Yes, they've the famous "spelling bee" contest in their schools:)

Yes, all we English speakers know about "spelling bees". :) There's even a documentary about it, called "Spellbound": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0334405/

Yes. It's a niche activity, like a marching band competition or a science fair. The big formal national contests were originally organized by a (now-dead) newspaper chain, Scripps-Howard. Every year when they hold the national championship, it will be a small item in the national news, and everyone is astonished by what the kids can do. I am a very good speller, I eat chrysanthemums for breakfast, but my goodness... some recent winning words were "stromuhr," "cymotrichous," "feuilleton," and "stichomythia." A "bee" is an old-fashioned word for a social gathering. "Sewing bees" and "quilting bees" were social events in rural settings in the 1800s. Women would get together to sew clothing or quilts. For a list of winning words, http://www.spellingbee.com/champions-and-their-winning-words For more information about them, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scripps_National_Spelling_Bee