Workshops

The Imagination Box, which I wrote about yesterday, as well as the books I’ll be writing about in the days ahead, were part of the Reading Challenge organised by the British Library. As always, I enjoyed myself thoroughly conducting a series of workshops at MGM Clover Dale High School in Aurangabad. The theme for their Reading Challenge was “Record Breakers”, and there were record breakers amongst them! A pair of twins read 16 books in the last three weeks because they enjoyed the challenge so much!

The first workshop, for younger children, was a lovely storytelling session. I introduced them to Julia Donaldson’s The Paper Dolls. We play-acted, read the story, and then even made the paper dolls as instructed at the end of the book!

The second session was with eight-year-olds who found that they were too old to read the collection for young readers. They chose to read books from the collection for older readers, which in itself was heart-warming for me! This one involved word puzzles and ended with a reading of “The Bicycle Race” from my collection, The Story-Catcher.

Post-lunch, we began with hilarious tongue twisters. That was fun! We stumbled over red-lorry-yellow-lorry and ‘tricky frisky snakes with sixty super scaly stripes’. We then had word games and written activities that everyone loved.

The day ended with lipograms, pangrams and whacky records that the children would like to set. All in all, it was a wonderful day!

Yesterday, the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School welcomed Leela Gour Broome, author of Flute in the Forest and Red Kite Adventure. Mrs Broome introduced her two books and spoke to the children about the process of writing them.

“I’m not a fan of fantasy,” she said when the children asked her what she reads. “I think we need more realistic Indian fiction that children can read!”

Her own books are inspired by experiences she’s had through her close interaction with nature, experiences that help her stories ring true. “Even when you imagine, there’s a limit, right? For instance, you could write about a pony that is colourful and magical … Maybe the pony can fly. But would you be able to convince your readers that the pony can drive a car? Remember that the reader must be able to imagine with you, so don’t let your imagination get away with you!”

The children enjoyed themselves thoroughly, so much so that we ran out of time for questions! Here are a couple of questions that stood out to me:
“Do you sometimes have a brilliant idea that you want to write down, but you forget before you get around to it?”
“Do you feel that your writing reveals what kind of person you are? If you write dark stories, does it mean that you have problems?”

What a lovely afternoon we had!

What’s new? Are there other workshops coming up? Click here to find out.

The six-hour journey from Pune to Beed was lovely. I love travelling in the monsoon through pouring rain, looking at all the shades of green passing by. I love the hills in the rain. They’re so full of life, so different from the parched summer browns!

My workshop last weekend was with Gurukul English School in Beed. Like so many other schools, it is an English medium school that is attended by children from non English-speaking families. It’s a huge challenge for the teachers, one that we can barely begin to tackle. Walk through the corridors and you’ll hear a mix of Marathi and Hindi, with just about a word of English thrown in.

And so, my workshop was on Communicative English with Functional Grammar. Led by an enthusiastic vice principal, the teachers came forward to participate, interact and share. They laughed as they donned roles of reporters and sportspeople. They pushed their way through difficult word games, trying their best to express their ideas and explore language teaching through communication rather than grammar. Most importantly, they let go of their inhibitions right through the session.

They told me about their regular three-hour power cuts, in addition to unpredictable cuts when it rains or is windy. They told me about children coming from backgrounds where school is just something children attend, not something that is particularly important.
It was a learning experience for me, certainly!

People on the road selling karvand, mangoes and jackfruit. The lilting language that makes me listen to the tune rather than the meaning. The dark sand and the crashing waves.
Joy!

And Mane’s International School was beautiful. It’s a small school as of now, just a baby. There are mango trees everywhere, and the principal spoke of how the children run round and round the trees as they play. Apparently, the rains night before last made the mangoes come crashing down, but until then, the boughs were heavy with fruit!

On the way to Ratnagiri, we stopped to buy karvand, offered to us in cups made of velvety leaves.
(What a city person I am! I don’t know what leaves they were …)
What was most charming was that each cup of fruit cost ten rupees. Some of the leaves were small, with the cups holding barely a dozen berries. Some were huge, with over thirty! But the rate was the same – 10 rupees for one leaf cup. And so we bought two drastically different cups and continued our journey to …

A group of parents got together and invited me to conduct a weeklong storytelling workshop at a housing society. Storytelling has never been more fun! Working with my own stories is a lovely experience in itself, and when the story comes with its own kit … The enjoyment reaches new levels!

Here’s a group of children putting together the jigsaw puzzle of Bholu at the Level Crossing …

It was such fun telling this story, with the children making the same sounds that Chitra makes in the book, imitating the train – Poooonnnn! Chug-chug-chug-chug, chug-chug-chug-chug.
One observant child commented that the red Swift in the picture had to be an old one because there was no reversing camera!

And here’s another picture of all the children busily colouring the sketches that are part of the third kit, the one for Bholu at the School Excursion …

This one was fun because we all made station sounds together – SIDE, SIDE, SIDE! Chai coffee, chai … Chai bolo chai …

Happiness!

Another set of Reading Challenge workshops came to an end yesterday. This time, the theme was ‘Record Breakers’, and the school that took it on was Cathedral Vidya School, Lonavala. Working with fifteen bright children from classes five to eight filled me with joy!

Lipograms and pangrams brought much hilarity … The activity started in all seriousness and then went crazy as the children let their imaginations go wild.

Every one of the participants was enthusiastic – all of them say they enjoyed the challenge!

And, of course, team-building is part of the joy of workshops. How hard they try to finish their activity first!

Another workshop is just around the corner, this time at the British Library, Pune. Click here for details.

I’m conducting a storytelling workshop this weekend at the British Library, Pune.

Overview

Every culture creates its own stories: to entertain young children, to teach them, and to attempt to explain the world. Through interactive storytelling, this workshop will give young children a glimpse of different cultures, allowing them to taste a little of the world!

Day One

It’s summertime, the best time to explore stories about summer and sunshine! Let’s travel to various countries, look at their costumes, and then imagine their stories. Children will enact the story with the storyteller, bringing alive the customs and traditions of each country we visit.

Day Two

What comes after the summer? The rains in some parts of the world; autumn in others! Let’s recall  stories of summertime and then look at how seasons change. Finally, the children will be given pictures to colour to conclude their journey around the world!

Details
Dates: Saturday and Sunday, 14th and 15th of May, 2016
Time: 4-5:30
Age-group: 5-7 years
Fee: Rs 1200 for members; Rs 2800 for non-members (includes a gold membership)

I spent three days at Sanjay Ghodawat International School, Kolhapur, and conducted a series of reading and writing workshops with 204 children as part of the British Library’s Reading Challenge programme. We worked on myths from around the world, read aloud Fragoline and the Midnight Dream and George and the Dragon, played with idioms, wrote stories … What fun it was!

During the last academic year, a group of girls from St. Mary’s School worked with me at the Writers’ Club. They imagined, wrote and rewrote. Now, their work is available in the form of an anthology of poems and short stories! Flickering Flames, written by girls from classes VI and VII of St. Mary’s School, is now available online.

The proud authors are Advaya Venbakkam, Advika Dhar, Ananya Banerjee, Anika Garg, Anushka Shinde, Ashna Bhavnagarwalla, Jayde MacFarland,Lavanya Dua, Pareesa Irani, Rashmin Kaur Juneja, Riva Verma, Samiksha Deshpande and Tejasee Khurjekar.

The illustrators (also girls from the school) are Advaya Venbakkam, Ananya Banerjee, Anika Garg, Ashna Bhavnagarwalla, Chahat Agarwal, Nandini Ghosh, Pareesa Irani, Paridhi Kumar, Riva Verma, Samiksha Deshpande, Shanaya Vaz and Tejasee Khurjekar.

Here is a quick look into the book through the eyes of the Pune Mirror. All the girls are looking forward to comments, views and reviews!

A whole year with my first batch of the Writers’ Club at St. Mary’s School is over! We’ve written all kinds of things. I’ve put a few pieces up on my blog; I’ve made the girls write and rewrite, write and rewrite … We did poetry, prose and drama. We worked with back stories, plot and setting. We played all kinds of games and we did all kinds of activities.
And it was fun.

During my first session, 60 children showed up. I knew many of them would not keep at it. I reminded them, several times, that if their compositions improved, or they began to write answers better, these would be side benefits. I warned them that I expected assignments to be submitted on time.

And finally, about 15 stuck with it. They continued to attend sessions, even though writing regularly was tough, and I kept making them rework their pieces. During the orientation for the next batch, the girls kept saying, “Make sure you submit your assignments on time. If you don’t …” They shrugged. “Miss doesn’t punish. But she doesn’t read work submitted late, and that’s worse than a punishment!”

Here are the girls who kept at it!

And meanwhile, the next chapter of the Writers’ Club is all set to begin. We have something new this time. Something unheard of, at least in my time at St. Mary’s School … The boys and girls will attend my sessions together! Here’s to another year of writing and fun!

Today was the closing ceremony of the Reading Challenge Programme at Dr Kalmadi Shamrao High School. Look at all the proud faces!

I conducted two workshops for the children: one on idioms, the other on myths from different parts of the world. During the first one, we solved a crossword puzzle, played team games differentiating between idioms and proverbs, and attempted to guess the meanings of several idioms. I was very impressed by the number of idioms the children were able to explain!

The second workshop I conduct as part of the Mythical Maze Reading Challenge is always more fun for the children. I divide them into groups and give each group a myth from some part of the world. All five groups work with myths explaining the same phenomenon – rain. They perform a skit, make a chart, explain the major ideas … It was such fun, as always!

This is just the beginning of a long journey with the school. I, for one, look forward to the next step!

Of late, I’ve been too busy to post updates about events I conduct, but here’s a quick heads-up. I’m conducting a workshop at the British Library tomorrow!

Explore novel records that you can see yourself setting!

1. Work on all four language skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking.
2. Interact with other children with varied interests.
3. Reflect on everything you have read so far and why it interests you.

Most importantly, let’s have some fun!

It’s part of this year’s Reading Challenge, but you’re welcome to attend the workshop even if you aren’t part of the challenge!

Here are the details:

Venue: British Library, Fergusson College Road, Pune
Date: 8th January, 2016
Age-group: 8-13 years
Time: 4pm to 6pm
Registration fee: Rs 600
Contact: Namrata – 020-41005327

Pre-registration is preferred, but if it is impossible, you’re welcome to drop in fifteen minutes before the workshop begins to register.

Here are a couple of photos from the workshop I conducted at FD School, Ahmedabad, under the banner of Ratna Sagar. It was a lovely experience, working with enthusiastic teachers. We worked on the story of Pinocchio, exploring integrated learning and the importance of conducting different kinds of activities while teaching. We spoke about reading and why we enjoy reading. We discussed the role of non-language teachers in the teaching of English. All in all, it was a rewarding session!

Helen O’ Grady’s Navi Mumbai chapter invited me to be part of its Reading Day celebrations in honour of Dr Kalam’s birthday. What a crazy day I had with enthusiastic children from St. Mary’s School, Koparkhairane, and Gold Crest High, Vashi!

The children were full of questions. One commented, “Most authors now don’t really write; they type. Why do we call them writers? We should call them typers.”

Children asked me where my inspiration came from; they asked me what I enjoyed reading and what my journey towards publication was like. They asked how many times my work had been rejected, and did not quite believe me when I told them I had lost count. I read out three different stories from The Story-Catcher to three different groups. Each session was rewarding.

It was a wonderful day; here’s to many more!

The IB methodology taught me the importance of reflecting on what we have learnt. I often keep that in mind as I conduct workshops, in the hope that reflection will help participants consciously use what they learn in their lives ahead.

The girls from St. Mary’s have now attended eight sessions of the Writing Club. They reflected on what they have understood, and thought about what they need to do ahead. Here is what Remanika Sohal, a student of class VII has to say:

Based on the comments I have received on the assignments I have done so far, I think I need to spend more time and energy on my work. I must not hurry through it. My ideas seem to have potential, but I rush a little when it comes to putting them down in the form of a poem. I have enjoyed all the sessions and have learnt a great deal as well. There is one aspect which I really appreciate when it comes to learning in the Writing Club. I find that we always learn something new in the form of activities.

– Remanika Sohal, Class VII

 

I’m conducting a Writing Club at St. Mary’s School for 25 girls from classes VI and VII. Every time I give them a writing assignment, I will be publishing the work I like best on my blog.  I will be editing the work very slightly, if at all.
It’s Friday again, and time to publish. This week, each girl wrote a poem inspired by any experience. I chose this one, by Advika Dhar from class VII, because of its simplicity and choice of form. I have preserved the original haiku, unedited.

 My First Violin Recital
– Advika Dhar

Camera lights flashed,
Butterflies in my stomach,
My first violin show.

I’m conducting a Writing Club at St. Mary’s School for 25 girls from classes VI and VII. Every time I give them a writing assignment, I will be publishing the work I like best on my blog.  I will be editing the work very slightly, if at all.
This week, each girl wrote a poem inspired by a piece of music of her choice. I chose this one, by Jayde MacFarland from class VII, because I enjoyed the rhythm of the poem.

On what inspired her, Jayde wrote:
This poem is based on pop music. I felt inspired to do this as it is the kind of music I really listen to. Whenever it comes to country and jazz, I fall asleep. Pop is a modern style of music and many people have contributed to it, which is why it inspires me.

Pop! Goes the Music
– Jayde MacFarland

I need a beat, I need a song,
I need some words to sing along.
I don’t need rhythm, I don’t need blues,
No jizz or jazz or country clues.

I don’t like rip, I don’t like rap,
And techno sounds worse than a clap,
I need some music for my soul,
No rocks or stones or dirt in a hole.

And this is music to my ears,
And this is music for my years
Yes, this is music for my peers
Pop! Goes the music.

Travelling to Silvassa, I realised how rusty my geography has become. Silvassa – I was pretty sure it was the capital of Dadra & Nagar Haveli. At least, I remember having learnt that in school. We had endless lists of states and union territories, and we had to learn the capital of each one, in addition to other details that have been wiped out of my memory.
(Perhaps I should not complain. There are more states now than there used to be when I was in school.)

I ‘alighted’ (I find the word so beautifully archaic, but the station had a sign saying ‘ALIGHT HERE FOR DAMAN AND SILVASSA’) at Vapi, Gujarat, and all the way to Silvassa, there were bridges and sign-boards welcoming me and thanking me for my visit. I couldn’t figure out who was welcoming me where and who was thanking me for visiting what.

Geographical confusions aside, I had a lovely time, conducting a workshop for sales teams from Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. It was an enriching experience, working with people from different places and backgrounds. I met wonderful people, committed to working in schools to improve the system of education. I heard about evolving teaching methodologies, and the way in which school textbooks are being restructured in keeping with a child’s needs.

While I enjoyed myself and learned a lot through my session there, a part of me realised again that we deliberately cut off much of our imagination as we pass from childhood to adulthood. Working with adults was completely different, focussing on immediate gains, rather than an enjoyable ride into imagination.

In itself, that is not problematic. What is problematic, for me, is the link I plainly see between this practical approach and a lack of freedom of thought. The moment we spoke of flying pigs and other such fantastic things, there was self-conscious laughter.

I realised, with a start, that everyone wants to imagine, but somewhere along the line, we begin to feel that imagination is pointless. A waste of time.

When I talk about this, many ask me, Well? Isn’t it a waste of time?

I give people grand answers about language-acquisition through literature, and storytelling as a means of education. But really, I find that these are just ‘practical approach’ answers that I’ve devised over time.

What I want to say is this: When we ride on a ferris wheel, do we find it a waste of time? Do we ride a ferris wheel thinking of what we’ll gain from it? Yet, as a side-benefit, if the ferris wheel gives us a view of the city, will it not change the way we look at the world?

The British Council Library and Artsphere Pune hosted a screening of the movie “Gnomeo and Juliet”, and I was invited to talk about the movie, about Romeo and Juliet, and about Shakespeare. I was tremendously excited – I love working with the British Council; I was going to work in a new venue with a new audience; I was going to work with Shakespeare!

I began my preparation by re-reading Romeo and Juliet. I have an edition of the complete works of William Shakespeare that used to belong to my grandfather. Within, I found this …

… and I read Romeo and Juliet with a smile.

The movie was fun, but after an 81-minute long screening, the children were not really in the mood for anything else.
Yet, when we began to talk about Shakespeare, many slowly grew excited. We spoke about the challenges players faced in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the fact that Shakespeare’s name was spelt in about 80 different ways. Only one child in the group managed to spell his name “correctly”, that is to say in the way we usually spell his name today. We spoke about how women were not allowed on stage, and how players were the only class of society allowed to dress above their station in life. It was not a long session, but all in all, it was fun!

Twelve hours of travel-time, and a three-hour workshop. I can’t promise to do it again, yet it was fun!

The British Council, Mumbai, has rolled out the reading challenge programme in several schools in Mumbai. I conducted three workshops at Universal High, Dahisar, and had a lovely time.

We worked with Sophie’s Snail by Dick King-Smith, a story I love. Classes one and two read the story with me, and enjoyed it as much as I did! We couldn’t get over the size of the snail. The whole class chorused with me, “It’s bright yellow and just the size of Sophie’s middle fingernail!”

With the older children, we did “The Porcupine” by Roald Dahl, “The Adventures of Isabel” by Ogden Nash, “The Quarrel” by Maxine Kumin, “A Pizza the Size of the Sun” by Jack Prelutsky and “Jimmy Goes to the City” by Arthur Read. The children learned about rhyme and meter, and then played with all the poetry we could in an hour!

Thoughts come to me in bits and pieces.

The house charts  are still displayed at the back of the hall.
They’ve become bigger and grander, not restricted to single sheets of chart-paper.
Also, the availability of print-outs means that girls with neat handwriting don’t make all the charts.

There are big boards on the wall, displaying the names of achievers, including prefects, toppers and those who achieved something in sports.

There is a projector in our assembly hall!

The grand piano is still there, except that it no longer has the sign that we used to find hilarious: ‘DO NOT MOVE’.

About sixty girls turned up for the writing programme I’m offering for classes VI and VII and St. Mary’s. How will I choose 25 of them?

The girls felt almost proud when (not knowing their names) I identified them by their houses.

This is the beginning of a grand new adventure.

It’s taken me a while to write about the last month. How full of emotions it has been!

We performed in Kalakshetra for Pushpa Teacher and Jaya Teacher, my teacher’s teachers. We peaked and fell, rising and falling with a tide of emotions. We felt we underperformed, and then we were overwhelmed by everyone’s responses. The teachers praised the performance; nothing else is important. My heart is brimming with joy and gratitude.

In Bangalore, I did a two-day reading workshop. I wrote about day one here on the blog, but kept postponing it, even though I’ve been waiting to talk about how wonderful it was to conduct a workshop there.

Atta Galatta is a delightful place, with the perfect ambience for a reading workshop. What warmed my heart is that the store ordered ten copies of The Story-Catcher, some of which were bought by the children after the session. (If you’re in Bangalore and want to buy a copy, there may just be a few left.)

It was all too short. I want more – I want to do more performances, conduct more workshops and meet more children. Soon, I hope.

It’s wonderful to have a dear childhood friend attend a workshop of mine and diligently take pictures! I had a delightful morning at my reading workshop at Atta Galatta, Bangalore.

I’m conducting a two-day reading workshop at Bengaluru!

Highlights:
>Read aloud
>Act out a story
>Develop a love for reading
>Imagine and create
>Play a vocabulary game
>Learn about book-publishing
>Understand what copyright is

Age-group: 8-12 years
Dates: 4th and 5th July, 2015
Time: 11 am to 1 pm
Total duration: 4 hours
Fee: Rs 500 per child
Venue: Atta Galatta
Phone: 080-4160 0677
Contact Varsha at 09890798756 seshanvarsha@gmail.com

Summer holidays are nearly over; here’s my last activity before school begins. This storytelling session is for the little ones at a venue I always love!

Date: Sunday, 31 May 2015

Time: 3.00 to 4.00 pm

Venue: British Council Library,Pune

Overview: Stories are magical. When young children listen to stories, they develop into readers as they grow older. They begin to imagine and create, exploring worlds of their own. Interactive storytelling allows children to experience the magic of stories. Through role-play and drama, the children begin to express themselves and become immersed in each tale.

Fees: Rs 350/-per participant for British Council Library Members; Rs 500/- for non-members

Registrations open on a first come first served basis up to a maximum of 20 participants.
For any further information please feel free to contact Abjesh Thorat on 41005328 or email sugandhi.v@britishcouncil.org

Here are a couple of photos from storytelling sessions I’ve conducted in the past …

I have one photograph with the children at Cedarwood!

 

Half of my reading and writing workshop at Cedarwood is over, and I’ve finally convinced myself that I am not going to be taking any photographs. I keep intending to, and then I get so involved in everything we’re doing that somewhere along the line, I forget. We’ve done so much in the last few days. Here are a few things that stand out.

One of the girls came up with the idea of a magical die. The die has letters of the alphabet on it, not numbers. The character in the story, Gouri, rolls the die and sees what letter she gets. If she makes a wish starting with that letter, it will come true. The most beautiful detail of all is that Gouri found the die in a hole in a rainbow!

One child came up with the idea of a magical ring with a spell written on the inside. Learn the spell by heart, put on the ring and say the spell aloud. The gem begins to glow and then casts a laser beam that ricochets off the nearest surface back onto the wearer, making the wearer invisible!

Another one came up with a complex bit of magic. The magical object is a locket, which looks perfectly ordinary when it isn’t being worn. When someone wears it, two things happen. The first is that the locket changes into a pendant of the wearer’s choice. The second event is the complex bit. Open the locket and put your picture inside it – and the locket will get engraved with your initials. Once that is done, the locket has the power to transport you to a fantasy-world – but only if you believe.

In the last three days, I’ve met a fox who tricks a rabbit, a lazy but well-meaning girl, a stupid swan, and many, many more!

A hectic, lovely month came to an end with a heart-warming valedictory function and the last session with each of the nine batches I worked with at Vidya Pratishthan’s English Medium School. As usual, I got too involved with the workshop to take any photographs, but my mind is full of pictures.

Children ran to me to tell me they had read stories on my website. Others asked me when I would come next. Some came and promised to read right through their summer vacation. A few said they would write stories and poems and send them to me.

I’ll answer the question I got asked most frequently, though:
Yes, I’ll be back. I will come to VPEMS and conduct more language and literature workshops. I’ll be back next year, and I’ll meet all the children, and more.

 

For all those who have been asking me whether I have any workshops planned for the summer … I’m doing four exciting weeks under the banner of the Cedarwood Afterschool Program at Magarpatta City.

The modules I’m conducting include –
– A five-day reading workshop for the age-group 7-12
– A five-day writing workshop for the age-group 7-12

Do call Cedarwood for details!