Text 1: The word I nearly swallowed, by Aisha Rahman

An original contemporary school magazine article.

The spelling final was advertised as lunchtime entertainment. That explains why nearly a hundred pupils squeezed into the hall. It does not explain why I agreed to stand in front of them.

I had prepared properly. For two weeks, Dad had tested me every evening, and difficult words were stuck to our kitchen cupboards on yellow notes. At home, I could spell every one of them. In the hall, with the microphone waiting and rows of faces turned towards me, my mouth seemed to turn to paper.

The first few rounds passed quickly. Each time I answered correctly, I gripped my card a little less tightly. The audience stopped whispering as the words became harder. By the final round, only Daniel and I remained. He stumbled over his word and sat down to warm applause. Then the teacher gave me “accommodate”. I pictured the note above our kitchen sink and said each letter slowly.

There was a pause while the judges checked. Then the hall erupted. Daniel was the first person to shake my hand. “You earned it,” he said, although I knew how much he had wanted to win.

The little silver-coloured cup now stands on my desk. It is surprisingly light, but winning it made me feel several inches taller.

Text 2: A contest of letters, by Our Own Reporter

An original newspaper report written in a nineteenth-century voice; a period simulation, not an archival document.

This report was published in a local newspaper in 1892.

On Friday afternoon, the assembly room of Westfield School was crowded with parents who had come to witness the annual spelling contest. Fourteen pupils took their places before the headmaster, sitting as upright as rulers and looking much less cheerful than their excited supporters.

The children had been preparing for a fortnight. Several carried well-worn notebooks filled with lists of words. One girl, Mary Evans, told me that her older brother had tested her each night beside the fire until she could answer without hesitation.

At first, the audience laughed kindly at an occasional mistake. As the weaker competitors left, however, the room grew silent and the remaining pupils spoke with increasing care. At last, only Mary and Edwin Price remained. Edwin gave an incorrect answer and returned to his seat with a disappointed face. Mary was then asked one final word. She requested that it be repeated, considered it for a moment and spelt it correctly in a quiet but steady voice.

The applause that followed was considerable. Mary received a handsome dictionary, curtsied to the headmaster and immediately offered her hand to Edwin. Her success was deserved, but her modest behaviour pleased the company just as much as her excellent spelling.

Such contests test more than memory. Every child who stood before that crowded room showed courage, and the school may be proud of them all.