By the time we get to Friday afternoon, I think most of us are ready to wind down. According to my timetable we have Library and English time after lunch on Friday- so I think of an artistic endeavour to end the week on a creative note.
So that no-one can accuse me of not giving my kids their full dose of English for the week (believe me when I say I really feel like I fill their little brains with English at every opportunity) I find a way to make a loose association between the art and the English text we are working on at the moment.
We are coming to the end of a two-week block working with a play version of Snow White, so I asked the kids to paint their favourite part of the story. The kids have loved it so much - and I am blown away that the majority of the students have been able to read and comprehend the text and participate in a couple of sessions where we acted out the play. Some are natural actors, and one of my sweetest students relished the role of the evil Queen! It was interesting that the book had a couple of Bhutanese twists to the story - before the Queen killed Snow White with the poisoned apple she sold her a kera (kira belt) and tied it so tight around her waist Snow White fell unconscious! Also the seven dwarfs were not miners as I remember, but worked in the fields, and they checked that Snow White knew how to cook 'rice and meat' before they let her move in.
After drawing pictures from Snow White, they moved on to whatever they wanted to paint, and bit by bit, children from all the lower classes joined us until we had about 100 kids spread out on the grass painting!
Speaking of fairy tales, our first full-school reading period was a success this week - with boxes of books taken to every class (including the year 9s and 10s) from the primary school library for a half hour reading session after school Thursday. I was a bit concerned that the books I supplied to the Class 9s and 10s wouldn't hold their interest - they were mainly children's picture books. But when I asked students leaving school in the rain afterwards, they were very enthusiastic and said they found the books really interesting. I was told that many of these students did not get to experience the joy and wonder of picture story books when they were children as the library was not operational then, and so they are making up for it now.
For both the art and the reading ventures again we are so grateful to friends and family who have made all sorts of contributions. Thank you cards have been made and we'll send them as soon as possible.
So that no-one can accuse me of not giving my kids their full dose of English for the week (believe me when I say I really feel like I fill their little brains with English at every opportunity) I find a way to make a loose association between the art and the English text we are working on at the moment.
We are coming to the end of a two-week block working with a play version of Snow White, so I asked the kids to paint their favourite part of the story. The kids have loved it so much - and I am blown away that the majority of the students have been able to read and comprehend the text and participate in a couple of sessions where we acted out the play. Some are natural actors, and one of my sweetest students relished the role of the evil Queen! It was interesting that the book had a couple of Bhutanese twists to the story - before the Queen killed Snow White with the poisoned apple she sold her a kera (kira belt) and tied it so tight around her waist Snow White fell unconscious! Also the seven dwarfs were not miners as I remember, but worked in the fields, and they checked that Snow White knew how to cook 'rice and meat' before they let her move in.
After drawing pictures from Snow White, they moved on to whatever they wanted to paint, and bit by bit, children from all the lower classes joined us until we had about 100 kids spread out on the grass painting!
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| Some of the boys love drawing ships - this one is beautiful - out on the sea, with a Bhutanese flag of course! |
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What a lovely place to paint - out in the school grounds. |
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| I really loved Xavier's picture, with mountains topped with flags (everything in Bhutan seems to have a flag on the top) and a house with smoke coming out the chimney - a very Bhutanese landscape. |
Speaking of fairy tales, our first full-school reading period was a success this week - with boxes of books taken to every class (including the year 9s and 10s) from the primary school library for a half hour reading session after school Thursday. I was a bit concerned that the books I supplied to the Class 9s and 10s wouldn't hold their interest - they were mainly children's picture books. But when I asked students leaving school in the rain afterwards, they were very enthusiastic and said they found the books really interesting. I was told that many of these students did not get to experience the joy and wonder of picture story books when they were children as the library was not operational then, and so they are making up for it now.
For both the art and the reading ventures again we are so grateful to friends and family who have made all sorts of contributions. Thank you cards have been made and we'll send them as soon as possible.
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