Shyamchi Ayi is a collection of stories about a mother and her son written by Sane Guruji, the son. Originally written in Marathi, I found a very simple English translation with beautiful illustrations. I started off thinking I’d do 3-4 stories (a story is just 2 pages) everyday as a listening –speaking activity which would last for a week or so. As it turned out, this lesson happened to be a turning point in my role as a teacher at Akanksha-Crispins 3 and hopefully for my little girls (12 year olds) who listened to it through wet eyes till the end.
The story is about a little boy who lovingly remembers his mother by telling us incidents about his life through childhood and schooldays. The book presents a very vivid sketch of his mother through the eyes of a child and his childhood, the hardships face by his mother and how she taught him to be courageous, strong and a man of character.
There are instances where the family had to leave a luxurious life, when the family was in debt; a simple night scene when the mother and son are gazing at the night sky when they witness a falling star ( considered a bad omen ), stories of positivity and integrity. There are times when Shyam thinks that his parents don’t like him and how his mother makes him realize what love is. The end of the story when illness takes away his mother while he is far away from home to study is very sensitively portrayed.
We discussed every incident in class and tried to find similar pictures in our lives. Every child could relate to Shyam’s life. There are children in my group who have a single parent and those who have only God and friends. There are some whose parents have left them for years and have not come to see them ever. There are children who have grown on railway stations without knowing what family means. There are kids who come from very close knit families who live far away. Whatever their background, Shyamchi ayi , I felt, did, to some extent plant a little seed of love and belonging and realization of reality with positivity because at the end of the novel every single child (including me) had tears in the eyes.
This lesson created a special bond between us, I felt.
I came home and started reading the story to my son who is 7 years old. It was the same story and the reactions were not different at all. Today it has been many many days since I first read the story but the impression of every single incident remains as fresh in my mind as if it is all happening in my life all the time.
Let us also try and document such little instances so that when we look back we will be able to find these invaluable pearls and thread them together for our grandchildren and many more generations which will need them as much as we do.
(Pandurang Sadashiv Sane (1899-1950) wrote this novel in five days while he was in jail in Nasik. A very prolific writer, a socialist, a Gandhian to the core, he was arrested for participation in the civil disobedience movement.)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Sunshine Around the World
Sunshine Around the World…
An apple pudding with bits of green chillies!
I wondered what everyone at Akanksha was talking about when they mentioned Sunshine Around the World. This was almost 11 months ago. I had joined as a teacher at Crispins 3 at Nal Stop. Without any experience of formal teaching I dived into a commitment of teaching English to children in the age group of 10-13.
Teaching has been an exciting learning experience. The emphasis of planning a lesson to the last detail cannot be overemphasized. That too, in such a way that it should not feel like a lesson being taught. Children just need to absorb and react to the experiences in the classroom.
Experiences….
Today, a little nervous and a little excited while waiting to see our kids go out and share with the people outside, their learnings and imagery of their partner country.. I stop to think of the days from the inception of this idea...
The project - 'Sunshine Around the World' started as an attempt to widen the perspective of the participants by exposing them to different cultures and traditions across the world.
The idea was to engage schools from other countries and let the Indian children exchange information about their countries with students from a foreign country.
It was big idea. And it needed a whole lot of serious planning.
Akanksha had 23 centers functioning at different levels of learning. It was decided to take all kids at Level 2 and above into the project and a suitable learning plan for each levels was to be made. The learning plan would have to first include an appropriate understanding of the Indian Culture and the Indian System. And then the interaction could begin.
The idea took off.
The communications team jet started by shooting emails to schools in different countries that seemed possible partners in the project. Though it seemed to be an easy task, it was far from being that. Till a few months back we were still struggling to establish continuous interaction with some countries.
The project educational co-ordinators did extensive and exhaustive planning of the topics and lessons to be covered over a period of 2 years. In addition 'events' were planned to acknowledge and test the learnings of the students from time to time.
The teachers had the massive responsibility to take them through a journey across
The excitement of the kids knew no bounds. I remember I had to explain to the kids that they will not be meeting their partner kids in real! But they would be writing letters to them individually and they would possibly get replies to their letters. And that they did.
And on various occasions, I have found to my great satisfaction that most children lighten up at the mention of their partner countries and it is a pleasure to see them talk with some degree of confidence about a new found first-hand knowledge coming from the communication with their international pen-friends.
Partner Countries
Today we have eight schools from eight countries with established communication with Akanksha through 'Sunshine Around the World'. These are
The Grand Finale
To showcase the learning of our kids from Sunshine Around the World, we decided to put up an exhibition where the Clusters would put a stall depicting the history and culture of their partner country. In addition, each cluster would also put up a dance and drama specific to their partner country. Kids would learn and make traditional handicrafts that could be sold at the exhibition.
The Making of SAW
The process for the Grand Finale started sometime in June, 2008. SAW meetings were called and preparations were planned. I had been given the responsibility to make audio-visual presentations on History, Festivals and Currencies of the eight countries. Likewise there were groups who were made in charge of Drama and Dance, Costumes, Logistics, Public Relations, Handicrafts and so on. One could make out that it was going to be a big event for the Akanksha children.
Many a time, I stopped to think – 'Why can't big, established schools have such programs for their children when it would be a cake walk for them in terms of resources! I guess it is just a matter of priority and creativity in education.
A Day in the Life for me as a SAW Volunteer
Let me picture this for you – Get up in the morning….do a bit of Yoga (to stay away from promising back aches all set to arrive)…. A cup of tea with The Indian Express…..on the Net to browse for an hour…… make food for the family…. Get kids dressed up for school……..go back to the Comp….compile the morning's find…. Prepare Akanksha daily chit... hunt on the phone for volunteers to help make props and choreographers to teach dance!.... go to center… teach….. practice if you have the music in place…… go home…….fight with your kids for the comp!!!..... eat food…. Play with family and CRASH!!!......SAW Dreams… or call them Nightmares!!!!
The scene would possibly be more or less the same –except for the research mode for most volunteers working on the Project.
As days passed by, the SAW structure became clearer and looked more real with sponsors and resources clearly in place….
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