Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Performance and Story Telling Session
On the 16th of November, Writeherewritenow conducted a Workshop at Disha Foundation. Richa had told me at the outset that I would have to conduct this workshop at the very outset but honestly, I was really nervous about how the workshop would turn out to be. Megha, Richa and I had discussed the concept of the Workshop earlier and we'd brainstormed together till we decided that we would conduct a performance related workshop. We would hand out stories to the children, divide them into groups and finally ask them to rewrite the story with dialogues. Then, they would have to enact their stories so we could get a sense of what they'd written or how they'd interpreted the tale. We also told them that they could work in English, Bangla or Hindi and add songs or dances to their performances if they wanted to. I was quite nervous about the performance bit of it because I'd never conducted a workshop that dealt with performance but Megha reassured me and said that if I went wrong, she'd take over from there.Since I am nearing my last month of interning with Writeherewritenow, let me just take this opportunity to say that I've had two really fantastic mentors who have guided me every step of the way. I have learnt so much over the last six months and whenever I've made mistakes, I've been taught how to rectify them. A big thank you to Bishan as well who has not only been keeping track of everything that is being done but who also took the time out and actually attended a workshop and took photographs. He has also been brutally honest in terms of feedback, something that I really appreciate. So thank you so much :)
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Characterisation Workshop
Situation 1
Aloo Prasad Yadav and Ramdev Dubey are names of school Principals. Aloo Prasad Yadav takes a special class for the students. He teaches Bhojpuri. Ramdev Dubey teaches a Pathshala.
Situation 2
A grumpy teacher becomes a loving one when she accidentally breaks her leg and has the children taking her to the hospital. Situation 3
A young princess with beautiful green eyes and a crown set with precious stones cannot win over her subjects because she is rude and arrogant.
These were some of the things that the young children aged 10-14 came up with at British Council during the October 25 Workshop that was Conducted by Writeherewritenow.Richa gave the children leads, saying that in order to create a character, one must focus on Appearance, Attire and Personality Traits. Then, as a kind of warm up exercise, Richa asked the children to concoct characters of a thief, a princess and a school principal, keeping the above factors in mind.Finally, she asked them to focus on "character growth" telling them how if a character did not grow in a story, it would be a flat character. This workshop culminated into many interesting stories
Aloo Prasad Yadav and Ramdev Dubey are names of school Principals. Aloo Prasad Yadav takes a special class for the students. He teaches Bhojpuri. Ramdev Dubey teaches a Pathshala.
Situation 2
A grumpy teacher becomes a loving one when she accidentally breaks her leg and has the children taking her to the hospital. Situation 3
A young princess with beautiful green eyes and a crown set with precious stones cannot win over her subjects because she is rude and arrogant.
These were some of the things that the young children aged 10-14 came up with at British Council during the October 25 Workshop that was Conducted by Writeherewritenow.Richa gave the children leads, saying that in order to create a character, one must focus on Appearance, Attire and Personality Traits. Then, as a kind of warm up exercise, Richa asked the children to concoct characters of a thief, a princess and a school principal, keeping the above factors in mind.Finally, she asked them to focus on "character growth" telling them how if a character did not grow in a story, it would be a flat character. This workshop culminated into many interesting stories
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Journal Writing Workshop at Modern High School For Girls
In my first post as a Choice Intern, I had discussed the importance of the Arts and the concept of Arts as Therapy. The idea originated from " The Diary of Anne Frank"- a diary read and acknowledged the world over. Anne Frank was only thirteen when she began to write and she wrote during times of war. As an adolescent,she had to come to terms with internal strife while also negotiating her way through the Holocaust.
The group of children we addressed at Modern High School for Girls today were from classes six,seven and eight.
The session started with Megha telling the children about conflict and how it is important to explore one's feelings and to put those thoughts down on paper. One child said that the diary was like a "friend" to her, while another thought it was important to write a diary because it helped her to implement the vocabulary that she had acquired from her favourite books. Megha went on to tell the children that in interpersonal human relationships, a certain degree of expectation is inevitable. However, as far as Diary Writing is concerned, a diary can be a non-judgemental friend.
Richa took over from here and told the children to write about themselves. She asked them to introduce themselves on paper, but in an "unusual" manner, assuring them that they would not have to read out anything that they had written. The next exercise was called the "cheering up" exercise where the children had to list five things that made them happy, sharing any two of the five things if they chose to do so. The next exercise involved writing about fear and memories of humiliation.
The idea of this Workshop was to help children put down their thoughts down on paper and delve into the process of self-discovery.
The group of children we addressed at Modern High School for Girls today were from classes six,seven and eight.
The session started with Megha telling the children about conflict and how it is important to explore one's feelings and to put those thoughts down on paper. One child said that the diary was like a "friend" to her, while another thought it was important to write a diary because it helped her to implement the vocabulary that she had acquired from her favourite books. Megha went on to tell the children that in interpersonal human relationships, a certain degree of expectation is inevitable. However, as far as Diary Writing is concerned, a diary can be a non-judgemental friend.
Richa took over from here and told the children to write about themselves. She asked them to introduce themselves on paper, but in an "unusual" manner, assuring them that they would not have to read out anything that they had written. The next exercise was called the "cheering up" exercise where the children had to list five things that made them happy, sharing any two of the five things if they chose to do so. The next exercise involved writing about fear and memories of humiliation.
The idea of this Workshop was to help children put down their thoughts down on paper and delve into the process of self-discovery.
Reeti Roy
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Translation Workshop
Thinking hard...
Translations Galore...
Me looking flummoxed while the kids are busy at workWriteherewritenow organised a workshop on translation at Disha Foundation, a centre of learning for underprivileged children.
The idea was to ensure that the Writeherewrite now members- most of whom come from very privileged backgrounds, could mix with the Disha kids and work with them as a team. Initially,the Disha children and The Writeherewritenow members (and the new children who attended the workshop for the first time) sat separately,but as they were put in groups of three they realised that they would have to work together and began to interact with one another.
Our first creative endeavour of the morning was a lighthearted one-we gave them words like Nyaka,Paka,Dhishum Dhishum,Chulbuli and Whatever to convert into different languages.We called this the Ice breaker round.
After that,we gave them Sukumar Ray's Ramgarurer Chana to translate.This was a rather difficult poem to translate but Ahaan Ghosh (from Writeherewritenow) and Sujay Tiwari (from Disha) turned out to be the bright sparks in their team and came up with this as their translation:
Ramgarur's Child is a monster
who thinks laughing is a disaster
Telling it funny words is in vain
Everyone laughs at it and yet,it stares
everywhere.
It doesn't want to sleep
and only tells itself
If I ever laugh in my life.
I will beat myself up.
It doesn't go near the woods
as it believes
that the south winds may tickle it
and make it laugh all the time
Its heart is very gloomy
like the dark clouds in the sky
The soul wants to laugh aloud
Yet,it tries to stop itself
With all its might.
At first,the children were apprehensive about translation and we asked them what they thought Translation was. As they were translating , we gave them tips on how to translate.
Next,we gave handouts of a Hindi song called Ma from Taare Zameen Par .We ended the session with an Akbar Birbal story.
Mrs Neena Singh and Mrs Ranjana Roy have been tremendously helpful in helping me coordinate and Organise the workshop. A big thank you to Megha and Richa who calmed my rather jittery nerves (as this was the first workshop that I was conducting.)
Last but definitely not the least,a huge thank you to the Disha kids and the Writeherewritenow kids for making this event possible.
Reeti Roy
The idea was to ensure that the Writeherewrite now members- most of whom come from very privileged backgrounds, could mix with the Disha kids and work with them as a team. Initially,the Disha children and The Writeherewritenow members (and the new children who attended the workshop for the first time) sat separately,but as they were put in groups of three they realised that they would have to work together and began to interact with one another.
Our first creative endeavour of the morning was a lighthearted one-we gave them words like Nyaka,Paka,Dhishum Dhishum,Chulbuli and Whatever to convert into different languages.We called this the Ice breaker round.
After that,we gave them Sukumar Ray's Ramgarurer Chana to translate.This was a rather difficult poem to translate but Ahaan Ghosh (from Writeherewritenow) and Sujay Tiwari (from Disha) turned out to be the bright sparks in their team and came up with this as their translation:
Ramgarur's Child is a monster
who thinks laughing is a disaster
Telling it funny words is in vain
Everyone laughs at it and yet,it stares
everywhere.
It doesn't want to sleep
and only tells itself
If I ever laugh in my life.
I will beat myself up.
It doesn't go near the woods
as it believes
that the south winds may tickle it
and make it laugh all the time
Its heart is very gloomy
like the dark clouds in the sky
The soul wants to laugh aloud
Yet,it tries to stop itself
With all its might.
At first,the children were apprehensive about translation and we asked them what they thought Translation was. As they were translating , we gave them tips on how to translate.
Next,we gave handouts of a Hindi song called Ma from Taare Zameen Par .We ended the session with an Akbar Birbal story.
Mrs Neena Singh and Mrs Ranjana Roy have been tremendously helpful in helping me coordinate and Organise the workshop. A big thank you to Megha and Richa who calmed my rather jittery nerves (as this was the first workshop that I was conducting.)
Last but definitely not the least,a huge thank you to the Disha kids and the Writeherewritenow kids for making this event possible.
Reeti Roy
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