Sydney based Sikh boy is among the top 26 finalists of the Great Australian Spelling Bee contest.
The finalists were picked from over 3,000 children across Australia who had applied to be part of the upcoming TV show of Channel Ten aired on August 3 this year.
The Great Australian Spelling Bee witnesses children aged from eight to 13 compete in a series of word-related games and challenges.
To advance, each speller must display a combination of speed, skill and smartness to deconstruct words they may never have heard before, let alone spelt.
There were 3 stages to pass before reaching the final. The first stage had 3 online tests – spelling, grammar and comprehension tests. Second stage was a Skype interview and spelling test. The third stage was a live audition and spelling test.
Nine-year-old Tej lives in Sydney with his parents and younger sister. Both his parents were born in India, though he was born here.
In Year 4 at school, Tej can also speak Mandarin and a little Punjabi. He was reciting the alphabet at 18 months and reading by the age of two. Tej’s love of words is infectious, but he admits, “My absolute love is cricket! I am mad about it,” he says. He tells me when he grows up, “I would love to be a doctor, maybe a neurosurgeon. I wouldn’t mind some professional cricket commentary on the side though!”
The Great Australian Spelling Bee is Tej’s first ever spelling competition. He saw the advertisement on television inviting children to apply and decided to have a go. “It’s always good to give these sort of things a shot. You never know, it just might have a positive impact on your life,” he says, showing a maturity well beyond his age.
On the show, Tej is known as MC Speller. “They call me that because I love rapping words with a lot of syllables. Some people even say I prefer rapping words instead of spelling them!”
Tej has developed a personal spelling technique of breaking words into syllables. “It makes me feel like I’m spelling a lot of little words,” he says. “I get most of my vocabulary from reading lots and lots of books, which helped me become good at spelling.” The young spelling star also practises using old Spelling Bee lists from the internet.
Tej says his favourite words to spell are ‘dodecahedron’, a word meaning a polyhedron with twelve flat faces, and ‘hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia’ – an incredibly long word which ironically means a fear of long words.
Almost 3000 spellers from around Australia applied to be part of the show, but only 52 of the best and brightest, aged between eight and 13, made it on to The Great Australian Spelling Bee.