SOULspace

This is Uthara's original story. Even though, a moral at the end seems to be mandatory for her, I like her thought process...so here goes..( I have not edited any grammatical/spelling errors!!) Uthara is my daughter, age-7 1/2! Story No.1 Who Is The Greatest? In a big house in the Dining Table there was a cup of Tea, Coffe,Milk. the coffe and the tea were discusing Who was greatest. "I am the gratest because I am the latest drink" said the coffe. "I was there even befor british came also". But cup of milk kept quiet. Then a boy came and drank the cup of milk! The cup coffe was very sad, the cup of tea too. But next secend the boy's mother and father came and drank the drinks. the father drank the tea and the mother drank the coffe. cups were so happy, they all said to each other now on words we both are best of friends. the moral of the story is Everybody is the same. Story No.2 (based on an idea given by her father!) Nothing Once in a village there live...

Yep! I had a blast! Today was the culmination of my efforts in storytelling for this term at my special school. Over the last 4 months, I've been doing one story with the special children in the Non-Formal educational group, every Thursday.( Non- formal implies that these children, who have cerebral palsy and other associated disabilities like mental retardation/sensory impairments, get training in a number of life skills, along with some functional literacy skills.) Every week it was a challenge selecting a story for this group. The story had to be simple and realistic enough for them to relate to. Fantasy doesn't work, as it has no meaning, long plots also have no value. Finally out of all the stories done, it was Varsha who decided that it would be the story of the Milkman's Cow. Varsha is a shy, reserved, non-verbal teenager, and when i started off with these sessions, she would be looking elsewhere, not interested, just not connecting. Then I did Milkman's Cow, an...

Nivedita played the fur elise by Beethoven. I was floored! She played it with such elan and panache. Who doesn't recognise that melody? Such a confident young girl she has become, I cannot resist writing about her! I've seen her 6/7 years back in 1st standard. Naughty, talkative, smart, and very people savvy, she was everyone's darling. I am seeing her now, and I guess she must be about 15/16 years old... She looks smart, and savvy, and plays the synthesizer like a pro! She is really an inspiration for me. I look at her parents, and admire them. What a fantastic job they have done, they have raised her so well inspite of all the odds. You see Nivedita studies in a special school, and has Cerebral palsy. A condition which affects her mobility and coordination. We need to make such children true champions of this world, give them awards, rewards and accolades. Talk about them every where, so that we can all learn to appreciate life!

People were her lifeline. She wanted them and likewise they too were attracted to her. Her charm and common sense, her piety and her calm, were there for all to imbibe and to emulate. They say a woman is the back bone of the family; she can make it or break it. This lady was the matriarch of our family. Her kind and gentle demeanor was only a facade for an assertive and stubborn personality. She laid the rules, the values, the religious rituals to be followed. All laid down by her dictum. Don’t mistake me, she was not dictator, but I can call her a benevolent despot!! She grew old, her roots firm and secure, enclosed in the protective fold of her son’s family she could now lead a retired life. Handing over all her responsibilities and her chores into the competent and capable hands of her daughter in law, albeit reluctantly, she immersed herself in piety and worship. The first blow came when grandfather passed away. The red dot on the forehead of a married woman is her proud declarat...

Guess what I did this week for my story session. Yes, you are absolutely right! I did "Little Monster". Arul's maiden venture into the world of magical story writing. It was simply a great hit! The children from all 7 classes, just lapped it up like cream. They connected with all the characters and names, especially "Snewalot", from where the wicked witch comes, was one of their favorites.I just had the book with me this time, and drew the 3 main protagonists on some colored paper, just so that the kids could see it in a bigger frame. Not one class would let me stop. If there were any interruptions then some other child would shush him/her up and say, "Please Aunty, continue!" I stopped at chapter 9 drawing loud protests from all, and said "To be continued". "No aunty, don't stop, not fair", were all the words hurled at me. Sweet Pleasure! Children showed a good grasp of vocabulary, they knew, "quest", "armor...

So this is my second week with a story,for my weekly assignment at a school. I knew what I wanted to do. Something with Tangrams. The Tangram is a fun/educational idea developed in China. If you have children then you would have definitely come across this. It can keep children occupied for hours. It has 7 pieces having a definite shape. A square, parallelogram, and the rest triangles of different sizes. The whole point is to create figures with these shapes and it can be fascinating. So browsing through the net I found a nice story with Tangrams. Its about a grandfather telling his grand daughter a story with Tangrams, the main characters in this story are fox fairies! So I made the Tangram pieces with paper, got them photocopied and stuck them onto A4 sheets. Now I wanted to display this. When I tell the story, I want the sheets to be displayed on the table (standing). So I went around looking for an easel or a stand. The stationary shop had what I wanted, but the cost was way b...