Why ITSO?
Confidence and Grit
The quality of grit is widely recognized by global scholars in the field of education. Before entering into adult society, they assert, young people should cultivate and possess this characteristic. The spelling bee is considered, like with the prestigious West Point Military Academy and the prominent program of Boy Scouts, to be an effective cultivator of grit. Confidence is another characteristic that spelling bees help to develop in young people. ITSO creates an environment to cultivate each participant’s grit and confidence through teamwork, as well as competition against other teams.
Commitment & Professionalism
As a group competition event, ITSO also trains and shapes the participants’ professionalism and commitment to themselves and their teammates. Each participant of each team needs to focus on training in one or several games according to their own and their teammates’ abilities. Moreover, in the training and competition process, the participants’ commitment to their team’s and school’s honor makes them persevere in their team spelling journey.
Team & Family
As a team spelling competition, ITSO has all of the advantages of individual spelling competitions, but also requires its participants to learn coordination, communication, and leadership in a team setting. All of these are significant skills in society. The spelling bee is an easily accessible and highly enjoyable event. Regarding parents, they are able to participate in daily student training, providing a good platform for family participation and integration.
Tradition and Innovation
95 years ago, the individual spelling bee competition was launched in the United States. Since then, it has affected generations of American teenagers. The traditional individual competition is very popular: so far, in more than 100 countries, nearly 50 million young people participate in spelling bees every year. The participants and their parents cherish both the enjoyableness and equity of the competition. The individual competition not only cultivates the participants' language learning ability, but also improves the mathematical ability, which is based in logical thinking. The development of perseverance and confidence as explains why the individual competition is so treasured. However, in 2016, we, the Spelling Bee of China have innovated with the team competition based on the individual competition. It has revolutionized the spelling bee competition form and enriched many core skills of the spelling bee, including teamwork ability, strategy and analysis ability, and professionalism and commitment. Furthermore, participants in the team competition are improving their comprehensive ability through their own innovative models
Strategy & Analytics
ITSO is a group event, and thus fosters important strategic abilities. For one, participants need to have the logical and analytical skills to learn lexicology and linguistics. They also must develop the strategic ability of creating a lineup to quickly decide which of their peers should compete in any given round. Similarly, they must consider their opponents’ position and possible strategies. Lastly, during the process of the competition, they develop their own and their teammates’ psychological endurance.
Diversity & Horizon
The spelling bee, also known as the “English Olympiad”, is the world's largest, most influential, and most global English language event; spelling bees have already taken place in all five continents. Each July, one host country hosts ITSO and brings together outstanding young people from more than 100 countries and regions on five continents to showcase the diverse cultures of all groups and provide participants with a global vision.