Last week, we kicked off the new season of the English spelling competition Spelling Bee 2019 with a school round held at the 107th “Han Krum” Primary School in Sofia. The U.S. Embassy was represented by Cultural Affairs Officer Matt Hagengruber who was among the judges during the competition. Nineteen “little bees” from 4th through 7th grade demonstrated great confidence and high level of English language knowledge, with sixth-graders Iva Boneva and Georgi Pachnikov reaching the final round. Iva grabbed the title after spelling correctly the words “acquire” and “platform.” Both Iva and Georgi will be representing their school at the Spelling Bee regional round in Sofia in March, and in preparing for the competition, they will have to learn the spelling and meaning of 200 new English words. We congratulate the winners and their teachers, and wish them the best of luck in the future Selling Bee rounds!
