Akeelah and the Bee
A Novel - Launching and Spelling Bee Competition

CCE Indonesia (CCEI) working with six local universities and colleges held “Akeelah and the Bee” – a book launch and spelling bee competition, sponsored by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy Jakarta, The goal of the program, in addition to introducing a novel entitled Akeelah, is to promote students’ language proficiency, especially in spelling. This event, held in November and December 2008, was participated by Junior High School students from six regions in Indonesia—Jambi, Jakarta, Banten, Pontianak, Malang, and Sorong. Coming from different areas across the Indonesian archipelago, the participants will represent the diversity in ethnic, cultural, religious, and linguistic background that is Indonesia. Before the national event in Jakarta, the novel-launching and the spelling bee competitions were held in these six regions. The total novels distributed in the regional and national events are 1093. Covered by various well-known media and publications such as Fajar Banten, Radar Banten, Republika Jakarta, Fajar Sorong, Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) Sorong, and Borneo Tribune, the events—both regional and national—were able to attract people’s attention.

The regional partner

The partners listed below represents local well-known universities and colleges in Indonesia which are concern about the education field. They are educational institutions with good reputations and had a good history of cooperation with CCEI.

1. University of Jambi
2. State University of Jakarta
3. IAIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten (Banten State Islamic Institute)
4. Malang Muhammadiyah University
5. STKIP Muhammadiyah Sorong (Educational College of Muhammadiyah, Sorong)
6. Tanjungpura University, Pontianak

Three State alumni involved in this program as regional coordinators—from University of Jambi, IAIN SMH Banten, and Malang Muhammadiyah University. Their great contributions to this program are highly appreciated.

The participants

The event involves twenty students from ten Junior High Schools in each selected region—each school sent two students: one boy and one girl. Students were selected by their schools from their good academic performances with English scores in their reports are above 7. Some schools did the spelling bee competition in their schools before the regional level. The schools selected are reputable cooperative schools in the selected areas. It gives a chance for not only state schools but also private schools, Islamic schools, Christian schools, and Catholic schools to participate.

Program Design and Planning

The program was designed by the CCE Indonesia staff collaborated with local coordinators and consulted with the Public Affair Section of the U.S. Embassy Jakarta. They worked cooperatively in making a fun-filled and interactive concept of the novel-launching and spelling bee competition. The novel launching was started with an introduction and description of the novel and a short-play of the movie “Akeelah and the Bee”. Realizing the time limitation, the movie was not played from the beginning to the end—only the best parts emphasizing Akeelah’s struggle on the competition. Akeelah, the main character in the novel, is an Afro-American girl who studied in a high school in Los Angeles. After the movie-playing, there was the open-discussion about the novel. The spelling bee competition was divided into two main rounds: preliminary round (to select students going on the next round) and final round, aiming to give participants more fair chance. It promoted students to learn spelling in both Bahasa Indonesia and English. There was also a fun creative quiz for giving door prizes (books as prizes supported by the U.S. Embassy). The event was also filled with music and, for some regions, an art performance and a play.

Hosts and Juries

Hosts and Juries were taken from those with English educational background. They have bachelor, master, and doctorate degree in English Education or Literature from the partner-universities.

Volunteers

This program involved volunteer works from the universities including students, lecturers, and staff as the committee members. More than 20 volunteers from each institution or university worked cooperatively for the success of this program.

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Regional Event

I. Jambi

The first Akeelah novel launching and spelling bee competition was successfully held in Jambi, taken place in Rektorat Ballroom of the University of Jambi on November 13, 2008. The event, organized by CCEI and the English Department of the University of Jambi and coordinated by Armiwati—a senior lecturer and a U.S. State alumni in Community Leaders Program (CLP, an exchange to the US), ran well and on-time.

One hundred and fifty-six novels were distributed to schools (each school received ten books), college students, and universities representatives who attended the event. A brief introduction to the novel was made and Akeelah and the Bee movie was played focussing on specific scenes which show Akeelah’s struggle in the competition. After playing the movie, the audience was enthusiastically asked questions about the Akeelah novel. The door prize quiz was also able to raise the audience enthusiasm.
Twenty students from ten schools—both public and private schools—participated in the spelling bee competition. They are from SMPN 1 Kota Jambi, SMPN 2 Kota Jambi, SMPN 7 Kota Jambi, SMPN 9 Kota Jambi, SMPN 11 Kota Jambi, SMPN 17 Kota Jambi, SMP Adhyaksa, SMP Islam Al-Falah, SMP Al-Azhar, and SMP At-Taufiq. Additional audience coming to the event includes a representative of U.S Embassy Jakarta Adithya Maas, the Vice Rector, and the Vice Dean of Education Faculty of the University of Jambi. This event grabbed people attention, evidenced by the total people attending this event: 350 people.

After competing in preliminary and final round, the winners going to the national competition were Rizki Widya Hendriyanti from SMPN 9 Kota Jambi (the first winner with total score 675) and Imas Laili Lestari (the second winner with total score 550).
 

II. Sorong

CCEI collaborated with STKIP Muhammadiyah Sorong sponsored by the U.S Embassy Jakarta launched the Akeelah novel and held spelling bee competition for Junior High School students in Sorong regency on November 17, 2008, in Multimedia Laboratory of STKIP Muhammadiyah Sorong. The event was opened by Bpk. Rustamadji, M.Si as the head of STKIP Muhammadiyah Sorong and hosted by Bpk La Sariu (an English lecturer and the regional coordinator for this event). The host read the synopsis to introduce the novel just before playing the Akeelah and the Bee movie. This event was interesting to watch not only because of the movie played but also the spelling bee competition itself which was able to make all audience pay full attention. Indicating the novel launching, one hundred and fifty six Akeelah novels were distributed to schools of the participants (ten per each), other schools’ representatives coming to the event, media (RRI and Radar Sorong newspaper), the university library, lecturers, and students who came to the event.

The winners of this Spelling Bee competition held in Sorong were Yuliani Iriana Sitompul from SMPN 9 Sorong with total score 975 and Rini Wijayanti from SMPN 8 Sorong with total score 600. They went to the national spelling bee competition in Jakarta.
Supported and attended by the head of Education Office and the head of Middle Education of Kota Sorong, the head of Department of Religion of Kota Sorong,  schools’ principals, teachers, and students’ parents, this novel launching and spelling bee competition was truly a big event for students in Sorong. It was also covered by three media—RRI, Radar Sorong, and Fajar Papua. We highly appreciated all supports and do hope that this kind of cooperation will continue to the next program.

III. Banten

Managed by the English Department of IAIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin with Naf’an Tarihoran—the head of the English Department and a U.S State alumni in Community Leaders Program, an exchange funded by the U.S Embassy—as the local coordinator, the Akeelah and the Bee novel launching and spelling bee competition for Banten regional level was held on Wednesday November 19, 2008, in a function hall of IAIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin, Serang, Banten. It involved good cooperation and coordination of the Rector, staff, lecturers, and college students as the committee.

This event was covered by media such as Radar Banten and Fajar Banten. There were around 70 people coming to this event. Bpk. Moh. Amin, the first vice rectors, Stafford A. Ward and Adithya Maas, the US Embassy representatives, lecturers, students and supporters from schools came to this event. All students, teachers and audience were enthusiastically followed the activity from the opening, the novel launching, spelling bee competition, quizzes, music performance to the closing. One hundred and fifty six novels were distributed to schools, participants, media and all audience coming to the event. Participants for the spelling bee competition are from twenty schools in Serang, Tangerang, Cilegon, and Pandeglang areas: SMPN 1 Serang, MTsN 1 Serang, MTsN 2 Tangerang, SMP Da’ar Er-Qolam, SMPN 1 Cilegon, MTsN 1 Cilegon, MTsN Rangkasbitung, SMP La Tansa, SMPN 1 Kaduhejo, and SMP Da’ar El-Falaah Pandeglang. Both of the winners are from SMPN 1 Serang: Asri Setyaningrum (the first winner) and Hamzah Muhammad Hafiq (the second winner).
The lesson earned from this competition was that the host and juries should cooperate well and learn the spelling and pronunciation of the words before the competition. Thus, in the coming competition, to eliminate this problem, hosts and juries were prepared with the lists of words in random and talking dictionary to learn the words before the event.

IV. Pontianak

Akeelah novel launching and spelling bee competition in Pontianak gained positive responds from the university—the rector, lecturers, staff, and students—as well as participating schools, under the coordination of Bpk. Albert Rufinus, a senior lecturer in the English Department of Tanjungpura University. The First Vice Rector  and the Assistant Press Attaché, Stafford A. Ward, opened this program, which was held in Rektorat Hall of the Tanjungpura University on November 29, 2008.

The novel launching was successful, gaining attention from students (participants and supporters), teachers, college students, and media. There were two media reported this event—TVRI Pontianak Branch and Borneo Tribune Newspapers. They were exited and truly involved in following the novel-launching, watching the Akeelah and the Bee movie, answering the quiz questions, and watching the spelling bee competition.
The participating schools are a good-balance of state schools, Islamic schools, and Christian/Catholic schools: SMPN 1 Pontianak, SMPN 2 Pontianak, SMPN 3 Pontianak, SMPN 6 Pontianak, SMPN 10 Pontianak, SMP Muhammadiyah Pontianak, SMP St. Petrus, Pontianak, SMP Al-Azhar, Pontianak, SMP Kristen Immanuel and SMP Kristen Gembala Baik. After the preliminary round, the four best participants went to the final competition and got Septi Liberti from SMP St. Petrus as the first winner and Erwin Sutiono from SMP Kristen Immanuel as the second winner.

There were still a technical problem regarding the host and juries preparation of the words to spell, although words were already given for them to learn. This technical problem could be handle though the extra words prepared previously. However, we tried to eliminate this problem to appear in the next competition through giving all the juries direction one by one making sure they comprehend the procedures and words given.

V. Jakarta

The regional Akeelah novel launching and spelling bee competition in Jakarta was held in the Auditorium of Music and Dance Department of State University of Jakarta on Tuesday, 2 December 2008. The schools showed positive response to this kind of event. It was shown by their enrolment to the event. There were actually more than 10 schools interested to join this event. But due to the limitation of participating schools, we only select ten schools. The regional coordinator of the Spelling Bee is Nina W. Cassandra.
The Vice Dean of Language and Art Faculty, Rien Syafrina, the U.S. Embassy representative, Stafford A. Ward, and CCEI representative, Acih Sari, opened this event. The novel-launching was presented by Sapardi Djoko Damono, the translator of the novel. He was a good spokesperson, satisfying all audience through answering their questions about the novel in details. There were more than 50 people attend this novel-launching and spelling bee competition. The distribution of the 156 novels covered schools, students, the university, and audience coming to this event.

The participating schools were SMPN 81, SMPN 7, SMPN 270, SMP Budaya, SMPN 74, SMPN 41, SMPN 19, SMP Al- Azhar, SMP Labschool, and SMPN 115. The first winner in DKI Jakarta province is Komang Shary Kharisma Putri from SMPN 115 (score: 1675) and the runner up is Shefirra Salsabila from SMPN 81 (score: 750).
Due to constructions in the university’s buildings, almost all halls could not be used. The place for this event was small but comfortable and warm to hold this event, providing a stage and needed equipment. Unfortunately the way to get there was not easy. Thus, for the national competition, a better place was needed.
 

VI. Malang

The last regional novel launching and spelling bee competition was held on December 4, 2008 in BAU Hall of Malang Muhammadiyah University, cooperated with Malang Muhammadiyah University and coordinated by Rahayu Relawati (a lecturer and a State alumni of RSD—the Religion and Society Dialog). The events ran smoothly from the beginning to the end, including the opening from the Head of the Foreign Affair Section of Malang Muhammadiyah University (Bpk. Suparto, M.Pd), the novel launching, the spelling bee competition, the quiz, the performance, and the closing.

The spelling bee participants are twenty students from both private and public junior high school in Malang—MTsN 1 Malang, SMPN 23 Malang, MTs Surya Buana, SMPN 19 Malang, SMPN 1 Malang, SMP Katolik Cor Jesu, SMP Muhammadiyah 1, SMPN 16 Malang, SMPN 5 Malang, and SMPN 3 Malang.

The participants were exited in following the competition. They enthusiastically answer almost all the words to spell. The winners representing Malang going to the national level are Reno Yuansyah from MTs Surya Buana (the first winner with total score 625) and Astrid Amanda W.P. form Cor Jesu Catholic Junior High School (the second winner with total score 300).

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National Event

Culminating the six regional novel launching and spelling bee competition “Akeelah and the Bee”, Center for Civic Education Indonesia (CCEI) in collaboration with English Department of State University of Jakarta held the national Spelling Bee Competition. It is the final competition of spelling, gathering twelve best students from six regions. They were the first and runner-up winners of the competition in their regions. In this final competition, they tried hard to demonstrate their best performance in spelling, preparing for the event previously by studying the spelling of some difficult words in both Bahasa Indonesia and English. Finally, Komang Shary Kharisma Putri from Jakarta (SMPN 115) was awarded the first winner with total score 1350, Septi Liberty from SMP St. Petrus Pontianak was the second winner with total score 425, and Erwin Sutiono from SMPK Immanuel Pontianak with total score 350 was the third winner. For their hard struggle in winning this competition, they were rewarded trophies, medals, and scholarship (Rp. 5 millions for the first winner, Rp. 3 millions for the second winner, and Rp. 2 millions for the third winner). All of the finalists were rewarded medals and certificates and a day tour of Jakarta.
        

This competition were attended by the Dean of the Language and Art Faculty of the State University of Jakarta, Prof. Dr. Ilza Mayuni, MA, the vice dean of the Language and Art Faculty Rien Syafrina, M.Pd, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy Jakarta, Mr. John Heffern, and the Assistant Press Attaché of the U.S. Embassy, Mr. Stafford A. Ward.
This event could raise people attention: more than 40 students, teachers supporting the participants, lecturers and media came to the event. The Akeelah novel were also distributed to the audience. Opening this event was a traditional Betawinese dance from the Dance Department of UNJ. There were also quizzes for door prize which could make the audience feel a friendly and fun atmosphere.
 

All audience attentively and curiously watched the spellers’ great performance in spelling all the words. They always tried hard even if they did not know exactly about the words. The spellers were able to make the audience proud of them. This great competition was hosted by William J. Ryan (a native speaker of America, the director of CCE Indonesia) and Nina W. Cassandra (a lecturer of the English Department, the coordinator of “Akeelah and the Bee” in Jakarta). This event was also covered by media: Republika Newspaper and Aneka Magazine.

This culminating event was closed by a speech from Mr. John Heffern, the DCM of the U.S Embassy, and Ibu Ilza Mayuni, the Dean of the Language and Art Faculty of UNJ, after distributing plaques for all cooperating universities or institutions. The success of this program—both regional and national—was supported by University of Jambi, State University of Jakarta, IAIN SMH Banten, Malang Muhammadiyah University, STKIP Muhammadiyah Sorong, and Tanjungpura University, Pontianak. Its cooperation was much appreciated and hoped to maintain in other coming programs.

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