Spelling roles reversed as teachers, students honor Mou
Thursday, June 4, 2009
By DAVE HANEY OF THE JOURNAL STAR
DUNLAP —
Can you spell "avoirdupois?"
Perhaps "high jinks," at least?
Well, teachers at Dunlap Middle School tried Wednesday, putting on a spelling bee of their own. It was to acknowledge mild-mannered, three-time Scripps National Spelling Bee competitor Kyle Mou, who earned national recognition and a fourth-place finish last week at the bee in Washington, D.C.
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Our View: How do you spell success? K-y-l-e M-o-u
Saturday, May 30, 2009
THE JOURNAL STAR
Three-time Scripps National Spelling Bee competitor Kyle Mou has done it again, keeping us on the edge of our seats Thursday night as he blew past one obscure word after another on his way to a fourth-place finish. In the whole country.
Avoirdupois? Plaidoyer? Oeillade? Becquerel? Each of those would have left us reaching for a dictionary or staring off into the distance trying to remember when - if ever - we'd heard them used. Not so for central Illinois' cool, collected spelling machine.
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Mou finishes fourth at national spelling bee
Friday, May 29, 2009
By CLARE SHEPHERD OF THE JOURNAL STAR
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
“Becquerel.”
It means a unit of radioactivity, and it comes from a French name.
It is also so difficult for anyone besides a physicist to spell that it is hard even to look up its definition.
But it was a snap for 13-year-old Dunlap Middle School student Kyle Mou, whose orthographic prowess took him to fourth place in the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday evening.
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An interview with Kyle Mou
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Journal Star reporter Jennifer Towery interviews spelling phenom Kyle Mou in his Dunlap home before his trip to the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.
Peoria speller sails into semifinals
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
By GARY CHILDS of THE JOURNAL STAR
PEORIA —
Kyle Mou was letter-perfect in the first three rounds of the National Spelling Bee.
As a result, the 13-year-old from Dunlap Middle School will go forth Thursday in the 82nd annual competition in Washington, D.C.
The semifinals from the Grand Hyatt hotel ballroom will be broadcast from 9 a.m. CDT to noon on ESPN.
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Mou advances to Round 3 this afternoon
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 THE JOURNAL STAR
PEORIA —
Kyle Mou is advancing to Round 3 of the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., after correctly spelling the word “procedural” in Round 2 Wednesday morning.
His group will spell from 12:15 to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, and it will be broadcast on ESPN360.com.
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Mou spells “coriaceous” correctly in third round
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 THE JOURNAL STAR
PEORIA —
The competition starts with a wickedly tough computerized test of 50 words. Those words, needless to say, are not on the suggested spelling list.
After that, each of 293 students in third through eighth grades - yes, there are three 9-year-olds competing - will endure two rounds of a verbal competition. Each gets one word per round.
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Dunlap speller gets down to business
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
By GARY CHILDS of THE JOURNAL STAR
PEORIA —
Kyle Mou brought his "A" game to Round 1 of the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
Then he returned to his room at the Grand Hyatt Washington to review for the 51st word he'll spell Wednesday morning in Round 2 and the 52nd he'll spell Wednesday afternoon in Round 3.
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(Not-so) Defining Moments With his third trip in three years to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Kyle Mou of Dunlap isn't feeling any pressure
Sunday, May 24, 2009
By JENNIFER TOWERY of THE JOURNAL STAR
PEORIA —
The competition starts with a wickedly tough computerized test of 50 words. Those words, needless to say, are not on the suggested spelling list.
After that, each of 293 students in third through eighth grades - yes, there are three 9-year-olds competing - will endure two rounds of a verbal competition. Each gets one word per round.
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By the numbers and other fun facts
Sunday, May 24, 2009
GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
By the numbers
293: The number of participants in the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee. That’s the most the national bee has had.
18: The number of students from Illinois in the national bee this year.
50: The maximum number of spellers who will move on from preliminary competition based on points earned during a keyboard exam and two opportunities to spell a word verbally. None of the preliminary rounds are televised.
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Mou is spelling champ for third
straight year Dunlap eighth-grader will represent
region at national bee in Washington, D.C.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
By JENNIFER TOWERY of THE JOURNAL STAR
EAST PEORIA — Any etymologist will tell you “threepeat”
isn’t a word.
But if it were, Kyle Mou would be able to spell it. Kyle
won the Journal Star Grand Final Spelling Bee — again — and for the
third year in a row will represent the region at the 82nd Scripps
National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., set for May 26-28. He’s
an eighth-grader at Dunlap Middle School.
Maya Jain, an eighth-grader at Peoria Academy and the
city of Peoria bee winner, gave him a run for his money, matching
Kyle word for word for 12 rounds after the third-place winners went
out in the sixth round.
Neither Kyle nor Maya showed anything but poise during
the spell-off, but Kyle did admit to being nervous about one thing.
“I thought it might go on so long, I’d be tired out,” he
said.
Seven of the 14 contestants went out in the first round.
By the start of the seventh round, just Kyle and Maya were left
standing.
He spelled “dichotomy.” She spelled “philippic.” He
nailed “pfeffernuss” and “realschule.” She breezed past
“voortrekker” and “Weissnichtwo.”
But she misspelled “heliolatry” in Round 22, and Kyle
correctly spelled “dirigible” and then “nectarivorous,” for good
measure.
“Heliolatry,” for everyone wondering, is sun worship.
Kyle placed 60th at the national bee during his first
appearance there in 2007. Last year, he surprised himself by tying
for eighth place out of 288 spellers.
Not that a nationally televised event and his last shot
at the title isn’t pressure enough, but Kyle said his ideal would be
to beat last year’s finish.
“Since I’ve always done better than the previous year, my
goal is to just do better than eighth,” he said.
His proud parents, Libin and Ruby Mou, plan to make a
family trip out of the D.C. competition, as they have the past two
years. The family also includes Kyle’s younger siblings, Timothy and
Sarah. Sarah, a fifth-grader, was a competitor at the Peoria County
bee representing Wilder-Waite Elementary School.
Maya is the daughter of Sharad and Liz Jain. She only
went as far as the city of Peoria bee last year. She can’t remember
where she placed.
“But I know I got out on the word ‘egalitarian,’” she
said. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s French.”
Tying for third place were Emily Woitynek of Peru, the
LaSalle County representative, and Dony Christie of Washington, the
Tazewell County representative.
The spelling bee was taped Friday at the WEEK-TV, Channel
25, studio and aired Saturday morning.
Spelling bee champ has little to 'grimace' about Dunlap 8th-grader wins Peoria County Spelling Bee third year in a row
Sunday, March 15, 2009
By ERIN WOOD of THE JOURNAL STAR
EAST PEORIA — Kyle Mou did it again.
The eighth-grader from Dunlap Middle School won his third consecutive Journal Star Peoria County Spelling Bee on Friday afternoon at WEEK-TV Studios in East Peoria. Mou, 13, spelled the word "grimace" correctly after 10 rounds of spelling, successfully defeating 21 other Peoria County students and earning the opportunity to move on to the Journal Star Grand Final Bee on Friday. The winner from that bee moves on to the 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., set for May 26-28.
That wouldn't be the first time Mou made that journey. He placed eighth last year in the national competition, so spelling at the local level isn't nearly as nerve-wracking, he said. Still, Mou said he lived up to his expectations.
"I was pretty happy and pretty relieved," Mou said after clinching the title.
His sister, Sarah Mou, a fifth-grader at Wilder-Waite Elementary School in Dunlap, was knocked out in the sixth round but still outlasted about a dozen other spellers during her trip to the county spelling bee.
Their mother, Ruby, said they "don't do anything special with spelling" at home.
"I just encourage them to read," she said.
Runner-up Matthew Bledsoe, a seventh-grader at Elmwood Junior Senior High School who was making only his second appearance in the county spelling bee, had one thing to say about spelling head-to-head with Mou: "It's hard."
But not expecting to make it as far as he did, Bledsoe and his parents were more than pleased with his second-place finish.
"It's a great feeling," said Bledsoe's father, Tom. "We're really proud."
Bledsoe was knocked out much earlier during last year's county spelling bee, placing 14th before Mou eventually was named champion for the second time.
Mou said though he plans to study this week for the Grand Final Bee, he doesn't have any special secrets or strategies.
"I'll just study some things on the Internet," he said. "You can find a lot of word lists out there."
If Mou wins the Grand Final Bee on Friday, he'll be on his way to Washington, D.C., for the third time. He made it to the third round of the national bee in 2007, but eventually misspelled "illeist." Last year, he misspelled "lapies" before tying for eighth place.
If he makes it to the national competition again this year, Mou isn't expecting to do much better than that.
"I don't think I can win," he said. "That's pretty hard, but we'll see how I do."
Erin Wood can be reached at 686-3194 or ewood@pjstar.com.
Studying pays off for spelling whiz Peoria Academy student withstands 31 rounds to take spelling bee title
Sunday, March 8, 2009
By ERIN WOOD of THE JOURNAL STAR
EAST PEORIA — Maya Jain stepped up to the microphone Friday
during the 31st round of spelling and nailed the word "capricious."
The eighth-grader from Peoria Academy proved there's
nothing capricious about her study habits. She outlasted 27 other
students and became the champion of the Journal Star City of Peoria
and Homeschool Spelling Bee.
Jain, 13, said she studied every night with her parents
after she finished her homework; sometimes she memorized as many as
150 words at a time. A strategy she picked up from a teacher when
Jain first started competitive spelling, in fifth grade, might have
helped her clinch the championship, she said.
Before spelling any word aloud, Jain traces the letters
into her palm with her index finger.
"It helps me visualize the word better before I spell
it," she said.
Jain competed head to head against two homeschooled boys
- Zachariah Chism of East Peoria and Matt Brucker of Dahinda - for
19 rounds before Chism, a seventh-grader, misspelled "gynarchy" in
the 26th round. Brucker misspelled "madeleine" in the 31st round.
Jain's parents, Liz and Sharad Jain, appeared anxious
during the bee. Sharad Jain said he thought it would go on for much
longer than it did.
"I asked Maya if her hands were sweating as much as mine
were," Liz Jain said.
Maya Jain said she had some nerves, especially toward the
end of the competition, when she realized two worthy opponents still
were standing.
"It was stressful because I could see the other two boys
were really good, and they seemed to know all their words," she
said.
Her opponents felt the same way. The 10-year-old Brucker
admitted the bee, which was telecast Saturday morning on WEEK-TV,
Channel 25, was daunting at first.
"I was pretty nervous at the beginning," he said.
Brucker's mother, Amy, was proud of his second-place
finish and said his ability to spell is a natural talent.
"He came out of the womb that way," she said with a
laugh. "But he didn't get it from me."
Besides winning a plaque and the title of Peoria's best
speller, Jain also won the opportunity to move on to the Journal
Star Grand Final Bee, scheduled for March 20 at the WEEK studios.
The Grand Final winner will travel to Washington, D.C.,
for the 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee, set for May 26-28.
There, more than 250 spellers from all 50 states and several
countries will compete.
Erin Wood can be reached at 686-3194 or ewood@pjstar.com.
Kyle
won the Journal Star Grand Final Spelling Bee — again — and for the
third year in a row will represent the region at the 82nd Scripps
National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., set for May 26-28. He’s
an eighth-grader at Dunlap Middle School.