(Posted by Shruti Murali)
It was my second time at Tonca and I saw wide smiles as we entered. The girls enthusiastically helped us unload the boxes and lay the mats on the ground. They wanted to know more about the two ‘new’ teachers, and we promised them an introduction.
Browsing time started off with kids lunging for a book that they liked. I sat with Aditi and Anushka who seemed to be fascinated with the book on shapes.
Browsing time ended in half an hour and we started discussing about chapattis and the different things that could be made with dough, as it connected to the theme of the book. The kids loved the song we sang based on the process of making a chapatti. Since the originally constructed game was not working the way we wanted it to, we moved on to play the ‘make a face’ game that elicited quite a few laughs from all.
Neha and Krystal then started with the read aloud. It was a novelty because it was a bi-lingual one, Krystal reading in English and Neha in hindi. ‘What shall I make?’ and ‘Main kya banau?’ spoke about a boy making animals with atta.
Once the read aloud started, it was interesting to look at the kids. They looked engaged, wanting to listen to both Krystal and Neha. Also, since Neha was reading the same lines in Hindi after Krystal, there was no need for a separate translation which kept the pace of the read aloud intact. I definitely think this could be done at other sites as well, as it gives a new dimension to story read alouds.
We ended the session with the extension activity where kids made whatever they wanted with coloured dough. They also came up and spoke about why they made it.
All in all, the session was a good one and I was looking forward to be there the next week.