When Joseph Maluyao was a student in teacher Ann Haney's fourth-grade class two years ago, she relied heavily on his spelling prowess during lessons.

"He was my spell-check," said Haney, a teacher at Golden Oak Elementary School in Visalia.

"I'd always look at him and say, 'If I get a word wrong, you tell me.' "

Joseph's penchant for spelling has gone beyond helping a teacher in the classroom. It has earned him a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., which starts May 26 with a computerized spelling test for all the contenders.

Joseph, now 12 and a sixth-grader at Golden Oak, will represent Tulare County in the fourth- through eighth-grade national competition.

He beat out 208 students in February to win the county championship. In the two prior annual county competitions, he had finished third.

"It was a surprise that I won," he said. "I thought I would get third place like normal."

Joseph's spelling skill comes from his love of reading and writing, and his curiosity about words and how they are used, said his parents, Gilmer and Maria Maluyao.

When Joseph and his 14-year-old sister, Hannah, were about 5 and 7, their parents often would toss out words for the children to spell while they drove to their vacation destinations.

"We had a spelling bee so they wouldn't get bored," Gilmer Maluyao said.

Joseph's knack for spelling and fascination with words began to emerge.

"He has very good retentive memory," Maria Maluyao said.

In preparation for the National Spelling Bee, Joseph's parents are giving him 30 to 50 words to spell each night.

"That's the last thing he does before he goes to bed, after homework and chores," Maria Maluyao said. "We give him a break on the weekends."

Joseph's sponsors for the National Spelling Bee -- the Visalia Times-Delta and the Tulare Advance-Register -- will pay for his trip to Washington.

He is one of 15 students from California -- and the only one from the central San Joaquin Valley -- who will participate in the nationally televised competition.

Joseph modestly said his spelling skill is "a gift and a luck of the words I get." He correctly spelled Yiddishkeit (a Yiddish word for the Jewish culture) to win the county championship.

He also credits his supportive parents and Haney, his spelling coach, for encouraging him to compete in the county spelling bee.

He said he wants to be a writer or a chef, "because I like food. Who doesn't?"

His hobbies include writing stories on the computer, playing video games and downloading songs from iTunes. He also plays the violin.

Joseph is looking forward to competing in the National Spelling Bee, which will have nearly 300 participants.

"I'm not nervous now, but I know I will be because I could be on TV," he said.