04/08/2017
Theme : Core Values
Volunteers: Karmanya Duggal
Aakanksha Buddavarapu
Bhavyakirti Singh
Ojasvi Khanna
Aditi Bali
Art Department- 100 girls made bags out of newspaper and while doing so they learnt the skill of patience, compassion, problem solving sensitivity, time management and a sense of responsibility because they had to make sure that they worked very slowly and surely till every girl had the steps right and then move to the next step. It was a great activity which taught them a lot of life skills in one go. It was difficult for the volunteers to maintain their cool because there were 100 girls in the room who were trying to help each other after completing their task at hand.
Theatre Department- We had 150 girls and we had a lot of group activities like enactment of particular scenes from various movies. Then we had a voive modulation exercise where they were made to stand on the stand and throw their voice and then modulate their tone and use appropriate expression.
In the end, we all bonded over a game of Kho Kho.
The theme ‘Core Values’ was related to the activities as it taught the girls to be sensitive to those in need which was clearly observed as when they finished their work, they went to help their friends who had some difficulty in doing the same. It taught them to be sympathetic.
By- Aditi Bali
(Writing Volunteer)
09/06/2017
Theme: Characterise
Volunteers:
Vyushti Bhattacharya
Tanvi Rattan
Devika Manchanda
Sidhant Koshi
Ojasvi Khanna
Writing was very different this time as the girls had to write from the perspective of an animal. The animals ranged from cats, dogs and birds to ants and fish. Some weaved a short story as to how the animal’s day would be like and some had a more intellectual approach to it by writing about how an animal felt when treated a particular way by humans. It was truly an enriching experience not only for the students but also for the volunteers as, they too, talked about which animal they would like be and why.
As this was mostly a theatrical visit, we played lots of theatre games like cut the character, role play, interpretation of the scene being acted out and acting like our favourite actors. We gave proper scripts to the girls and asked them to be the directors and actors of the scene and record it. Around 90 girls were given the scripts and they were asked to make their own dialogues and were taught how to put their emotions into expressions by Sidhant Koshi , head of theatre society at The Shri Ram School Aravali. He is undoubtedly one of the best actors our school has got. He played various games with them and critiqued their performance, gave them tips to become better. We played dumb charades with a twist by acting out scenes and then guessing. Even the volunteers put up various small performances to motivate the girls. Many of them want to become actors and are quite good at it. Exposing them to different forms of art and seeing their interest in whatever we teach them is a big achievement.We are sure that the girls who wish to become actors are in safe hands as Sidhant is a brilliant actor and an amazing teacher. We are glad that the kids enjoyed the session and they were able to explore their hidden talents!
By- Aditi Bali (Writing Volunteer)
09/06/2017
Theme: “Let it go"
Volunteers:
Vyushti Bhattacharya
Vridhi sharma
Sanya Lakhotia
Tanvi Rattan
Writing included listening to music which carried various emotions and then the girls were asked to interpret these emotions by pointing them out. They were then asked to write about one of these emotions by putting them in a personal incident that involved them feeling one of these motions. We were happy to motivate the to write about their feelings. While most wrote in Hindi, a few tried to use English and impressed the Writing Volunteers.
In the Dance Department, 80 girls performed zealously on ‘Kala chashma’ (a Punjabi song). The sight of all of them performing this song together was breathtaking and over the entire two hour long visit, they were taught the full song. They got divided into three groups where they were taught the steps by three different volunteers and then finally, they performed it together. The school that these kids study in is a government owned school and the main focus is on their academics and not extracurriculars, hence they tend to be very shy and reserved. Activities like these helped the girls let go of emotions of fear, anger and sadness (these were also the emotions depicted in the music clipets). It was visible that they opened up a lot more after the dancing sessions, to us at least who to them were a little more than strangers and a little less than acquaintances. We believe that this will eventually help them to come out of their shell and evolve. It gives us extreme pleasure to help them inculcate a life skill within themselves. These girls are meant to show the world the talent they posses and we are just acting as catalysts in this process
By Aditi Bali (Article Writing Volunteer)
30/04/2017
Theme: Introduction to new batch
People Involved:
Ojasvi Khanna
Vyusti Bhattacharya
As we move from one batch to another, we were filled with a mix of emotions: excited to meet the new girls and sad to depart from the old ones but overcoming them, we began with our first session of the girls’s new session. We had enthusiastic just entered 8th grade girls who had heard a lot about our project from their seniors so they had high expectations. We started off with the introduction to the project and then to ourselves. We asked them to sit in a circle and then stand and introduce themselves by shouting as loud as possible. They were supposed to say their names and something that they liked that started with the alphabet of their name, for example: Alpana- Apple. This was done because according to a study it increases confidence levels. We then played games of voice modulation and team building where they had to follow our actions. We also had singing sessions where we had individual and group performances and they girls displayed their talent beautifully. To make things more fun than what they were, we played Kho- Kho and Kabaddi. We then had a short game of ‘ Weave the story’ but this was with voice modulation so whatever you add, you narrate it out with emotions by changing voice tone. This session was purely magical but we all turned very nostalgic when we met our earlier girls( our first batch of this project) as we had all our ‘firsts’ with them but the enthusiasm and will power in this set of girls is inspiring and empowering and we cant wait to share a strong bond with them as well and live up to their expectations.
By Aditi Bali ( Article Writing Volunteer)
(https://projectiempower.wordpress.com/activity/)
11/03/2017
Theme: Introspection
Volunteers:
Vyushti Bhattacharya
Ojasvi Khanna
Devika Manchanda
Tanvi Rattan
Vridhi Sharma
Devika Jamkhedar
Sanya Lakhotia
This visit was marked by an inspiring activity that is called guided imagery and introspection. The girls were asked to close their eyes and were made to listen to a variety of musical notes and instrumental songs. They were then asked to talk about their experience and what they actually felt while listening to various sounds. As a part of the writing department, this activity was loved by all. The girls were then asked to write about their feeling and experience. This activity was done to give a boost to their creative writing, imagination and descriptive skills. They were shown the connection between thoughts, writing, music and feelings.
The Art Department helped the girls to look within by asking them to make what they felt like. The technique of paper mache was taught. An approximate 20 kgs of newspaper was recycled to make bookmarks and sculptures that the girls made out of their tiny hands. An activity that was messy and involved a lot of laughter and enjoyment followed by a singing session with the Singing volunteers was enjoyed by all.
These paper mache designs were then let to dry and the girls took them home to paint and decorate them. By this activity, not only were they made aware of paper reuse and recycle but also were given aa deeper insight to the various forms of art like sculpture and best-out-of-waste creations that in today’s day and age are very popular career choices. This visit was an eye opening one and a really enlightened one because the Writing Department themselves experienced what looking within was and how the outer environment influenced their feelings and the Art Department taught them how the environment around them allowed them to unleash the inner artist in themselves.
By- Ojasvi Khanna
(Find the article on visit 9 by Ojasvi Khanna at https://projectiempower.wordpress.com)
09/06/2017
30/04/2017
11/03/2017
03/03/2017
05/02/2017