American Children Were Asked To Spell ‘Bodhrán’ And ‘Rince Fada’ At The National Spelling Bee Last Night

Maryland was all aflutter with perfectly spelt words last night as The Scripps National Spelling Bee kicked off last night. Hundreds of children, far more intelligent than us, took to the stage in an attempt to wow the judges and spell every word in the English (and sometimes Irish) language perfectly. This sort of pressure would cause anyone to panic, but not 12-year-old cool kid Shruthika Padhy, from New Jersey. She was only tasked to go and spell bodhran - which she, naturally, took in her stride.

#speller278 Shruthika Padhy from NJ spelled the word bodhran (shallow handheld Irish drum) correctly #spellingbee #B in BeePlayAlong

— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) June 1, 2017

Nice one Shruthika!

The Irish theme carried on as Rohan Rajeev, a 14-year-old from Oklahoma, was asked to spell ‘rinkafadda’, i.e. 'rince fada'

#speller235 Rohan Rajeev spelled the word rinkafadda (Irish dance resembling the Virginia reel) correctly #spellingbee #D in BeePlayAlong

— Scripps National Spelling Bee (@ScrippsBee) June 2, 2017

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