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Almost 3000 spellers from around Australia applied to be part of the show, but Nine Yr Old Tej Singh was among the top 26 finalists of the Great Australian Spelling Bee contest. His love for words is infecticious and thus he was called the “MC speller”. 52 of the best and brightest students, aged between […]

Almost 3000 spellers from around Australia applied to be part of the show, but Nine Yr Old Tej Singh was among the top 26 finalists of the Great Australian Spelling Bee contest. His love for words is infecticious and thus he was called the “MC speller”.

52 of the best and brightest students, aged between eight and 13, managed to clear the level.

The upcoming show Channel Ten was aired on 3rd August. The Great Australian Spelling Bee witnesses children aged from eight to 13 compete in a series of word-related games and challenges.

Each speller has to display a combination of speed, skill and smartness to deconstruct words they may never have heard before.

There were 3 stages to pass before reaching the final. The first stage had 3 online tests – spelling, grammar and comprehension tests. Second stage was a Skype interview and spelling test. The third stage was a live audition and spelling test.

Little Singh lives in Sydney with his parents and younger sister. Both his parents were born in India, though he was born here.

In Year 4 at school, Tej can also speak Mandarin and a little Punjabi. He was reciting the alphabet at 18 months and reading by the age of two. Tej admits, “My absolute love is cricket! I am mad about it,” he says. He tells me when he grows up, “

It was his first ever spelling competition. He saw the advertisement on television inviting children to apply and decided to have a go. “

Tej has developed a personal spelling technique of breaking words into syllables.

“It makes me feel like I’m spelling a lot of little words,” he says. “I get most of my vocabulary from reading lots and lots of books, which helped me become good at spelling.” The young spelling star also practises using old Spelling Bee lists from the internet.

His favourite words to spell are ‘dodecahedron’, a word meaning a polyhedron with twelve flat faces, and ‘hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia’ – an incredibly long word which ironically means a fear of long words.

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