In the next round, he competed against students from schools in all the southern provinces of Thailand. This took place in Krabi on December 11. He managed to win second place and received a gold award for scoring 100 per cent in the morning round and 90 per cent in the afternoon round. He will now progress to the final round in Bangkok, competing against students from all over Thailand.
Although still proud of his achievement, he was a little disappointed with second place in Krabi. For the past two years, AJ has been the national champion for his age group, winning the final round in Bangkok. He is currently in P5, and so is within the P4-P6 age group. He is now more determined than ever to do well in the national finals in Bangkok and is practising spelling unfamiliar words as well as keeping up with his studies.
His home room teacher, Vicki Nolan, is working hard to help AJ increase his vocabulary and develop strategies for memorising some of the more unusual words in the English language.