The Spelling Wizard

By Sanjana Bhowmick

Anaisha Shalaka Anish Kering set the record for being the youngest to recite the ten longest English words. The 6 years old from Pune, recited the ten longest English words with their spellings including, hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia and honorificabilitudinitatibus.

A quick learner

Anaisha, from a young age, has been a keen learner and took interest in learning new and different things. “It started as a fun game to try and spell a 30 letter word, which I did easily. So from one word, it went on to 2, 3, 4 and eventually 10. My mother inspired and motivated me to do something different and unique and so we did it”, says Anaisha.

The technique is the key

The technique is the key to learning. Anaisha’s feat is not an easy one to achieve, sharing her technique, she says, “First I try and understand the task at hand. Then I try to understand the technique of how to do it. And then I go ahead with the learning. That makes my learning easy and I enjoy it.”

Family is the pillar of strength

“My family has always been supportive of all my learning and achievements. They taught me that learning and participating is more important than winning and that you do your best always,” says Anaisha of her parents. Anaisha’s mom taught her the words, their pronunciation, the meaning and the spellings. It took her around two weeks to learn everything thoroughly and master it. Remembering a delightful incident, Anaisha says, “While my mom was recording my video, my dad was continuously laughing at the pronunciations and making me laugh too. I was so distracted that my mom had to push my dad out of the room. So it was quite a funny and memorable recording for me.”

Anaisha is currently focusing on learning new things and aspires to become an IAS or an IPS officer.