On February 2, at 12.00 in the conference hall of the Oblast library, within the framework of the concept of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on trilingualism and friendly diplomatic relations between the United States and Kazakhstan, the annual spelling contest of English words "Kazakhstan Spelling Bee - 2020" was held. The competition, held for the fourth time, is held under the patronage of the US diplomatic mission in Kazakhstan. The purpose of the competition is to strengthen English language teaching and popularize American culture among Kazakhstani youth.

The spelling competition was attended by 27 students.

Master of ceremony was Sophia Kudryavtseva, a volunteer of the American Corner. Pronouncer-native speaker Kerim Gales, a participant of the Fulbright ETA program - English Teaching Assistant of English at KSU named after A. Baitursynova. The time-keeper was Dayana Seydegali, a student of KSPU.

The judges were:

1.     Elena Bozhko, alumni of the US Department program, senior english teacher at the Lyceum School, Zarechny;

2.     Bryce More, Fulbright ETA at KSPU named after U. Sultangazin;

3.     Tatyana Kim, senior teacher of the language center Grand Luxe, master of ceremony and winner of previous Spelling Bee competitions.

In the process of evaluating participants, judges used dictionaries from the American Corner Foundation:

1.     Cambridge English pronouncing dictionary./ed. By P. Roach, J. Hartman, J. Setter. – New York: Cambrige, 2009 .– 599 p.

2.     Merriam-Webster’s dictionary of English language. / ed. E. Ward Gilman. – Springfield, Massachusets: Merriam-Webster Inc., 1994 .– 977 p.

3.     The Barnhart concise dictionary of Etymology / ed. By R. K. Barnhart. – New York: Harper Collins pub., 1995 .– 916 p.

4.     Choose the right word. / ed. S. I. Hayakawa, E. Ehrlich. – New York: Harper Collins pub., 1994 .– 532 p.   

The competition ended in the 17th round.

The winners were Shynar Alitanova from ChelSU, Ksenia Amelina, a student at KSU, and Alibi Amirgaliev, a student at KSPU. They took 1,2,3 places respectively. The winners received cash certificates, and they also got the opportunity to go to the National competition in the city of Nur-Sultan.