'Language is to the mind more than light is to the eye.' William Gibson
If one were to ask what is it that unites people of all ages or contexts, the answer would undoubtedly be literature. To develop a sense of appreciation for the literature available in different languages and create some learning experiences centred around stories we celebrated literary week for grades one and two from 15.11.21-18.11.21.
The literary week includes celebration of the literature available in English and Hindi. With the theme of the literary week being fables and folktales around the world we organized various workshops and sessions for the learners to engage with so that they could learn as they experienced the various forms of storytelling.
Events of the Literary Week
Discussions during the Circle Time
Each day of the literary week started with discussions around aspects of literature and storytelling during the Circle Time. The first session on day one of the literary week began with a discussion around the concept of fables, fairy tales and folk tales. The learners were presented with various examples of stories that helped them get familiar with the three genres. In grade two, the learners were introduced to the concept of the ‘theme’ in the stories. The learners were acquainted with the fact that all the stories revolve around some central idea that the author wants to convey. The significance of culture in the folktales was discussed. The learners also understood the importance of masks in storytelling as they engaged in mask making activity during the Circle Time. Through the story ‘The Monkey and the Cap Seller’, a discussion was carried out to help the learners realise the synchrony between the text and illustrations in the stories.
Storytelling sessions
Our Primary educator, Ms. Sananda Nandi conducted storytelling sessions in Hindi for the learners where she used hand - made puppets to narrate the famous stories ‘Budhiya ki roti’ and ‘Rishi Munni aur Chuha’. One could see the learners completely hooked to the storytelling session as they sang, enacted, predicted the story, answered the questions and reflected during the session.
‘The Tail of Kake De Munni’, another storytelling session was conducted by our educators Ms. Neha Gandhi, Ms. Elizabeth, Ms. Priyanka Chhabra. Famous folktale from Punjab was brought to life through the enactment by our educators during the session. The learners not just experienced the story but also answered some of the questions about the characters put forth by the facilitators.
Storyboard- Integrating art with literature
Emphasising the importance of illustrations, story board session was conducted by our arts educator Ms. Maryam Ansari and music educator Ms. Aishwarya Thapliyal. The learners sang the story ‘Paudhe ki Kahani’ with Ms. Aishwarya as they watched the illustrations made by Ms. Maryam. The learners also made their own story boards and showcased them as the story proceeded.
Panch-a-Tantra
This session was an amalgamation of music, theatre and literature where the learners created soundscape for the famous fables. The session was conducted by our theatre facilitator Ms. Himani Pant and music facilitator Mr. Dennis Babu.
Writer’s Workshop
‘Aao Kahani Bunein’ and ‘A Pet and A Superhero’ were the writing sessions conducted in Hindi and English respectively by our primary grades educators. These sessions aimed to give our learners competencies and skills to write their own stories. The session provided the learners with some essential elements of story writing. Using these elements, they tried to create their own story out of the pictures provided to them during the session. A padlet link was shared with the learners for them to share their reflections and stories post the session.
Kissa Goi
Dating back to the era of Munshi Premchand, Kissa Goi is a unique art of storytelling which came alive during the literary week. Our learners from grade five (Vandita Arora, Rishabh Burman, Atharv, Jeenal Tanwar and Risha Mangla) conducted a Kissa Goi session where they narrated a story of Bheeku making it a delightful session for all.
Author’s session
The beautiful week of literature was culminated by an author’s session. Ms. Adithi Rao author of the book ‘Boy, Bear’ led an enriching session for our young learners where they explored the story from various perspectives. The story was read out to the learners by the author herself post which they participated in a discussion.
