Workshops

The Mythical Maze Reading Challenge is nearly over!

After Reading and Role Play and Idioms Are My Cup of Tea, today has Myths from around the World and Myths and Fables.

I showed the little ones a map of the world. These children are in the age-group 5-7.

We were reading a ‘story from Arabia’, Where There is Will. “Do you know where Arabia could be?” I asked.

One child stood up. “I think it is here,” she said, pointing to the entire Gulf region.

“Good!”

“Do you know how I know?”

“How?”

“See, this is India. Over here, this sea is called the Arabian Sea. So the Arabian Sea has to touch Arabia, right?”

That was the title of my last workshop at the British Library.

We tried translating “It’s raining cats and dogs” to Hindi and Marathi to giggles, shouts of laughter.

We compared the literal meaning of “He kicked the bucket” with its figurative meaning.

We performed the Herculean task of linking mythology with idioms, and then the children spilled the beans about the fact that most of their knowledge of Greek mythology came from Percy Jackson. When it came to Norse mythology and Biblical terms, their knowledge collapsed like a house of cards and they commented, “We have a long way to go and a lot to learn. We’re just knee-high to a grasshopper!” A crossword puzzle proved to be their Achilles heel, but we continued to see the glass as half-full, as the children and I got on like a house on fire!

Here’s what’s next!

Reading Workshop for Children
Age-group: 8-12 years
Venue: JustBooks, Viman Nagar
Dates: 29th and 30th December, 2014 (The last workshop of the year!)
Time: 10:30 am – 12:30 pm
Fee: Rs 500

My lovely workshop at Baramati has come to an end.

One child made a card – out of a recycled wedding card.

Another child naively told me, “This is Harsh’s gift from class V A.”

Children shared what they had learnt. And one girl gave me a letter. Here’s just a little part of a three-page long letter that made me feel warm right down to my toes.

The next workshop is just around the corner. Sunday: British Library!

Imagination, copyright, magic, wildlife, beauty, leadership … The list of things we discussed during the third session of my reading workshop at VP’s Vinodkumar Gujar Bal Vikas Mandir was endless. With individual and team activities as usual, the sessions flew by – and I can hardly believe that I have just one session left!

Here’s some media coverage of the free workshop I conducted for parents … Looking forward to the Reading Challenge: details in the news clip!

Varsha Seshan’s workshops in the Sakaal Times today!

With the Reading Challenge just around the corner, I conducted a special curtain-raiser today on getting children to read.

“My children don’t read at all!”
“I keep asking him to tell me about what he’s reading; he never tells me anything!”
“His friend reads so much, but he doesn’t read at all!”
“We made him join the library, but still he doesn’t read!”

After every workshop, I face these responses, so I thought of conducting a session for parents before the actual launch of the reading challenge. It was a free session, open to everyone – and what fun it was!

At VP’s Bal Vikas Mandir, workshops are not just enjoyable work. On Monday, after my first two sessions, I was not well.
“Could I have just soup for dinner?” I asked.
“Of course,” was the reply.
Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door – Vicks and Crocin to ensure that I slept well.
That’s what working in a place with thoughtful people is like! On my first day there, I met three teachers: one who had worked for 19 years, one for 22 and one for 35. I was astounded and commented on this to the principal, who calmly replied that often, when teachers join the school, they leave only when they retire. I am no longer surprised: when there are thoughtful people around you, you want to work in that environment!

“Mythical Maze” – that’s the theme for this years reading challenge at the British Library.

What is a reading challenge all about? What does it achieve?

Here’s a bit about it.
Children are divided into two age brackets – 5-7 and 8-13. Each age bracket has a select list of books that fit under the theme “Mythical Maze”. These books are carefully selected, and are especially useful to parents who want to know what their children ‘ought’ to read. The main advantage here is that a whole group of children is reading the same books, a kind of temporary book club. This means that they have things in common to talk about and discuss – and the arena for this is the workshops conducted at the library. More than anything, the reading challenge achieves two things:
1) Getting over starting trouble: what to read, where to begin
2) Meeting children with common interests: Many children (and adults) are always itching to talk about books that took their breath away. The reading challenge lets children meet and discuss books to their hearts’ content.

Here is what I have read so far:

Last year, it was ‘Creepy House’; this year, it’s ‘Mythical Maze’. Children in the age-group 5-13 can take part in a fantastic journey through books, discovering selkies, fairies and even the Trojan horse. There will also be three workshops for each age-group, aimed at building confidence and improving expression.

Here are the details of the workshops:

WORKSHOPS

Juniors (5 – 7 year olds)
Timing: 11.00 am to 12.30 p.m.
21 December 2014: “Reading and Role Play” by Varsha Seshan
4 January 2015: “Exploring Mythological Creatures in Indian Stories” by Pervin Saket
18 January 2015: “Myths from around the World” by Varsha Seshan

Seniors (8 – 13 year olds)
Timing: 3.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.
21 December 2014: “Idioms are my cup of tea” by Varsha Seshan
4 January 2015: “Myth Clusters and Buster” by Pervin Saket
18 January 2015: “Myths and Fables” by Varsha Seshan

Children also have the option of attending the workshops but not participating in the challenge.

Register now!
Rs 1500/- per child for Library Members
Rs 5000/- per child for Non-Members (includes a discounted Platinum Membership which will allow your child to borrow children’s books for one year)

Contact the library for more details: bl.pune@in.britishcouncil.org or (020) 41005300

“Do you know who Augustus Gloop is?” I asked.

“A Roman emperor!” responded a boy, promptly.

We all laughed; we could not help it.

Articulate, enthusiastic and full of energy, the children from Vidya Pratishthan’s Bal Vikas Mandir filled Monday and Tuesday with ideas and action.

“Have you heard of Roald Dahl?” I asked another bunch of children.

“He wrote ‘Daffodils’,” came the response.

Spending eight crazy hours with over a hundred children, I delighted in how involved they were with each element of the reading workshop. One session is over, three more to go!

The workshop scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled … My apologies!

This is the first time I have received so many queries about the workshop!

Here are a few more details, just to make things clear.

Reading Workshop for Children

Total duration: 4 hours

I started going to the Poona Club library – no, I never called it ‘United Services Library’ – longer ago than I can remember. I do know, though, that in my head, Poona Club library was the only real library I knew. Not because it had exceptional books. Not because it opened my eyes to books I had never seen. But because it was a silent stone building full of books. A real library.

Thrilled to be conducting a workshop there!

Reading Workshop for Children
Dates: 1st and 2nd November, 2014
Time: 10 am to noon
Age-group: 8-12 years
Registration fee: Rs 500

Contact me if you have any queries!

I met a seven-year-old who could unscramble words faster than anyone I’ve seen.

Apart from my parents of course. My parents have about thirty years of Scrabble practice, though. (That’s over four times the little boy’s age, for those of you who cannot do the math.)

I met another seven-year-old, who was all too willing to give up after trying any given activity for about five minutes and then deciding that he did not understand what to do next.

I met two eleven-year-olds, both quiet, but both totally different.

I hope I meet many of them again, even though the Vocabulary Workshop came to an end today!

The holidays have just begun, and you don’t want to sit in a library and develop your vocabulary.

Yet, the ten children who came to JustBooks Magarpatta City had a crazy, noisy, active, fun morning. Word search puzzles, category games, drawing, acting and speaking – all found their way into two hours. Tomorrow promises to be grand too!

If you would like to join in tomorrow, please contact the library: +91-95615500003.

As Magarpatta City Public School has examinations until the 18th of October, the Vocabulary Workshop for Children has been postponed. Here are the new details:

Dates: 20th and 21st October, 2014
Time: 10:30-12:30
Venue: JustBooks, Magarpatta City
Age-group: 8-12 years
Registration fee: Rs. 500

The last day for registrations is Sunday, 19th October.

Please pass the word! Sorry for the inconvenience …

Registrations for my vocabulary workshop at Magarpatta City close on Friday, 17th October.

Vocabulary Workshop for Children
Dates: 18th and 19th October, 2014
Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Venue: JustBooks, Magarpatta City
Age-group: 8-12 years
Registration fee: Rs. 500

Now moving to a new venue – JustBooks, Magarpatta City!

Vocabulary Workshop for Children
Dates: 18th and 19th October, 2014
Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Venue: JustBooks, Magarpatta City
Age-group: 8-12 years
Registration fee: Rs. 500

Time flew by at the second day of my vocabulary workshop, so much so that I hardly even took any photographs! It was a day of frantic word-hunting in the dictionary, attempts to communicate an idea with a single word, and word-building.

Here are a couple of pictures, taken before the frenzy began.

“Both my daughters keep saying Varsha didi – Varsha – Varsha … I had to come and see what magic you do with them.”

Probably the loveliest comment I’ve had so far

I can’t decide what I like better – children I’ve met before coming back to me for more, or new children with new ideas and experiences. With word puzzles, team games, charades and drawing, we had a wonderful morning with words!

Contact me if you would like to join in for Day Two of the Vocabulary Workshop for Children at JustBooks, Wanawadi!

Vocabulary Workshop for Children
Dates: 27th and 28th September, 2014
Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
Venue: JustBooks, Wanowarie
Age-group: 8-12 years
Registration fee: Rs. 500

Workshop Overview:
JustBooks Wanowarie, in association with Varsha Seshan, brings to you a vocabulary workshop for children.

The playground is the best school. In a spirit of healthy competition, children will work in teams and individually to demonstrate their language skills and express themselves.

Workshop Highlights:
1.Building your vocabulary and discovering the joy of new words
2.Individual games and team games to test your vocabulary
3.Theme-based word activities
4.Dictionary usage

My reading workshop at the British Library is over; it’s time for the next workshop!

This one is on my side of town this time – at JustBooks Wanawadi.

Children’s imaginations are simply wonderful.

Today, I met
– a porcupine who dreamed of being a pillow
– a hen that had three wings and could not fly
– a snail that ran marathons
– a dinosaur with twenty legs
– a mouse that went to school
and many more.

Two by two, these animals had conversations. Another wonderful reading workshop at the British Library is over. I can’t wait for the next.

The second-last session of Read Something New! just came to an end. We had limericks, nonsense verse, drama, mimes and group rhymes. Our author in focus this week was Michael Morpurgo; next week, we’re going to talk about Dick King-Smith.

Read Something New!
Venue: British Library, Pune

Holiday over; I am back to work. Sometimes, I wonder which I enjoy more – the holiday or the work!

Session 3 of my reading workshop Read Something New! at the British Library Pune is tomorrow. We are going to be talking about Michael Morpurgo, and I am excited.

Read Something New! – Session 3
Venue: British Library, Pune
Age-group: 9-12
Time: 3-5 pm
Dates: 17th & 24th August and 7th & 14th September

We read aloud, acted, spoke, coloured, stamped and drew. I heard two stories about a zoo, and we read a lovely story about two rabbits and a fairy princess. What a feast of stories it was! The three-day storytelling workshop had:
1. Tikki tikki tembo
2. The Witch and her Two Daughters (adapted from two folktales by Varsha Seshan)
3. The Three Engines
4. The Hunter and his Five Sons
5. The Little Corner Shop (by Varsha Seshan)
6. The Fox and the Farm (by Varsha Seshan)
7. The Lady of the Lake (loosely based on a traditional tale)
8. A Bear that Growls (loosely based on a traditional tale)

Coming up:

Vocabulary Workshop
Dates: Today and tomorrow, 27th and 28th August, 2014
Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road
Time: 4 pm to 5:30 pm
Age-group: 8-12
Fee: Rs 350

Children aged between five and eight are such an enthusiastic and energetic bunch! I enjoyed myself thoroughly telling them three more stories, one of which was “The Little Corner Shop” from The Story-Catcher. It is so heartwarming when children fall in love with a story that is your own!

Coming up:

Storytelling Workshop – Day Two
Date: Today, 26th August, 2014
Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road
Time: 11 am to noon
Age-group: 5-8
Fee: Rs 350

Vocabulary Workshop
Date: 27th and 28th August, 2014
Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road
Time: 4 pm to 5:30 pm
Age-group: 8-12
Fee: Rs 350

Sunday morning saw the end of my two-day workshop, Weekend with Words, at JustBooks Aundh. With Word Search, Word-Building and Word Train, we came to the end of a fun workshop!

At the British Library, we had a day based on Roald Dahl!

Today, we have:
Storytelling Workshop
Time: 11 am to noon
Age-group: 5-8
Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road
Registration Fee: Rs. 350

Important update

The timing of my storytelling workshop has changed from evening to morning, thanks to the rain we have every evening.
Here are the details once more:

Dates: 25th and 26th August, 2014
Time: 11 am to noonAge-group: 5-8 years
Venue: Friends Library, Salunke Vihar Road, Pune
Registration fee: Rs 350

Sorry for the inconvenience!