KOTA KINABALU: THEY are both facing exams but are determined to give their all in the finals of the RHB New Straits Times Spell-It-Right (SIR) national challenge this Saturday at Nexus, Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur.
Sabah primary school representative Joshua Shim Zhu Huai, who is in Year Four, is going though final examinations in school.
The SJKC St James pupil does not have much time to prepare for the spelling bee.
His mother Cheryl Wang Sheng Ai said her son would be watching YouTube and reading the dictionary to learn as many words as possible.
“It is his first participation and all of us were surprised when he emerged the winner of the state challenge,” Wang said, adding that she would accompany Shim to Kuala Lumpur a few days before the national challenge.
In Kuching , the Sarawak representative for the secondary school category is Fifth Former Geralyn Ting Yik Huey from St Joseph Private School.
With the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination just around the corner, Ting said she did not have much time to focus on the national challenge.
Nevertheless, she will try her best.
“I come across new words, especially scientific jargon, while doing revisions and preparing for my exam,” she said.
Ting said she had learnt many new words through the newspapers.
“Whenever I come across a word I am interested in, I will look it up and then later use it in my essays,” she said.
She said, however, that no matter how many words she memorised, there would still be those she did not know during the finals.
“If that happens, I will have to guess,” she said.
Ting said she participated this year due to the new format for the preliminary and state challenges, which were held online.
Ting had failed to make it to the finals in the previous SIR contests.
“The first time I participated was when I was in primary school in 2004. My second try was three years ago, and I only managed to pass the preliminary rounds. After two or three words in the state level, I was out,” she said.
“Thus, I didn’t plan to join again until I learnt about the new format this year. It sounded fun and I wanted to find out how the process would work online,” she said.
The new format, said the 17-year-old student, was interesting and with the times.
“It is very appealing to the younger generation. I did not expect to go this far. So, I’m very nervous,” she said.
Ting’s mother, Foo Juk Chin, said she was glad that her daughter managed to make it to the finals.
“I’m very excited and will be flying to Kuala Lumpur with her this weekend,” she said.
“It’s going to be a real challenge as we have no idea how strong the other competitors are. She will do her best.”