SLP Diaries - Part 6

Today's edition of the Department of English's Service Learning Program was unique and heartwarming. We started the session with a story, as usual. Today, I narrated the story of Little Red Riding Hood with puppets. The children were well behaved and sat still, eagerly listening to the story. I was pleased to find that not many of them knew the story. This meant that they were eager to learn, wondering what I was trying to tell them. 

After the story, we dove into preparations for our upcoming Grand Finale performance on the 11th of April. I printed out dialogues for each child in the class and handed them out. The children were really enthusiastic in learning how to read the lines I gave them. We had them line up as we taught each child individually. 

Now, you might think we maintained order throughout the hour. However, the earlier calm wasn't meant to last. As I mentioned earlier, we were teaching the kids to read their lines. So, once I taught one kid how to read, I sent her to go practice it and come back to me. I tried to tell them to join the back of the line, but they were too energetic and eager. As soon as they read the dialogue on their own, they came rushing back to me, almost toppling me over in their haste to recite their lines and earn a golden star sticker. (We promised chocolates next week, to add more incentive.) 

The most heartwarming thing was how the kids read their lines. I read them out to them in my own way - with intonation, etc (giving details will reveal what performance we are putting on and I'm trying to keep it a surprise). I had so much fun reading them out. When the child recited the lines back to me, my heart melted. They looked at me with wide innocent eyes and told me their lines. It was just so beautiful. 

I can't wait to see how these wonderful kids perform.