I know it’s shocking to some people that I can speak such good English. I mean, it’s not like it’s my first language or anything. It’s not like my parents, who both came to the States as children, were fluent in English or anything. I mean, really, it’s not like I read the classics for kicks as a kid. Ahem, you know what I’m saying?

So then it should be no surprise to anyone that one smart little Dominican girl’s kicking butt as spelling bee champion. Go, Yulkendy, go (man, us Dominicans and our names!)! But it might be a surprise to learn that this girl’s not a native. She came to the US four years ago speaking no English! I know there are those of you that might be TV haters but this kid claims to have picked up the language reading tons of books and watching tons of American TV.

Read more about this small wonder, who was recently named “Immigrant of the Day” according to Dominican Today, in “Dominican Girl, 14, Set to Compete in Scripps National Spelling Bee”. This will certainly be news to people who still fondly refer to Dominicans as “dumb-in-a-can.”