19.04.08

After weeks of talks, WriteHereWriteNow's Saturday Club workshop was underway. We had a grand total of about 40 children attending.
The workshop was held at the usual time, 4pm in the Phoenix hall. Mon and I had reached the Club early and Megha arrived shortly after, laden with a gigantic bag full of WriteHereWriteNow folders. Richa was next to arrive, exhausted and just a little peeved at not finding any parking space for her car.
However, we had a hall to arrange and we got to the task as quickly as possible. While Megha sorted out where the advertising banners and the WriteHereWriteNow banner should be kept, Richa, Mon and I went about placing the folders on the tables.
The children soon arrived and by 4:20 we were ready to begin. All the children were divided into age-groups of 3 or 4.
After an introductory speech from Mrs. Kapoor, Richa gave the children their first task for the evening - write a short paragraph on everything you see around you. Most of the children spoke about the dreary walls, the blue curtains, the young teachers around them and the people sitting at the back. They had a way with words.
Then we got down to the main activity. The children were asked to jot down points on all the things they could see.
They were then asked to jot down points on everything they could hear. There was some controversy over whether the chatter of fellow table-mates should be included in this section. However, Mon managed to clear their doubts.
The sensation of Smell elicited excited responses due to the food at the side of the hall.Touch followed next. There was plenty of banging on tables and pulling of hair during this segment as everybody searched for that elusive word to explain how exactly they felt.
The last of the senses was Taste. Richa was at her grossest best here, asking all the children to fill their mouths with saliva and write down what they could taste. All the children took this task very seriously. One child even tasted ink to add variety to his list while others turned to the more conventional lip-gloss for variety.
The children were then asked to write a paragraph describing themselves in the Phoenix hall while incorporating all their points. Several students then stood up to read out their paragraphs. Once again, their command over the language was impressive.
For the next activity, each table was given a plate of fruits. Each child was asked to pick the fruit of their choice and write a brief description of the fruit, incorporating the use of all five senses.
When it came to taste, it was up to the four defenders of language to do the dirty-work. The situation was further complicated by the fact that not all the fruits had been washed! We had to be extra careful while cutting the fruits so as to avoid the peel.After most of the children had devoured their fruits, they got down to the serious work of describing the fruit.
The final activity required children of different fruit-groups to stand up and describe their fruit. This session was entertaining and certainly left one with a healthy appetite.
And not a moment too soon. After a brief introduction to the site and a vote of thanks, the children and the four of us headed towards the snack bar.
The evening was enjoyable and educational, for all concerned.