WORMS!!!!!!!!!

If summer is here, can workshops be far behind.
The first for this summer was the WORMS workshop that I conducted at I PLAY I LEARN. Let me begin at the beginning.....

first I designed it as a Writers Orators Readers Meet ...hence the name WORMS. But the first day I met the kids I realised that a very important need of theirs was not satisfied. And that is the hunger for language, stories and associated activities. So WORMS became an exercise to feed these caterpillars on some great classics in modern children's literature and help them along their way to becoming butterflies..hence Worms.

Now the workshop was largely intended for the non reading, non writing to beginner level reading and writing child. The reason why I am not mentioning the ages here is because I am talking about a skill level and that is not age relevant. Specially as this is a second language class for a group of children whose primary childhood language is not English.


The workshop was divided into two parts of four sessions each with. Each set had a story. Week 1 was the Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and Week 2 was The Lost Mitten by Jan Bret. I have created an elaborate handout for the parents to be able to understand the story , the language and other skills looked at along with it, as well as the rhymes (some self composed and some age old) that were done in these sessions. These will help in not only reinforcing hat has been done but often act as cues for the child as sometimes they blank out when asked to perform what they learnt at school. Parents feel free to comment on them or supply any that may be relevant to these themes. These were of course in English but I do collect Hindi and Punjabi poems.


The main aim of any literature that is picked for a particular workshop is that it is age relevant, has some familiar aspect and also has an element of surprise and wonder in it. While the former helps create an inviting atmosphere, the latter prompts the child out of the known to explore and stretch their imagination. This being vital as then a teacher can provide a range of language that can fill the blanks in their language there by expanding their vocabulary.


Another aspect that was unique to this group was my choice of rhymes and phrases that needed to be repeated throughout the story. These act not only as reinforcement but also indicate the various situations where they can be used. A typical example was the phrase 'with a squash and a squeeze' which was used by the animals to describe how they will fit into an overstuffed mitten in the story for the week2. Some children asked me what it meant and gleefully wriggled pretending to fit into the mitt at appropriate times.


I has a blast creating and working on the workshop and creating these wonderful materials with the children. Hopefully the children had the same kind of pleasure. And while in twenty years or so none of us will remember this skill I hope at least some will be enjoying books as that will be the true reward for this.


Before I upload the pictures, a word about the material .... some of it done and that which your child could not finish can be done at home as reinforcement. I did not i any way tamper with the work as that I think is not only untrue but also indicates that we do not respect a child's work and also do not know how to interpret it.


So enjoy............. and a happy summer to you all.........