The audience must remain silent during the Spelling Challenge so that the contestants can fully concentrate on spelling.
During the Challenge, students are seated and then stand up one by one as the judges assign them words to spell in each round. The first round is a practice round.
In each round, contestants do the following:
- repeat the word (signaling that they are ready to begin spelling);
- spell the word;
- repeat the whole word (signaling that they have finished spelling).
If a contestant spells the word incorrectly, they leave the Spelling Challenge.
A contestant may ask the judges for the following types of help (as many times as they wish for each word, and in any combination of the options listed below):
- to repeat the word
- to provide a translation of the word
- to use the word in a sentence
- to give the word’s origin
- to state the part of speech
- to repeat the letters the contestant has spelled up to the point where they paused to ask for help (after the judge repeats the letters spelled so far, the contestant continues from the next letter without repeating the letters already given).
The last contestant remaining in the Challenge is the winner.
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