A Week of Words: The Book Bowl and the Spelling Bee

In one week, Librarian Elizabeth was busy herding wordsmiths at the Book Bowl and later spellslingers at the MST Spelling Bee as well as organizing the Spring Fair Book Swap and wrapping up the Read-a-Thon fundraiser. While the Spelling Bee was an intimate in-school competition, the Book Bowl was a raucous tourney with many area schools.

The MST Spelling Bee

Eighteen spellers emerged from elementary class spelling bees, four each representing Oak, Maple, and Ginkgo, and six from Willow. The youngest competitor, Roka from Maple, lasted deep into the tournament. Among the spellers, half were non-native English speakers and five were former Reading Support or EAL students. Their participation and success in the Bee was a testament to their hard work.

After ten rounds of three survivors dueling (trueling, actually), Aska from Willow outlasted the field. Just two years ago, she came in second to her older sister Reina. Before that, their oldest sister Anju was a two-time champion. If there were spelling bee dynasties, the Aoi sisters would be it. When asked what the secret to their success was, their mother, Akiko explained, “As Japanese parents, our English pronunciation is not accurate, so other than practicing spelling at home with each other, we used a vocabulary card app with audio.”

But they weren’t the only family of expert spellers. Brothers Walter and Rainer (who was one of the last three) were also among the finalists. The third of the final trio, Kano of Maple, showed that she could be contending for years to come. 

The audience of Sunshine and elementary students loudly cheered on the participants and held their breaths during tense moments, proving that spelling can be just as exciting as any sport. So, while the spelling bee is an individual competition, the Book Bowl is a team sport of reading enthusiasts.

The Sakura Medal Book Bowl

Months of reading, quizzing, more reading, more quizzing—and finally the day was here! 

Our team of ten students from Lower and Upper Elementary was more than ready to take on the challenges at the annual Sakura Medal Book Bowl! Excitement was palpable as over 120 students from twelve international schools throughout Japan came together at St. Mary's International School for a day of friendly competition. 

All the students had read the thirteen Sakura Medal chapter books and were ready for the tricky questions they would have to answer about them: "In which book was there a dog who looked like a hippopotamus?" No, not, Don't Tell Mum I Made a Mammoth—that dog was changed into a mini rhinoceros! 

MST answered questions as a team and then all the students formed mixed teams to complete a visual puzzle about the books. It was a nice chance to meet students from other schools who were also enthusiastic about reading. And a big "Thank You" to the parents who came out to cheer us on.

Please visit the Sakura Medal website to find out more about this reading program, and see the books chosen for this year. Students will soon vote for their favorites, and the winning authors will receive an actual medal and student-made artwork.

As you can see from the faces of this year's experts, the enthusiasm remains for the Book Bowl. Through these community events, we hope all our students continue with their love of words and reading. 

Elizabeth Ogiyama Wind Edward Kim

Librarian English as an Additional Language