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
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!
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.
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.
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