The start of June sends bees buzzing of the spelling kind. On June 1st, PS 250 hosted the First Annual National Bilingual Bee & Biliteracy Competition. Close to 100 students (age range: 6–18) competed in four categories: Mandarin Chinese/ English, French/English, Spanish/English and Haitian Creole/English. Three rounds showcased each student’s bilingual skills in spelling, listening, writing and speaking.
12th grader Charlene Campion won in the Haitian Creole/English category with the words: gongolo/centipede. The French & English winner was Naphtalie Jean-Baptise (who came in 2nd place for Haitian Creole/English) with timide and annoying. Gabriela Zhunio, a 4th grader took first place for the Spanish & English category with the words: dirección and organize. PS 250’s own Jia Yi Chen, a 2nd grader won the Mandarin Chinese/English category by answering the questions: “If today were the last day of your life, what would you want to do?” and “你长大了想干什么?” (translation: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”) in Mandarin Chinese and English, respectively.
Registration for the Second Annual National Bilingual Bee & Biliteracy Competition in 2020 is now open on the Biliteracy Bee website: www.biliteracybee.com .
The Greenline 