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A contestant spells a word at the 4th annual Spanish Spelling Bee.

The word was "risa" ("laughter"). A hush went over the crowd as the contestant repeated it back to the panel of three judges to make sure she heard it correctly. She could see her teacher Mario waiting in the wings of the auditorium and the hopeful gaze of the bejeweled Miss Hispanic Virginia poised to incite applause from the crowd once she spelled the word correctly. "R-i-s-a. Risa," she said finally.

This special moment and many others occurred recently at the nation's only Spanish spelling bee, the annual capstone event of the Adult Literacy in Spanish program, which holds classes in several locations throughout Washington, D.C. and Maryland including at LAYC's anchor site in Columbia Heights.

The spelling bee was held at the Queen of the Americas Church on the evening of June 24th. Twenty-two students from the Adult Literacy in Spanish program participated spanning three different levels of reading and writing ability. The spelling bee is the culmination of a year of hard work for native Spanish speakers who for a variety of reasons never learned to read and write in their home language. Three judges presided over the contest: Bruno Damiani, a Professor of Romance Languages at Catholic University, Arturo Salcedo, a writer and television producer, and Josué Torres, a science and GED instructor at the Next Step Public Charter School. To close out the event, the dance troupe Grupo Musical Kandombe Forever performed to the delight of the audience.

The spellers prepared for two months practicing from a list of 50 words, any one of which they could be asked to spell during the competition. There was a list for each of the three literacy levels of the students. Level 1 students are the ones who are just learning to write their names, read basic vocabulary words, and identify numbers. Level 2 students are a little more advanced as they can form sentences and read simple books and stories. Level 3 students mostly likely learned to read and write as children but for some reason did not go too far in school; they can read and write more elaborate paragraphs but still need guidance to expand their vocabularies.

The Level 1 spelling bee winner this year was Gerardo Rodriguez, Paulina Velasquez won among the Level 2 contestants and Jesus Moran was the last student standing from Level 3. Each of the three winners walked away with a Dell Mini Netbook, which will undoubtedly help them in their future studies. Several lucky members of the audience won raffle prizes thanks to a host of generous sponsors including Rumba Café, Lauriol Plaza Restaurant, Churrería Madrid Tapas & Bar, Canteras Restaurant, Super Tacos & Bakery, Haydee's Restaurant, El Gavilán Grocery, Elizabeth Beauty Salón, Victor Hair Salon, y Mr. Gee's Car Wash to name just a few.

Students in the Adult Literacy in Spanish program enroll in the weekly two-three hour classes to learn what they never had the opportunity to study in their home countries. Students range in age from 30 to 72 years old; most come from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua where illiteracy rates still hover around 30%. Many, especially the women, chose work over school to support their families and as such, never went beyond the 6th grade in some cases. Now they want to learn. They see the economic advantage; literacy skills will help them gain more responsibility and move up in their current employment. They also see the ripple effect of education; learning helps boost their self- confidence which in turn affects their relationships with their spouses, children, and friends. No longer so dependent on others to interpret and decipher words and numbers for them, the students feel a sense of pride they were missing before. Most exciting of all, they also see that learning their own language well will help them some day to learn other languages-like English-more easily.

In addition to LAYC's anchor site in Columbia Heights, the Adult Literacy in Spanish program holds classes at the Meridian Public Charter School, Carlos Rosario International School and at LAYC's Maryland site-the Maryland Multicultural Youth Center (MMYC), among others. Anyone who is interested in knowing more about the program and how to enroll should contact Mario Gamboa at (202) 607-3901.

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