard. Truthfully speaking, the food there was not at all cheap, but the quality, superb!

By the time we reached home, it was way past midnight. I struggled to get sleep that night, and therefore I woke up late the next morning. On that evening, I had planned to go to Marina Bay with my cousin, but after doing some research beforehand, he found out that the Formula 1 circuit had been disbanded and there was nothing much to see.

Orchard Road it was again. We went there, walked around more, walking in and out of malls and plazas like we were walking through a mega-maze. The place was alive with many people, the atmosphere electric. There were the superb Christmas decorations too lining the streets and spicing up the malls. It was a sight to behold, literally, as it was unique.

The sad part is that many shops closed down early, and soon after there was nothing much to do in the malls. We reached a common ground that it was best we went to Chinatown. After an MRT interchange, we were there. Again though, the stalls were mostly closed. It was practically deserted. Anyway, we bought a few mementos such as key chains from there.

Guess what time we had dinner that day? We had dinner at sharp 12 midnight! Awkward isn’t it?

My cousins went back the next afternoon and together with my family, I went to my other uncle’s condominium unit at Woodlands. We spent the latter half of the day there. My aunty served us delicious home-cooked pizza for tea, followed by some special sort of rice for dinner. I also met their grandchild who’s 2 years of age.

That spelt the end of my trip to Singapore for it was our turn to return back to our base in Malaysia the next afternoon. I spent some time with my uncle’s children the next morning, thanked him and my aunty for the wonderful time we had there and off we were to Kuala Lumpur.

A worthy trip and a well-served break from life at home is how I would sum up my visit to Singapore. It certainly helped to relax after a hectic year of school and studies. This has set the tone for a productive holiday, I hope.