I Just Wanna Be A Girl!

Today's session was way better than the last week. We were able to conduct a lot of activities and engage the kids. My team told the story "Varun the Wolf." The kids loved the story, especially since they hadn't heard it before.  In between the story, we taught kids vocabulary based on the story, like 'forest,' 'tree,' 'wolf,' etc. There was one kid who wrote down every word I taught him, which felt really gratifying.  Then, we played a lot of games. Even though they weren't related to the story, it helped us keep the kids engaged and kept their attention on us. We concluded the session with a drawing of a wolf, and taught the kids body parts with the "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" song.  I really liked the energy the children had today. Their joy and energy cheered me up and I really appreciated the kids for that. 

For the first time, I dressed up in a traditional outfit today. I've worn saris before, but this was different. It was a kurta with a proper dupatta. Everyone who told me I don't look like a girl or act like a girl was proven wrong today. They were shocked to see me 'prettied up.' They said I looked like a 90s heroine, like a very elegant woman.  That got me thinking... what does a woman actually need to feel feminine? Is it flowers or pretty clothes? Is it princess treatment or being chauffeured around? Does she need to be well cared for, or praised and complimented all day?  I don't think so. In my opinion, all she needs is for someone to not comment on her femininity. To feel feminine, she wants people not to tell her that she doesn't act like a girl or look like a girl. She wants people not to tell her that she looks fat or short, because there are so many kinds of women. She wants people to let her be herself, to feel confident in her womanhood.  Femininity...

Today was the first day of the Service Learning Program for the year 2025-26. We had a much bigger team than last year, and I was very much looking forward to getting back into the classroom.  We arrived en masse and quickly split ourselves up into our groups. This year, we had a special group for Hindi students. This made sure they felt involved and enjoyed the sessions as much as the other kids did.  I felt like every class other than mine made good progress today. I was in the third-grade class, and the kids were overjoyed to see me again. However, their excitement made it hard for them to settle down. We had a very short story to share with them. Once that was over, the kids started jumping all over us again. We managed to gain some semblance of control with a few games. One of our vocabulary words was "Volcano," which we turned into a game. Then, we played Chinese Whisper with the words from our story. Following that, we made the children dance to "Twinkle Twinkle L...

This year's Service Learning Program kicked of with an energetic workshop delivered by Dr. Phebe Angus. We had over energetic participants and a bunch of activities, each designed to help us unleash our creativity, develop team building, and be the best we could become for the children we are going to teach.  The session kicked off with an energizer activity, then a team building activity called 'two truths and a lie.' Then, we learned to let go of our inhibitions by making weird sounds and walking around in different ways (eg - sliding, walking like there is glass on the floor). Next, we practiced our ability to create stories on the go with an A-Z story game. We then did a few dance activities, which would help us keep the children at RSL engaged and entertained. Then, we split into smaller groups to share personal stories about ourselves then make a 1 minute skit within 5-10 minutes. After that, we created lesson plans and shared them with the group. Finally, we conclude...