Kandace Pond of the Grand Bay Primary School won the 2nd Annual Kwéyòl Spelling Bee Competition held at the Awarak House of Culture on Tuesday May 17, 2011. She was the only participant to spell all assigned words correctly, a feat which placed her firmly in the top position.
Lillishia Angol of the St.Luke’s Primary School and Fanestha Alce of the St.Joseph Primary School won second and third places respectively. The event was organized by the Cultural Division and the Konmité pou Etid Kwéyòl (KEK).
Other participants in the finals were Allysha Joseph of the Atkinson Primary School, Prisca Daisma of the Goodwill Primary School, Nekel Roberts of the Grand Fond Primary, Brigitte Lavab of the Mahaut Primary School, Justlyn Ferrol of the Paix Bouche Primary School and Bakquar Frederick of the Salybia Primary School. The nine finalists emerged from preliminary rounds held a week earlier in nine zones around the island.
Chief Cultural Officer, Mr. Raymond Lawrence in his address to the finalists and other pupils attending the event noted that the Spelling Bee competition encourages pupils to read and speak the Kwéyòl language and that it helps them the understand and appreciate the Kwéyòl language much better. Mr. Lawrence saw this event as an important step towards the inclusion of the Kwéyòl language in the school curriculum.
Also addressing the event was Mr. Nicholas Goldberg, Senior Education Officer, Curriculum Measurement and Evaluation Unit of the Ministry of Education. He welcomed the Spelling Bee initiative and encouraged even greater participation in next year’s competition. He also urged the Cultural Division and KEK to hold Kwéyòl Reading Competitions, Kwéyòl Writing Competitions and Kwéyòl Song competitions as a way of fostering the language.
Two Kwéyòl publications produced by KEK were launched at the Spelling Bee event – “Mi Brèdèks”, a compilation of Kwéyòl expressions and “Ti Listwè Donmnik”, a compilation of short stories by Delia Cuffy-Weekes.
I am really proud of the efforts to preserve our patios heritage. The people of St. Lucia are taking steps in that direction. See Link: http://linguafranka.net/saintluciancreole/dictionary.htm
Great that we are doing the same.
OH MY GOD CANDACE, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU AND I KNOW THAT YOUR MOM AND DAD ARE TOO. KEEP REACHING FOR THE STARS HON..
Good job to all the kids involved, and congratulations to the winners. Does any one know how old the young lady is and some of the words she had to spell?
Congrats to you Kandace!!!!
i am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo proud of you girl
thats why we should maintain or keep up with the kweyol,like lawee dere and not back street, chemaen kabway,and so on , like bodiow and ot grand coulibrie
congrats
congrats to gbay! we did it
Way to go! Keep teh culture alive
Congratulations to Kandace Pond !! Kweyol has come a long way. Felix Henderson must be proud of your achievement. I would also like to pay tribute to another sout man, Marcel Djamala Fontaine, who worked tirelessly to standardize the Kweyol in a written form. I am torn between suggesting that the trophy be called the Felix Henderson trophy or the Marcel Fontaine trophy. OR, is there any way to honour both gentlemen?
a suggestion;; THE HENDERSON/ FONTAINE TROPHY;;
Grand Bay again! Congrats that’s my community.
Brigitte Lavable …. not lavab
congratulations, am from g/bay but leave in the united state of America am not sure if i know u .but keep the good work. i remember when we grand bay people go Roseau they use to run us and tell us go back grand bay because we cannot speak English they use to call us patios people. grand bay never give up .hold on tight south city proud off u all.
Way to go sout city, kweyol capital in dominca.It would have been a disgrace if someone from another village had won.lol
way to go Grandbay. lere e bon dire e bon.
Congratulations, keep up the good work, and continue to read.
Sa ka fe mwen plezi di vwe ke,jodi jou, ti mamaille ka apwann ekwi kweyol.ce un lang wevolusyon.bwavo ti moune!kontinwe
congratulaciun, !!! ebie’n MI BREDEKS masie’ quik ! quak!!!!!! cope’ lape’ ape’ cope’ tige’ te’ bon’ zame’ me’cie Bonde’ pou say te mamie sala yo ta be’in bon me’cie papa pou Gwa bay ti mami sala,e’bien sarva, te met KWEYOL madam KWEYOL!!, pala KWEYOL!!
Byen fèt jen fi!!! Mwen anmé tàn bagai kon sa. Mwen lé wè pli bittè kon sa en Dominik. Pou nou continué dévelopé lang nou:)
Pa obilyé lang-la pwès pèd en Trinidad é Tobago é St. Vincent. Nou pa lé vini kon sa!!!
Kréyòl sé nou!!!!
congrats. they used to beat us way back then for speaking creole but now they cant get enough. Once again congrats and continue to speak the language little one.
why KEK and Raymond lawrence and the others not recognising the works of the young men and women who did the first ever kweyol spelling bee through their pale kweyol project which was ran for 2 years…. there is never any mention of these young people and the hard work they put it to run this unique project. The spelling bee was taken over by KEK after this great initiative. they should be given their flowers.
how old is she?she looks so young congrats.so proud of you!
I’m wondering the same thing.
DNO please print her age.
Congratulations young lady, and well done, you put others like me (who cant even speak Kweyol properly) to shame.
Good job!
I LIKE THAT KWEYOL PART FOR NEXT YEAR. TOO MANY KIDS LACKING THAT LANGUAGE. I HAVE SO MANY FRIENDS OLDER THAN ME AND THEY CAN’T EVEN SPEAK KWEYOL IS THAT MESSED UP OR WHAT?
Congratulations little princess.. congrats to all the participants. I listened and you were on your mark!