Orange Crescent School
1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: 714 531-1451
2017 Interschool Spelling Bee Procedures, Guidelines, & Rules
1. Each participating school may submit the name of one speller and one alternate speller
per grade level. Remember that due to space limitations, only participants, parents, and
teachers may attend the Interschool Spelling Bee.
2. Each speller must be aware of and agree to follow the rules of the Inter School Spelling
Bee.
3. Each school must send at least two adult volunteers to officiate during the Spelling
Bee.
4. Each adult must be aware of and agree to follow the rules of the Inter School Spelling
Bee.
5. The Spelling Bee Coordinator will review the rules, procedures, and introduce and
discuss the roles and responsibilities of the pronouncers, the judges, the timekeepers,
and the word keepers.
6. The Interschool Spelling Bee competition will be held on one day, Friday April 28,2017;
the Spelling Bee will begin at 9:00 for all grade levels
Registration 8:00-8:50
Welcome and address from the Spelling Bee Coordinator-OCS Lawn
Commencement of the Spelling Bee
Grade 1- Room 3 (downstairs)
Grade 2- Room 4 (downstairs)
Grade 3- Room 5 (downstairs)
Grade 4- Room 7 (upstairs)
Grade 5- Room 8 (upstairs)
Grade 6- Room 9 (upstairs)
Grade 7- Room 10 (upstairs)
Grade 8- Room 11 (upstairs)
Prize Distribution- OCS Lawn
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Orange Crescent School
1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: 714 531-1451
7. All spellers will be given lists of words from their grade and one grade up to study.
Words on the lists will be typed on pieces of paper, cut up, and placed into baskets, to
be drawn by the spellers for the competitions.
8. Spellers who misspell a word will be allowed to leave the room at the end of a round if
they are with an adult. Otherwise they can sit in the back until the session is over..
9. As participants register, they will pick a number out of a bowl and will be seated in
number order, according to the number they picked when they get to their assigned
room. They will each wear their identification badge as a means of identification, within
the competition, as well as their specific number bee badge to indicate their seat in the
competition. A microphone will be provided to facilitate sufficient volume.
10. The jobs of judges, word keepers, and timekeepers will be divided among the
volunteers of the participating schools. The host school will provide pronouncers
for the competitions.
THE JUDGES’ DECISIONS WILL BE FINAL.
11. During the Spelling Bee, the only people present will be:
 Contestants of the competition, depending on grade level
 Parents and/or accompanying adults (1 per participant)
 1 Pronouncer, 1 Time Keeper, 1 Word Keeper, 1 Gate Keeper and 3 Judges
12. Once the Spelling Bee has begun we urge everyone present to observe the following
rules:
 Refrain from talking in the room
 No one will be allowed to leave or enter the room unless it is an emergency
 Any Speller who talks during the competition will be disqualified and will not
be allowed to continue in the Inter-school Spelling Bee
 Any observer who talks during the competition will be asked to leave the room
 Schools should instruct their students and guests to remain quiet and respectful
during all parts of the competition
13. Prize Distribution:
 Trophies for First, Second and Third Place winners will be awarded at the end of
the competition.
 All participants will be presented a Certificate of Participation
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Orange Crescent School
1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: 714 531-1451
2014 Interschool Spelling Bee – Procedure, Guidelines & Rules
1. The first participant will stand up, choose a word from a bowl, hand it to the Word
Keeper, walk over to the microphone and wait for the pronouncer to say the word. Once
he/she is finished spelling the word they will sits down and the next speller will
automatically stand up choose a word and the process will continue.
Phase 1:

Spellers will initially be given words from the lists that they were provided to
study.
 There will be three rounds for 1st & 2nd Grades, using the words from their grade
level.
 There will be 2 rounds for 3rd through 8th Grades, using the words from their grade
level.
This is known as Phase 1.
Those spellers who spell all these words correctly will advance to Phase 2, the next phase
of competition.
Phase 2:
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This Phase will utilize words from the next grade up.
There will be 3 rounds for 1st & 2nd Grades, using the words from their next grade
level.
There will be 2 rounds for 3rd through 8th Grades, using the words from their next
grade level.
Spellers who spell all of the Phase 2 words correctly will proceed to Phase 3.
Phase 3:
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This Phase will consist of words from the Challenge List.
There will be 4 rounds using these words.
This is up to the judges’ discretion. There may be more than 4 rounds of Phase 3 or
Challenge rounds.
Spellers who spell all of the Phase 3 words correctly will proceed to Phase 4.
Phase 4:
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This Phase will consist of words from the Super Challenge Lists.
There will be 5 rounds using these words.
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Orange Crescent School
1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: 714 531-1451
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This is also up to the judges’ discretion. There may be more than 5 rounds of Phase
4 or Super Challenge rounds.
Spellers will be asked to spell words that are more advanced as the Phases
progress.
Spellers who spell all the Phase 4 words correctly will be awarded a tied first place
finish.
Phase 4 may be extended to determine a winner.
There will be three trophies awarded per grade level: first, second, and third. In cases of
ties for first place, there will be no second place in that grade. In the event of a three-way
tie for first place, no other trophies will be awarded in that grade.
2. The following steps will be carefully followed during the competition:
 The Speller chooses a word, hands it to the Word Keeper
 The Word Keeper looks up the word using www.merriam-webster.com; then hands
the word to the Pronouncer
 The Pronouncer announces the word to be spelled.
 The Speller listens carefully to the Pronouncer and asks for clarification of the word if
necessary
 When the Speller is sure he/she understands the word, she/he pronounces it, spells it
and then says the word again.
 The Speller spells the word slowly and clearly, without distorting the normal
pronunciation of the word.
 He/she must say it loudly enough for the judge to hear it.
 If the Speller forgets, the Pronouncer will remind him/her. This is to aid the Speller and
the pronouncer for word clarification purposes.
 The Speller may request the pronouncer to repeat the word, define it; use it in a
sentence; provide part of speech; or have the computer pronounce the word.
 This must be done before the Speller begins to spell the word.
 Once the Speller starts to spell a word, he/she may not ask for any more information.
 Each request can be asked once per round.
 The Judge(s) determines whether or not the word was spelt correctly
 If the correct spelling was given, the Speller remains in the competion
 If the spelling was incorrect, at the end of that round, the Judges will let the participants
know who will be continuing to the next round. The judge gives
the correct spelling of an miss spelled words. Then the Time Keeper will ask if there are
any appeals. If there are no appeals the next round of competition will continue.
3. The Merriam-Webster On-Line (www.merriam-webster.com) will be used as a reference if
needed.
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Orange Crescent School
1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: 714 531-1451
4. Spellers will be told if a word is a homophone and which form to spell. If they are not
told, then any spelling will be accepted. The Pronouncer is responsible for this.
5. Spellers will also be told when words are possessive and if they are singular or plural
possessive.
6. Judges may disqualify any Speller who ignores a request to start spelling. The Speller will
have 30 seconds in which to start spelling the word.
7. Having started to spell a word, a Speller may stop and start over one time. However,
he/she may NOT change any letters or sequence of letters already pronounced. If letters
or sequences of letters are changed, the Speller will be disqualified.
8. Spellers must include spaces, hyphens, apostrophes, accents, or any other punctuation
marks in their proper places when spelling the words. If the word is a proper noun, the
speller must state that it begins with a capital letter.
9. Disqualifications for reasons other than clear misspelling:
A Speller can be disqualified by the Judges for the following reasons:
 Who refuses a request to start spelling
 Who does not comply with the eligibility requirements
 Who engages in unsportsmanlike conduct
 Who, in the process of retracing a spelling, alters the letters or sequence of letters from
those first uttered
 Who, in the process of spelling, utters unintelligible or nonsense sounds.
10. Three Judges will be assigned to each contest and they will listen to each Speller as he/she
spells his/her word. This way, their decision will be final as there will be three who have
heard the spelling.
11. The competition shall be conducted in rounds. Each Speller remaining in the competition
at the start of each round will spell one word in that round.
12. At the end of the round anyone who miss spelled a word, will be informed of the proper
spelling and have a seat with the observers in the back of the room
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Orange Crescent School
1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: 714 531-1451
13. Speller’s Role:
 The Speller makes an effort to face the judges and pronounce the word for the judges
before spelling it and after spelling it
 The Speller while facing the judges makes an effort to utter each letter distinctly and with
sufficient volume to be understood by the judges
 The Speller may ask the Pronouncer to say the word again, define it, use it in a sentence,
provide the part of speech, and/or provide a computer pronunciation
Misunderstandings:
The speller is responsible for any misunderstanding of the word unless:
1. The Pronouncer never provided a correct pronunciation
2. The Pronouncer provided incorrect information regarding the definition, part of
speech, or sentence
OR
3. The Speller correctly spelled a homophone of the word and the Pronouncer failed to
either offer a definition or distinguish the homophone
14. Pronouncer’s Role:
 The pronouncer strives to pronounce words according to the diacritical markings
on the website www.merriam-webster.com
Homophones:
 If a word has one or more homophones, the pronouncer indicates which word is to be
spelled by defining the word
Speller’s Requests:
 The Pronouncer responds to the Speller’s requests for a definition, sentence, part of
speech, repetition of the word, and a computer pronunciation
 When presented with requests for a computer pronunciation, the Pronouncer or Word
Keeper utilizes www.merriam-webster.com
 The Pronouncer does not entertain root word questions or requests for alternate
definitions
Pronouncer’s Sense of Helpfulness:
 The pronouncer may offer word information – without the speller having
requested the information – if the pronouncer senses that the information is
helpful.
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Orange Crescent School
1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: 714 531-1451
15. Judges’ Role:
 Judges uphold the rules and determine whether words are spelled correctly
 Judges also render final decisions on appeals in accordance with the Spelling Bee
Coordinator
 Judges are in complete control of the competition, and their decision is final on all
questions
Misunderstandings:
The Judges participate in the exchange of information between the Speller and Pronouncer if
they feel that clarification is needed. In addition, the Judges listen carefully to the Speller’s
pronunciation of the word; and, if they sense that the Speller has misunderstood the word, the
Judges work with the Speller and Pronouncer until they are satisfied that reasonable attempts
have been made to assist the Speller in understanding the word. While the Judges are
responsible for attempting to detect a Speller’s misunderstanding, it is sometimes impossible to
detect a misunderstanding until a spelling error has been made.
The judges are not responsible for the Speller’s misunderstanding.
Pronouncer Errors:
The Judges compare the Pronouncer’s pronunciation with the diacritical markings in the
word list. If the Judges feel that the Pronouncer’s pronunciation does not match the
pronunciation specified in the diacritical markings, the Judges direct the Pronouncer to
correct the error as soon as it is detected.
16. Word Keeper’s Role:
 The word keeper keeps track of the order of the words used in each phase
17. Time Keeper’s Role:
 The Time Keeper starts tracking 30 seconds from when the Pronouncer first pronounces
a word to when the Speller starts spelling or asks for clarification
 The Speller must start spelling or ask for clarification within that 30 seconds
 If the Speller fails to do so and 30 seconds has elapsed, the Speller will be asked to start
spelling the word (they may not ask for any clarification at this point)
 If the Speller does not start spelling, he/she may be disqualified
 The Time Keeper also keeps track of rounds and announces the end of the Phases
 Once the speller begins to spell they will have two minutes to complete spelling the
word
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Orange Crescent School
1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: 714 531-1451
18. Correction of a Misspelling:
 The Pronouncer and Judges will not ask the Speller to correct another speller’s
misspelling, even in end-of-bee circumstances.
19. Misspelling:
 At the end of a round anyone who incorrectly spells a word, will drop out of the
competition, except if an appeal was upheld
20. End-of-bee Procedure:
If all spellers in a round misspell:
 If none of the Spellers remaining in the spelling bee at the start of a round, spell a word
correctly during that round, all remain in the competition and a new round begins
Ties:
All Spellers eliminated in the same round, are tied for the same place. After the champion has
been determined, Spelling Bee Officials may opt to conduct tie-breakers (of their own design) if
tie-breakers are necessary for the awarding of prizes or the determination of qualifying Spellers
for the next level of competition.
If only one Speller in a round spells correctly:
If only one Speller spells correctly in a round, a new one-word round begins and the Speller is
given an opportunity to spell the next word (anticipated championship word). If the Speller
succeeds in correctly spelling the anticipated championship word in this one-word round, the
Speller is declared the champion.
EXAMPLE:
In Round 12, there are four spellers. Spellers 6 and 21 misspell. Speller 30 spells
correctly. Speller 42 misspells. Therefore, Speller 30 is the only Speller in the round to
spell correctly. Speller 30 begins Round 13 – a one-word round – and is offered the
anticipated championship word. Speller 30 correctly spells the anticipated
championship word and is declared champion.
EXAMPLE:
Two Spellers spell in Round 10. Speller 14 misspells. Speller 25 spells correctly. Speller
25 begins Round 11—a one-word round—and is offered the anticipated championship
word. Speller 25 correctly spells the anticipated championship word and is declared
champion.
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Orange Crescent School
1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: 714 531-1451
VERY IMPORTANT:
If a Speller misspells the anticipated championship word in a one-word round:
A new round begins with ALL the Spellers who spelled (correctly and incorrectly) in the
previous round. These Spellers spell in their original order.
EXAMPLE:
In Round 8, there are three spellers. Speller 12 spells correctly and Spellers 23 and 37
misspell. Round 9 – a one-word round – begins, and Speller 12 is offered the anticipated
championship word. Speller 12 misspells the anticipated championship word. Round 10
begins and includes Spellers 12, 23, and 37. The rules prescribe that spellers 12, 23, and
37 spell in their original order; so Speller 12 gets the next word on the list even though
Speller 12 misspelled the previous word on the list. Round 10 is not complete until all
three spellers have spelled.
Tip: Spelling Bee Officials may find it helpful to designate a Record Keeper or Judge to
track the progress of spellers throughout the rounds. The Record Keeper’s information will
be helpful in preventing end-of-bee confusion.
21. Appeals:
The Speller’s parent(s), legal guardian, or teacher may appeal to the Judges for the Speller’s
reinstatement provided that the appeal is in compliance with the appeal protocol. The Judges
render a final decision on the appeal in accordance with the reinstatement protocol.
APPEAL PROTOCOL
 A written appeal must be hand delivered to the Judges at the end of the round. The
Spelling Bee Coordinator will be called in if the Judges’ decision is not unanimous
 The deadline for delivering an appeal is before the next round begins. The Time Keeper
will ask if there are any appeals at the end of each round
 A written appeal must provide the Speller’s name, the word in question, and the reason
the Speller should be reinstated
 When five or fewer Spellers remain, the written appeal requirement is suspended, and
an oral appeal must be made when the Time Keeper ask if there are any appeals and
before the next round begins
 The Judges will contact the Speller if they decide to reinstate the Speller.
 To minimize disruption to the pace of the Spelling Bee and the concentration of the
Spellers, the Judges are under no obligation to stop the Spelling Bee in order to discuss
with the Speller’s parent(s), legal guardian, or teacher a denied appeal
 The Judges’ decisions are final
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Orange Crescent School
1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: 714 531-1451
REINSTATEMENT PROTOCOL
Pronouncer Mispronunciation:
An appeal claiming that a Speller’s elimination from the Spelling Bee was due to pronunciation
error should be denied unless there is agreement that the Pronouncer never offered a correct
pronunciation.
Alternate Pronunciations:
An appeal claiming that the Pronouncer did not offer alternate pronunciations should be
denied unless it is determined that the Speller requested alternate pronunciations and the
Pronouncer did not accommodate the Speller’s request.
Speller’s Misunderstanding:
An appeal claiming that the Speller’s elimination from the Spelling Bee was due to the Speller’s
not understanding the word, its pronunciation(s), and/or other information about the word,
should be denied. It is the Speller’s responsibility to understand the word.
Speller offered correct spelling
An appeal claiming that the Speller correctly spelled the word should be denied unless an
audio recording of the Spelling Bee’s proceedings or Bee Officials’ recollections clearly indicate
that the word was indeed spelled correctly.
`
Exception:
If the Speller’s spelling is listed on www.merriam-webster.com the Speller should be reinstated
if all of the following three criteria are met:
1. The pronunciation of the words are identical
2. The definitions of the words are identical
AND
3. The words are clearly identified as being standard variants of each other.
Spellings at other locations having temporal labels (such as archaic, obsolete), stylistic labels
(such as substand, nonstand), or regional labels (such as North, Midland, Irish) which differ from
main entry spellings not having these status labels will not be accepted as correct.
Speller offered correct spelling, as indicated in a dictionary other than www.merriamwebster.com :
An appeal claiming that the Speller spelled the word correctly according to a dictionary other
than www.merriam webster.com should be denied.
Homophone:
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Orange Crescent School
1 Al-Rahman Plaza, Garden Grove, CA 92844
Tel: 714 531-1451
An appeal claiming that the Speller’s elimination was unfair because the Speller’s word is a
homophone should be denied unless the Pronouncer failed to define the word and the Speller
correctly spelled a homophone of the word.
Incorrect or Unsolicited Information:
An appeal claiming that the Speller’s elimination was unfair because the Pronouncer offered
incorrect or unsolicited information about the word should be denied. Unless it is
determined that the Pronouncer indeed gave factually incorrect information and it appears
that the Speller’s spelling would have been correct if not for the incorrect or unsolicited
information provided by the Pronouncer.
Bee Officials failed to correct a misunderstanding:
An appeal claiming that the Speller misspelled because the Judges and/or Pronouncer failed to
correct the Speller’s mispronunciation of the word should be denied. It is sometimes impossible
to detect a Speller’s mispronunciation or misunderstanding, and ultimately it is the
responsibility of the Speller to understand and correctly pronounce the word.
Disqualification Request:
An appeal seeking to dislodge another Speller from the Spelling Bee should be denied.
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