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 […]
Writers’ Club – The Last Session
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 […]
Reading Challenge at Dr Kalmadi Shamrao High School
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 […]
Let’s Break Some Records!
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! Work on all four language skills – reading, writing, listening and speaking. Interact with other children with varied interests. […]
Workshop at Ahmedabad
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. […]
Reading Day
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. […]
Reflection
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. […]
The Gruffalo’s Child
My First Violin Recital
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 […]
Pop! Goes the Music
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 […]
Workshop at Silvassa
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 […]
Gnomeo and Juliet at Artsphere, Pune
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 […]
Reading Challenge Workshop at Mumbai
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 […]
Alma Mater
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, […]
What Went By
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. […]
Day One: Reading Workshop at Atta Galatta
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.
Reading Workshop at Atta Galatta, Bengaluru
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 […]
Storytelling at the British Council Library, Pune
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 […]
Reading and Writing Workshop
I have one photograph with the children at Cedarwood!
Reading and Writing Workshop 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 […]