Monday, March 2, 2009



This post has been pending for some time cos of a short story that i wrote which among other things was a garb for educating girls about their rights.The storytelling session went off very well and for the first time , taking a hint from the comment on the blog, a puppet went into action . I named him Murukku- which in Tamil has two meanings. To be spirited and able and also is one of the tastiest , crunchiest and popular snack of South india. As expected the puppet Murukku was welcomed with joy and Pragatheesh of 4th std soon came to me with a small moving paper production which he introduced as "Jurukku" younger brother of Murukku!!!
To get back to the storytelling , the question and answer session was extremely illuminating. They were clear and pretty vocal that two drunks who chased a little girl into the sea( she is rescued by her father) should be punished as what the men did was wrong.It was rewarding to see their indignation. The story " when the sea slept " is under yet another revision will post it soon.
Then Varsha and Suhashini also cleared their viva and now that most of the regulars have got their first level BOOKWORM badges it is now time to go ahead with the 2nd level ,the BOOKBEE ! Any pictures of Bees with a book in the bonnet mail it please .Am looking for a catchy picture for makeing the Bookbee Badge. For the first level we read 12 fairytales.The 2nd level is going to be 12 folk tales all from india and the 3rd level (BOOKBUTTERFLY) will be folk tales from all over the world. Join me in making a list of the 12 best Indian folktales for now.
The highlight of this session was of course Murukku !
with warm regards to all,
vinu.

3 comments:

  1. Interesting read. I am sure the kids liked the names. Will send some pics for the Bookbees!!

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  2. Hey! It feels really nice to be seeing and reading all that you guys are doing. Keep it up and a big hug for all your enthusiasm.

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  3. Dear Sir Vinu and Facilitator,

    Glad that you've adopted the idea. It is a NICE presentable puppet as shown. I'm sure children are fascinated and inspired by your meaningful story sharing.

    Briefly, to further enrich the storytelling session, do consider extensive children participation. My humble suggestions are as follow:

    1) Each child shall be given a copy of Word Bank book for his/her as savings account of new words they have learnt from the storytelling session. The number of new words to be deposited shd be set by the Facilitator or set accordingly to the learning pace of each individual child (e.g. for fast learner: 5 new words a week). There maybe a reward for every child when he/she reached the set target of new words to be learnt at their level.
    -To improve the children's ability to produce and comprehend a language and also pick up rudimentary dictionary skills by placing these new words in the correct sections in Alphabetical order

    -Accelerate children's ability in learning, collecting of new words


    2) Invite / Encourage children to participate in storytelling competition (by letting them pick their favourite story). Points will be given based upon Facial expression, good utterance, creativity and imagination etc.
    -Improve child's communicative competence, memory and understanding


    3) Let the children participate in the making their ideal puppet from the story they have heard from your storytelling session
    -Enhance fine motor skill, eye-hand co-ordination and creativities
    -Encourage them to use recycle material when making the puppet, thereby cultivating the "Go Green" concept of recycle, reuse and reproduce

    Last but not least, please do pay attention to the fairytale stories. There were arguments for decades in children's literature that these fairytale stories come with few misconception / value / idea eg stealing, killing to name a few "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Hansel & Gretel" etc. (As Facilitator may nurture children in question "is that's always right for the bad guy to deserve a death penalty" etc; or ask self before we recommend teh story book "what will the children cultivate from the story books- concept, moral value, information etc). May all find this awareness useful. After all with adults' guidance all these fairytale are great and fun to read as we were once grown up in the fairytale fantasy.

    from the desk of
    Blessedmum

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