Bilingual southern Indiana youth heads to Nat'l Spelling Bee

Bilingual southern Indiana youth heads to Nat'l Spelling Bee

(AP) — When Jaffet Cruz studies spelling words and vocabulary, it's a lesson for both him and his parents.

Despite being born in the U.S. and growing up in Huntingburg, Cruz learned Spanish first because it was the native language for his Peruvian parents, who moved to the U.S. a year before Cruz was born.

The now-14-year-old boy learned English in preschool — mainly, he said, because that's what his friends and teachers spoke.

Cruz won the 2016 Tri-State Spelling Bee at Ivy Tech in February on the word "degradation" — a wearing down by erosion.

The win advanced him to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which will take place next week in National Harbor, Maryland.

Children growing (up) here help me a lot to improve the language.

While Fernanda Cruz is still hard of hearing and an interpreter is often with her, the current Southridge High School junior is now fluent in Spanish, English and sign language.

Both parents quiz their son to help him study for spelling bees, which also expands their vocabulary.