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Varsha Seshan

Reading and Data

February 18, 2019 by Varsha Leave a Comment

Adults love data. They love graphs and statistics and numbers. During workshops with adults, the moment I put up a graph, I have everyone’s attention as if I’m finally saying something ‘real’. And that’s why I started working with real-time polls through Mentimeter. I show my audience a question and all those with smart phones […]

Filed Under: Resources, Workshops Tagged With: Inculcating the Habit of Reading, reading, Workshops for Adults

Making Creative Writing Engaging

February 14, 2019 by Varsha Leave a Comment

Sometimes, I wonder whether secretly, I conduct creative writing workshops more to inspire myself than to inspire the children I work with. Whatever it is, I do know that I enjoy myself tremendously whenever I teach creative writing. I feed off the enthusiasm of the children and I come home ready to write, which is […]

Filed Under: Resources, Workshops Tagged With: Andrew Wright, Creating Stories with Children, creative writing, Fortunately Unfortunately, The Dictionary, The Story-Catcher

Upcoming Workshops

February 7, 2019 by Varsha Leave a Comment

I will be conducting two reading workshops at the British Library, Pune, on the 16th of February 2019. ‘Love for Reading’ is for children; ‘Inculcating the Habit of Reading’ is for adults. Click here for details.

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: British Library, reading workshop

Reading Workshops: Why? What? How?

February 7, 2019 by Varsha 2 Comments

Activities at reading workshops - jigsaws

Many, many parents ask me what a reading workshop is. What happens during a reading workshop? Who should attend a reading workshop and why? What will the outcome of a reading workshop be? This post tries to explain all that. What children read and why Often, at reading workshops I conduct, we talk about books […]

Filed Under: Resources, Workshops Tagged With: reading

World Read Aloud Day at the Writers’ Club

February 3, 2019 by Varsha Leave a Comment

The Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School meets only twice a week, so World Read Aloud Day sometimes becomes Writers’ Club Read Aloud Day, but so what? I celebrated it for the first time last year and it was so much fun that I did it again this year. This time, children came forward and […]

Filed Under: Resources, Workshops Tagged With: How to pick a book, reading, St. Mary's School, World Read Aloud Day, Writers' Club

Working with Librarians

February 2, 2019 by Varsha 2 Comments

During the first two weeks of the year, I made lists of books I loved, and more than once, I found myself writing about how reading levels differ so much that it is difficult to associate a level with an age. Thinking about all of this, I decided write about a reading programme I’ve been […]

Filed Under: Resources, Workshops Tagged With: Alphabet, Challenging Children, Craig Smith, Henk van Oort, librarians, teaching reading

Big Books at the Writers’ Club

November 30, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

Aren’t lit fests delightful? Last week, I was invited to St. Mary’s School’s first lit fest, and it was lovely. We walked into books like this one … And we had a panel discussion where we spoke about stories, poems, writing, dancing and music. We then visited classrooms and saw the work the children had […]

Filed Under: Lit Fests, Workshops Tagged With: St. Mary's School, Writers' Club

Our Own Voices

November 22, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

I just skimmed through yet another article about how, growing up, we associated ‘white people doing white things’ with ‘people doing people things‘. This is an idea that I have to confront all the time, for racism is everywhere. It has forms that we unwillingly perpetuate too. For instance, I have an Indian friend who […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: diversity, Writers' Club

Reading, Writing, Dancing

October 19, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

Two weeks ago, I asked the children at my Writers’ Club whether they would like to make readers laugh or cry. Three girls said they wanted to make readers laugh. 12 said they wanted to make readers cry. When a few said they would like to do both, those who had already raised their hands […]

Filed Under: Dance, Random, Workshops, Writing Tagged With: Academy of Indian Dances, Ammachi's Amazing Machines, I Am Not Afraid, programme, St. Mary's School, Storyweaver, The Elephant Bird, The House with Chicken Legs, The Tigers of Taboo Valley, Writers' Club

Bhusawal

October 1, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

About three years ago, I began working on an exciting project with the National Rail Museum in New Delhi. The idea was to create stories set in and around trains in India.  It was challenging but fun. I dived into details of engines and their working in a way that I had never done before. […]

Filed Under: Travel, Workshops Tagged With: Bhusawal, Ratna Sagar, Teacher training

Special Events: AFCC 2018

September 21, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

Pop-up reading The pop-up reading at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content is a fun event organised by Denise Tan of Closetful of Books. Authors who are willing to brave the chaos of the book fair read out a short excerpt of one of their books. Though I had not registered for this in advance, […]

Filed Under: Lit Fests Tagged With: AFCC 2018, SABA 2018, Scholastic Asian Book Award, Singapore Night

Reflections: Days Two and Three at AFCC 2018

September 20, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

On day two, I attended a session called ‘Rhyming Round Reading’, which touched upon ideas that I use all the time at workshops on reading: rhyme. Focussing on a book titled Rhyming Round Singapore, the session had a lot to offer even to non-Singaporeans like me, primarily because of the concepts behind the book. How many […]

Filed Under: Lit Fests Tagged With: AFCC 2018, Linda Gan, The Last Tiger

Reflections: Day One of AFCC 2018

September 19, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

AFCC 2018 was a bit of a whirlwind experience for me. For one, with work commitments that I could not break, I got to Singapore only on the day that the festival was to begin. So, sleep-deprived but fuelled by adrenalin, I arrived at the National Library Board after the keynote had begun. Exhaustion took […]

Filed Under: Lit Fests Tagged With: AFCC 2018, Sarah Mounsey, Srividhya Venkat

Back from AFCC 2018

September 18, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

Four years ago, I had not heard of the Asian Festival of Children’s Content. I did not know that Singapore’s National Library had 16 floors of books. And then, I was shortlisted for the Scholastic Asian Book Award 2016, which was momentous enough for me to buy a festival pass and attend my first AFCC. […]

Filed Under: Books, Lit Fests Tagged With: AFCC, AFCC 2018, Dragonflies Jigsaws and Seashells, Red Eyes, SABA, SABA 2018, Scholastic Asian Book Award, shortlist

Dear Future Reader …

July 18, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

Imagine that you are writing to a reader who has not yet been born. Perhaps you’re writing to your own grandchild or great-grandchild. Or maybe you’re writing to someone whom you don’t know at all. What would you say? Here are a few of my favourites from this year’s Writers’ Club. There are many, many […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: creative writing, St. Mary's School, workshop, Writers' Club

Writers’ Club 2018-19

July 14, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

The Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School is now in its fourth year! We started so that we could commemorate the sesquicentennial year with a collection of work put together by the children, but then just carried on from there. Today, we discovered how we have stories within us, just waiting to be told. This […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: creative writing, St. Mary's School, Writers' Club

A Wonderful Month

June 14, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

The Prophecy of Rasphora - coming soon!

Every so often, I think about doing a monthly round-up of workshops I’ve conducted and books I’ve read. And then I think, maybe next month. But the month that went by was just so full of wonderful things that I want very much to share everything that happened and everything that’s coming up! Last month, I […]

Filed Under: Workshops, Writing Tagged With: creative writing, Juggernaut Books, JustBooks, Mango Books, Storyweaver, The Prophecy of Rasphora, Vidyaniketan, Wilderness

Meet the Monsters!

May 11, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

The huge, purple monster is on the loose! It has 12 arms, 12 legs, one eye, one horn, two mouths and 43 teeth, and it’s going to take over the town. It eats 12 people every day: it ate my neighbour and my children; it even destroyed a nearby building! It stinks to high heavens, […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: BookMark, Coimbatore, creative writing, reading, workshop

And then, there was Goa

May 2, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

I have never been a huge fan of Goa, especially as I’m not particularly fond of beaches. In addition, we went on a banana boat ride at Baga once, and I was disgusted by the amount of dirty seawater I ended up swallowing. Plus, New Year’s eve at Calangute eight years ago was a nightmare. […]

Filed Under: Travel, Workshops Tagged With: Goa

Young Writers’ Club – Mystery Stories

April 23, 2018 by Varsha Leave a Comment

A priceless necklace has been stolen from a museum and you are one of the suspects. How can you convince the jury that you’re innocent? “I was on a plane to Kashmir,” said one girl. “I can show you the ticket!” A little later, she added, “And I even have a photo that the air […]

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: creative writing, JustBooks, workshop, Writers' Club

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