Teacher Training Workshop at NIE

Shortly after the Ganesh break, Bookworm was requested to conduct a workshop for the Preschool Teacher Trainees of Nirmala Institute of Education. Titled ‘Read Aloud: An important component of balanced literacy’, the workshop was designed to highlight the ‘WHY’, ‘HOW’ and the ‘WHAT TO Dos’ of reading aloud in a preschool class.

The session commenced with an activity that was meant to draw from the participants their associations of stories. Interestingly, a majority opined that it included reading a story that imparted a moral at the end. Delving a little deeper, we asked the participants of the workshop what their first recollection of being told a story was….to which ‘crows taking food away’ while being fed was a distinct memory for most.

Ofcourse, no workshop is validated without the ‘gyaan’…. So it was time to get down to business. Highlighting the rationale and importance of read aloud sessions to children, this is something that the Bookworm team feels very strongly about, and this was the basis of the presentation.

No session for us, no matter what the age group; is complete without the read aloud or demonstration. And so it was that Bindi Su rolled on in to this classroom; and as has always been the case, everyone was immersed in the various components of a typical read aloud session at Bookworm. This even meant that they had to get out of their places and participate in the game and sing ‘the wheels of the car go round and round’; the prelude to the story of a bright red car, fresh from the factory who does not want to stop, But will Bindi Su stop? This is the central theme of the book and the responses that the teachers gave us, actually sounded like they came from children. This was a positive sign- it is only when one can think from the view point of a child that would enable a teacher to evolve a good plan.

We learned that 2.5 hours is not sufficient to impart our learnings from 8 years of practice. Time ran out on us quickly, but not before we had discussed exactly what it is that goes into the planning of a structured and holistic session. But we hope what we did left enough seed for thought and implementation.