Children participate in first-ever deaf spelling bee

[Miss-Delectable]

http://www.49abcnews.com/news/2006/may/02/children_participate_firstever_deaf_spelling_bee/

Imagine a spelling bee where you have to know the sign of a word and then spell it.

That's what deaf and hard of hearing children in Springfield, Illinois had to do on Monday at the state Fingerspelling Bee in Springfield.

The judges would sign a word for the contestants who then had to spell it out letter by letter.

The kids had to memorize the sign for dozens of words in addition to learning how to spell them.

There were two age groups: one for 5th and 6th graders and one for 7th and 8th graders.

 

[neecy]

That is so cool!! I used to love participating in school spelling bees before I went deaf. I missed it a lot afterwards.

 

[Pyr8Eye]

What happens if you sign a word but it could mean MANY other words?? Like the sign for "PROTEST"....it could also mean REVOLUTION, DEFIANT, MILITANT, REBEL, etc etc...how do the spellers know which one to use? And does the spelling bee committee agree on how to present the semantic accuracy of a sentence using the spelled word? Just wondering...............hmmmmm