Stories from Pratham Books Champions: October 2013

Friday 11 October 2013

Pratham Books Champions : SAP Labs

Priti Dhingra sent us the following report of the storytelling session conducted by employees of SAP Labs.

We visited Sneha home care (http://www.snehacare.org/snehacarehome_bangalore.html). Sneha Care Home is a ‘home away from home’ to 95-100 HIV infected children.

Our main agenda was to bring in reading habit and to build an aspiration to learn in the children.

· Skit based on the book

· Fun activities (measuring Paplu, dressing up Paplu, dancing along with Paplu and Soni )

· Fun Quiz based on the book

· Drawing competition for the kids.

The 7th day of September began with lots of excitement and anticipation as we headed towards Sneha Care Home and Shining Star School for HIV Positive children. We had been planning and preparing for this day and had come up with a skit for the children to articulate the story “Paplu The Giant” along with a few more activities strewn around the same story.

Our aim was to stress on the importance of book reading or rather reading in general while still making sure that the kids have fun. As we entered the premises of Sneha Care Home, we were welcomed by the lush greenery. We were later told that children there actively participated in gardening and dwelled very close to mother nature. As we made our way towards the school, we were greeted by numerous cheerful smiles. We couldn’t help but forget our apprehensions and started mingling with those adorable kids.

While couple of us started to set the stage for the skit, others helped the school’s staff arrange kids into groups and assemble them near the stage for the play. We started with brief introductions about ourselves and then went on with distributing the face masks among the children. The play opened with the main character of the story “Paplu” coming on the stage while the story was being narrated accompanied with the background music. As the skit progressed, it was evident from the chuckles and chortles coming from the audience that the play was being well received.

We had planned the skit in such a way that kids could also become an active participant. There was a part in the play where “Paplu” is being dressed by tailors and as expected kids had a nice time dressing up Paplu. After this we had organized a quiz based on the skit. Kids were teeming with enthusiasm and almost every one of them wanted to answer. We had a hard time deciding whom to give chance to. This showed that they had really take in the play and had really enjoyed it. We had also given prizes for the quiz winners.

After the skit we had planned for a drawing competition for the children. Each child was given a drawing sheet along with the required stationary and colors.

It was the best feeling to watch those small children so engrossed in painting and coloring. They drew all sorts of pictures like flowers, animals, solar system, village scenes etc. and our very own hero of the story “Paplu”

Finally we had to select few of them for prizes. It took a lot of time and we ended up giving five prizes for best five and another fifteen consolation prizes.

We played with the kids and laughed with them. Our very presence there gave us immense satisfaction and we couldn’t help but feel gratified to be given the opportunity to spend time with those innocent and loveable kids. Every individual has a right to be happy and so do these kids. We all felt fortunate that we could bring smiles to their faces. We hope that we can do this again.

Thank you for spreading the joy of reading!

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This International Literacy Day, Pratham Books has taken a 1000 steps towards a 'Reading India'

What started as a small step by Pratham Books to spread the joy of reading has become a movement. Last year Pratham Books initiated the One Day-One Story initiative on the occasion of International Literacy Day and we conducted over 250 storytelling sessions. This year we are delighted that over a 1000 sessions are happening across the length and breadth of the country.We will be sharing the stories of all our champions through our blog.

View more pictures from the International Literacy Day Celebrations.

This blog contains stories sent in by all our champions. Browse through the blog for more stories. You can also go through the tags on the right side of the blog to find stories happening in your own city.

Note : If any of you want to be a Pratham Books Champion and join us on our journey of getting 'a book in every child's hand', write to us at web(at)prathambooks(dot)org.

Pratham Books Champion : Saakshi Kapoor Singla

Saakshi Kapoor Singla posted the following collage of her storytelling session at Gopal Saraswati School on her blog. The session was conducted in Noida on 5th September 2013.

Thank you for spreading the joy of reading!

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Thursday 10 October 2013

Pratham Books Champion : Big Thinkers

The following pictures were sent to us by Rajalakshmi Swaminathan from Big Thinkers. Big Thinkers conducts life skills and leadership programs for young minds (6+yrs).

Thank you for spreading the joy of reading!

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Pratham Books Champion : IDF CCCC Bal Gurukul

Sanjay Ram sent us the following note and pictures from the storytelling session held at Charumathi Child Care Centre, Nalgonda. The storytelling session was coordinated by Indian Development Foundation. Indian Development Foundation is a national NGO working for health, education and development.

Th campaign was done in IDF CCCC Bal gurukul , Nalgonda on 12th Sept.

In this facility most of the children are orphans or semi orphans and all are HIV Positive.

Children enjoyed the sessions and wanted to hear more stories.

Pratham Books Champion : IDF CSS NAM Bal Gurukul

These pictures was sent to us by CSS NAM Bal Gurukul. The storytelling session was coordinated by Indian Development Foundation. Indian Development Foundation is a national NGO working for health, education and development.

Mrs.Vemuri Vijaya Lakshmi sent photos of the story telling sessions at Centre for Social Service Nimmagadda Anandamma Memorial Girls School (CSSNAM Girls School).

Thank you for spreading the joy of reading!

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Pratham Books Champions : Denise Demello, Christine Shetty, Diviya Kapoor, Pamila Gupta and Arundhati Chattopadhyaya

Arundhati Chattopadhyaya sent us the following story about the sessions conducted by her, Denise Demello, Christine Shetty, Diviya Kapoor and Pamila Gupta.

Our Organisation: Bebook

@BebookGoa, Calangute, Goa, India

Bebook is a mobile library for children from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds whom otherwise would not have access to books.

Read in Panaji Goa for Hamara school (Number of children: 12-15)

Read in Benaulim Panchayat, in South Goa (Number of children: 8-10)

Language chosen: Marathi/English

Arundhati writes ...

Denise, Christine and i went loaded with a Pratham banner, my lap top and a 10 meter roll of one meter wide paper, crayons, glitter, and kite paper. The age group of kids here was 6-14 and there were about 12 to 15 kids that Saturday morning. Older kids helped us tie up the banner and the younger ones gathered around my computer. I had down loaded the Marathi version, and started reading it aloud. Denise had the physical book in English, so as i read she would show the kids pictures at the same time.

Lots of drama and many pages later, when Paplu wanted to be a giant again, i asked them to close their eyes and pretend they were holding the blue stone from the story. We chanted the magic words slowly and increased our tempo as all the kids got into the rhythm and the chant in unison. When i asked them to open their eyes, Paplu was already huge.

The kids listened to the "dakoo" section with bated breath and when Paplu banished the horrible guys there was thunderous applause. The end of the story was celebrated with hip hip hoorah's.

I had prepared a quiz, which they answered very enthusiastically. (They really paid attention to all the characters)

The highlight of the workshop was when i unrolled the long tube of paper and Christine lay on it. (Christine is 6 feet tall and a fantastic sport). We drew her outline and then the kids used their imagination and became tailors and made a godhadi type kudta and pyjama on their paper giant. Since Paplu hid in the forest they created a forest around him. I think their Paplu looked more handsome and dashing than the story character.

Coming together and working on the giant's outfit and being creative and sharing each other's imagination taught us many things; mainly we had loads of laughter and fun.

Thank you Pratham books for bringing us these delightful stories.

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Reading done at the Benaulim village Panchayat

Diviya writes ...

Since the hall which is usually made available for us was occupied, after the children had exchanged their books with our volunteer Pamila in the van, we gathered on the veranda and I read out a dramatised version of Paplu the Giant to a group of about 8-10 children who had stayed back. We also looked at the text and visuals of the downloaded story on the computer while reading out the English version. At various points, I would stop and ask them questions about Paplu and the other characters. They were immersed in the story and closed their eyes etc. going along with the dramatisation.

The fact that the programme is going well is evidenced by the fact that not only do the children come running when the van arrives but by the little boy repeatedly asking us why we weren't coming the next week which was a holiday.

Thank you for spreading the joy of reading!

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Pratham Books Champion : Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya

Adam Woodward sent us the following note and pictures from the session held at Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya. Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya is a charitable and residential school that supports and empowers children from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The school provides education (with a strong emphasis upon the performing arts), food, accommodation and healthcare to all its students all free of cost.

The storytelling session was conducted on 8th September by 4 champions(1 narrator, 3 shadow puppeteers). The session was conducted in English and impacted 173 kids.

At the KSV, we decided to accompany the reading of “Paplu the Giant” by a shadow puppetry. This was also to favour the understanding and sustain the interest of our younger students for this English reading.

It was our first experience as puppeteers, and we enjoyed a lot! The children also ... they might in fact have wanted to play the puppets!

We did two shows, one for younger children where we adapted the story, another for older students, where we actually read it more thoroughly. A nice experience to repeat! :)

Thank you for spreading the joy of reading!

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