loader

Literary Week 2023

“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.”

The Indian School-Second Shift observed Literary Week with an array of activities from 24th to 29th April, 2023. This week is celebrated each year to ignite and fuel new interest in students for reading, writing and a love for literature. School welcomed several acclaimed writers and speakers whose presence created quite a spur amongst the students, awakening their latent creativity. 

Dr (Mrs) Nayana Goradia ( author, The Middle)  took a session on 24th April on the journey of self discovery. Mrs Goradia started her career by writing short and catchy articles for the newspapers. Her book is a collection of these articles, which appeared in a column called 'The Middle' in the newspapers such as The Statesman, The Times of India and The Hindustan Times. The children were inspired and enjoyed thoroughly. 

The students of class VIII-X had a wonderful session with renowned Graphologist ( Handwriting analyst), Mr Rishi Mathur, who analysed the hand writing of students and gave some helpful suggestions about creative writing in Hindi. Ms Sutapa Basu also took a session with the students. She is a best-selling, award-winning author as well as an educationist, poet, storyteller, and a translator. Her historical novel, The Curse of Nader Shah won the Best Fiction Award, 2020 instituted by JK Papers and The Times of India. ‘The Birth of My Nation’, written by her, is an enchanting book that narrates the tale of India and her past, her grand civilisations, glorious empires, her dreadful times under a cruel power, her awakening to freedom and ends with her becoming the greatest democracy today. The children were motivated and absorbed a lot from her session.

Ms Suchitra Bharati - assistant professor, Sanskrit at Gargi College, Delhi University, conducted a workshop in Sanskrit for classes VI – VIII. The knowledge of Sanskrit is useful in many professional areas like the media ( Sanskrit news reading and other programmes based on ancient culture), management (knowledge of the Indian system of management of life), ayurveda, yoga, poetry, music, theatre, history, philosophy of languages, linguistics, computer linguistics, animation industry and translation work. This workshop really boosted the confidence of the students and gave them exposure on developing their overall personalities.

Ms Upasana Kaura is a passionate storyteller. She has conducted storytelling workshops at many schools as well as undertaken online storytelling courses for students. She has been a regular volunteer storyteller at primary schools, public libraries and festival events. It was indeed a great opportunity for the students of classes I to V to savour a delightful treat of literary genius served hot on an eclectic platter! The children became active participants in the storytelling session and benefitted from her skill. 


The week long celebration with its plethora of activities started with our little ones at the Pre School and Pre Primary levels participating in their own special way on each day.  Special stories were narrated to the children to hone their language skills. The teachers enacted the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ with puppetry, wherein the tiny tots learnt new vocabulary, names of fruits and colours. This was followed by a caterpillar craft. The children even spoke impromptu in the ‘Pick and Speak – extempore activity’ about incidents and experiences from their daily activities. Reading, a very important aspect of language was covered through the D.E.A.R – Drop Everything and Read Activity. The Weave-A-Story activity even gave them an opportunity to stretch their imaginations and create a story by working in collaboration. 

The teachers of classes 1 and 2 narrated stories to the students, like “The Giving Tree” and stories on  dinosaurs, which entertained them thoroughly besides introducing them to new words. They made bookmarks as a follow-up activity. Riddles and emojis were used to enhance their cognitive skills. Students also dressed up as their favourite book characters and spoke a few lines on the character they chose.

 In order to practice effective communication skills using proper pronunciation, vocabulary games and a quiz on rhymes were also organised. Tongue twisters and word puzzles were also a part of the activity enabling the young minds to interpret carefully woven words and phrases 

Class 3 students made wall hangings and word ladders on nouns. They even made book covers and wrote quotes on it. They also made face masks of their favourite cartoon characters and spoke a few lines on them. Panchatantra stories were narrated with the help of puppets. The children drew pictures and made beautiful posters and collages. Class 4 students narrated stories of their favourite fictional characters as 'heroes of the environment'. The students even re-created stories by changing the endings of the stories with twists and turns! Comic strip- making with some innovative prompts was another popular event. The students enacted stories with utmost zeal and enthusiasm. 

Class 5 students kickstarted the week with writing acrostics. The children wore colourful socks turned into hand puppets and even painted T-shirts with adjectives to describe their ownselves, keeping the theme “Reclaiming My Planet” in mind. Students narrated stories to their younger peers of class 2 using story props, story sheets and colourful puppets. In Hindi, the children narrated stories that they had heard from their grandparents. A ‘Word Scavenger Hunt Activity’ was also popular wherein English and Hindi words having same pronunciation were explored. 

Class 6 students were given an exposure to different languages and  were asked to compare and contrast letters from other languages. A game named ‘Story Dice’ to brainstorm, was played wherein children rolled a dice and wove beautiful and interesting stories. In Sanskrit, the letters of the Sanskrit script were used to create words, sentences and then stories. The innovative use of voice modulation and body language infused passion and enhanced imagination and expression in students. Students created a Class Library with their sekf composed stories. 

Class 7 created comics, illustrated beautifully, as a group activity. Writing a short biography and a combination of article writing was done in a very organized manner. In Hindi, students showcased their book reviews by selecting a favourite book. Some children composed innovative stories with the help of story sheets. A skit on “Three questions” by Leo Tolstoy was presented by the students. 

Class 8 students critically analysed a novel each and rewrote the climax of the story in their own words. They also made beautiful wall hangings writing famous quotes of Indian authors. In Sanskrit, a “Shloka Uchharanam” activity was conducted, in which children enchanted pious shlokas with great enthusiasm. In French, students discussed French cuisine and wrote about it. In Hindi there was a “Vad Vivad Pratiyogita” – a debate on the topic “karam kar phal ki chinta mat kar”.

Class 9 students made a character sketch of their favourite fictional characters with drawings of them, in both English and French. An ‘On the Spot’ essay writing was done on the topics given by the teacher in class. In Hindi, students created poems expressing their feelings about the need to save the environment. A role play was helf on the topic- “Nature Nurture”. 

None other than William Shakespeare said “Literature is the comprehensive essence of the intellectual life of a nation.” This holds so true for a country with so much diversity, especially when it comes to languages. Class 10 students researched on the life and works of Shakespeare and made book covers. Students even wrote brief critical notes on a favourite novel. In French, a debate was organised on the topic “Can money buy happiness?” wherein the students developed oratory skills. In Hindi a “Vad Vivad Pratiyogita” named “Aadhunikikaran tatha machinikaran” was organised where the students spoke about the shortcomings and blessings of technology. The students also wrote memoirs reflecting their memories of early childhood days. In an age when people are replacing the book with television, computer and smart phones, these activities greatly helped in ingraining an interest in reading.

“Language is to the mind more than light is to the eye”

Literary Week was a great opportunity to provide a window to the young minds and  doors for their hearts! In this festival for promoting a love for literature, the activities were truly an enriching experience for the students. The children were fruitfully encouraged to explore and communicate their thoughts. The whole event had a huge response. It was successful and well planned. It helped in developing interest in language and literature among the school children. The week concluded with a vote of thanks by Headmistress, Ms Sheeja Menon.