Stemming from the popularity of the Eason Spelling Bee in schools, Eason have just developed a new Spelling Bee app which will allow both kids and parents to take part in their own spelling bee at home. Developed for 10 to 14 year olds but fun for all ages, this new app will help kids improve their spelling and literacy skills in a fun and enjoyable way. The app emulates the real life spelling bee but in a mobile world. Just like the Spelling Bee in schools, there will be easy, medium and hard words within the app. The app reads out a word from one of the three difficulty levels. Users are then asked to input their answer. Users can ask for a hint at any level at which point the word will be read out as part of a sentence. They can also ask for the word to be repeated if necessary. With hundreds of words in the database, children (and adults!) will have great fun testing their spelling abilities and new words will be added on an ongoing basis. The app is another part of Get Into Reading which is Eason’s countrywide campaign with children’s literacy at its heart.

Since its inception in 2011 with just 12 schools taking part, the Eason Spelling Bee has grown very quickly. This year, the fourth year of the competition, more than 1,000 schools from all over Ireland are taking part.