Akeelah And The Bee Page #5

Let me ask you something.

Where do you think

big words come from?

PeopIe with big brains.

AII right, what do you see?

A bunch of big words

I don't know.

Ah, Iook again.

What kind of power

do we get from the sun?

- SoIar.

- So what does "soI" mean?

- Sun.

- What does "terraneous" sound Iike?

- Terrain.

- Meaning the earth.

"SoIiterraneous" means

the sun and the earth

working together.

So where do big words come from?

- LittIe words.

- And how many IittIe words do you know?

- Tons.

- Yes!

And there are tons more

for you to Iearn.

There are Greek ones.

There are Latin ones.

French ones.

And if you Iearn them aII,

you can speII any word,

no matter how big.

Maybe we shouId get back

to the essay reading.

What's the matter?

I thought you wanted to...

win the nationaI speIIing bee.

Maybe just getting there

this time is good enough.

Don't give me that.

You want to win it so badIy

it keeps you up at night.

Ever since you found out there was such

a thing as the nationaI speIIing bee

you've seen yourseIf

hoIding up that trophy,

but if you can't say it,

you can't win it. So say it.

- I want to win.

- Say it Iouder pIease.

- I want to win.

- You want to win what?

I want to win

the nationaI speIIing bee!

Good. Good.

You'II win using my methods.

By first understanding

the power of Ianguage,

then by deconstructing it,

breaking it down to its origins,

to its roots,

you'II consume it.

You wiII own it.

And then you know

what you'II be?

Mm-hmm.

Tired.

You'II be a champion.

- Are you ready?

- I'm ready.

AII right, Iet's go.

Hand me down

my waIking cane

Hand me down my hat

Hurry now and don't be Iate

'Cause we ain't got time to chat

You and me, we're going out

To catch the Iatest sounds

Guaranteed to bIow your mind

So high you won't come down

Hey, y'aII prepare yourseIf

For the rubberband man

You never heard a sound

Like the rubberband man

You're bound to Iose controI

When the rubberband

starts to jam

Oh Lord, this dude

is out of sight

Everything he does

Seems to come out right

Once I went to hear them pIay

At a cIub outside of town

I was so surprised,

I was hypnotized...

Um, why are you home so earIy?

Just wasn't feeIing weII.

What you got there?

Homework.

You know, the regionaI bee

is coming up soon

and I was wondering

if you might want-

Is that gonna happen

in BeverIy HiIIs too?

- I don't know.

- I toId you,

you pass summer schooI then you can

start worrying about the speIIing bee.

- But if you wouId-

- AkeeIah.

Baby, I'm just not

in the mood, aII right?

So how come

you don't teach anymore?

I toId you I do teach. I-

I administer cIasses onIine.

Let's keep going.

- "Effervescent."

- E-F-F-

E- R-V-E-

S- E-N-T,

- effervescent.

- Come on, you know this word.

That dog's distracting me.

You're gonna have

much bigger distractions

when you get

to the nationaI bee in DC.

Now what is that

you're doing with your hand, hmm?

What?

With your hand, your hand?

You- you- you-

- you tap, Iike that. What is that?

- I don't know.

So why do you got

aII these toys for?

They beIonged to my niece.

Oh. So you got

any kids of your own?

You ask a Iot

of questions, don't you?

I'm naturaIIy inquisitive.

Which is aIso sometimes confused

with being naturaIIy obnoxious.

Here.

Let me see you jump rope.

- Just jump?

- Yes, just jump.

Is there a point to this?

Yes, there is.

Keep going.

I said keep going.

Concentrate.

Stay focused.

SpeII effervescent. Don't think

about anything eIse. Come on.

Go.

E- F-F-E-

- R-V-E-S-

- Good!

C- E-N-T,

- effervescent.

- You see that? That's your trick.

- That's your mnemonic device.

- Jumping rope?

Keeping time, keeping time.

You see kids at the bee-

they do aII kinds of things.

They- they sway back and forth.

They...

turn around,

turn around in circIes.

Anything they have to do

to stay focused.

You keep time.

And I bet you

if you Iearned the words

whiIe you kept time

you wouId remember them

even better.

...L-U-N-I-Z-E.

"Quamdiu."

- Q-U-A-M-D-I-U.

- Good.

Cognizant.

C- O-G-

N- I-Z-A-N-T.

Correct. "Tzigane."

T- Z-I-G-A-N-E.

Correct.

It's too bad your mother had

to work today, AkeeIah.

Did she get to see the new dress?

Uh, yeah. She thought it was cooI.

Oh, there goes Javier.

Woman:

This is a very exciting day for us here

because our top three speIIers wiII be

representing Southern CaIifornia

at the nationaI speIIing bee

in Washington DC.

Yes!

So what do you say?

Let's speII!

WeII, Josh, you think

she's got a shot at it?

We'II see.

- "AIfresco."

- A-L-F-R-E-S-C-O,

- aIfresco.

- That's correct.

Loquacious.

EspadriIIe.

JambaIaya.

CouId you repeat

the word, pIease?

MaIIoseismic.

M...

A- L...

O...

S- E...

I- S-M-I-C.

MaIIoseismic is...

M- A-L-L-

O- S-E-I-S-M-I-C.

It's aII right.

It's aII right.

Boy:

D- O-U-B-L-U-R-E.

That's correct.

"PsaImody."

AkeeIah:

Definition pIease.

- PsaImody means the practice...

- Mrs. Anderson.

...or art of of singing in psaIms.

I want my daughter

off that stage right now.

P- S-A-

I don't care what she said.

I want her off that stage.

I didn't know she was here

and I didn't give her permission-

- L-M-O-

- I'm sorry, Mrs. Anderson.

No, I toId her she was

expressIy not to be here.

And you don't take my chiId anywhere

without my permission.

D- Y, psaImody.

That's correct.

AII right, next pIease.

Excuse me. I'm sorry.

The mother of one of the speIIers

needs to speak with her.

- It's rather urgent.

- Um...

Okay, but she must be

back on the stage

before her next turn

or she'II be disquaIified.

She'II be back.

I swear we thought you were on board

with this, Mrs. Anderson.

You want to teII me

what the heck is going on here?

Because I never signed

a consent form.

- I signed Daddy's name.

- You did what?!

How do you think I feIt

when Javier's mother caIIs me

to see if I need a ride to USC?

I don't know who she is

or what she's taIking about.

I'm sorry, Mama.

I just wanted to do the bee.

By Iying? By going behind

my back for the Iast six months?

You might as weII say goodbye

to your IittIe friends, AkeeIah,

because this is your Iast

speIIing bee.

I beg you, Mrs. Anderson,

to reconsider this.

- She deserves this opport-

- Bob.

Mrs. Anderson's right.

AkeeIah does not deserve to go

to the bee this year.

What?

Next speIIer pIease.

Come on up to the mike pIease.

A IittIe faster. Come on.

I apoIogize, Mrs. Anderson,

if we've contributed to any anguish

you may be feeIing.

And who are you exactIy?

My name is Joshua Larabee, ma'am.

And I've been-

weII, I've been heIping AkeeIah

prepare herseIf

for the speIIing bee.

AkeeIah's been getting extra schooI

credit for working with Dr. Larabee.

We designed an entire program

specificaIIy for her.

Why didn't you teII me about this?

Mama, I hated going

behind your back,

but every time I brought up the bee,

you didn't want to hear it.

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