A Glimpse of Library Sessions

The session with children commenced with cover the space. Here the students were told to walk and cover as much space as they can at first. After doing this for 3/4 times, they were asked to act as a person playing sports. They were asked to act as a cricket player, footballer, goalkeeper, as if they are playing ludo, carom, chess, badminton, hockey, hide and seek,pillar-pillar, etc

• After this activity, they sat for a read Aloud. It was an Assamese story named “Xoha Aru Kachor Dour” written by Kiran Tamuli and illustrated by Samarjyoti Das. Before starting the read aloud, as a pre- read aloud activity the students were asked some questions. For example – Do you play games? Do you like it or not? What are the games that you are interested in? Then they replied with these answers – Yes we play games, we like playing games. We mostly play games like cricket, football, ludo, carom, chor police, hide and seek etc.

• After introducing the book, they were asked about the drawings in the cover page. What are those animals, where do they live? They mentioned what they observed about the animals on the cover page, that they live in forest and also in water. They were asked to name the animals that live in the forest and they immediately answered as wild animals. During the read aloud, the children were asked many questions to enable them to think critically and the students gave quick response to those questions.

• In the beginning of the read aloud, the students were asked about the famous story of the rabbit and tortoise in which the tortoise won the running race. They children replied that all of them have heard it.

• “Do you play any game?”. The students replied yes we do. “We exercise and do lot of practice for various games – running, football, cricket.” They were also asked about their views on what they like about festivals? Tanisha replied that she likes buying new clothes. Tanmay replied that in festivals, we decorate our house. Someone replied that we all enjoy in the festivals.

• “Do you eat carrots? Do you like it or not. What do you eat to get more strength?” Most of the students replied that yes, they eat carrots and also like it. Bitupan said that he eats carrots as salad. But Tanisha don’t like the taste therefore she doesn’t eat carrots. “If you don’t eat carrots then where do you get strength for your body?” They said they eat other things like rice and vegetables. In the book, it was mentioned that a squirrel gets some fruits for the rabbit, on reading this children were asked, “What fruits can a squirrel bring for the rabbit?” They replied loudly – mango, banana, papaya, grapes, apple, pineapple, jackfruit, pomegranate, guava etc.

• “Do you know yoga?”was another question for them and they said yes. They said they have seen Ramdev doing yoga in T. V. They were also asked whether they liked to skip to which they replied that they did.

• Do you know the meaning of the word “kuchkawaj”? They were asked, and they don’t know the meaning.When do you hear the sound of” Uruli”? they said in marriage, in puja and” logun diyoni”. What are the games where referees are important? They replied that in football, volleyball, basketball referees are important. When they reached the middle of the story, they were asked, “what do you think? Who will win the race?” Some students said tortoise will win and some said the rabbit will win the race.

• What is the meaning of “Kobiraj”? Tanmay said kobi raja means doctor. Do you know what happened to that rabbit? Tanmay again replied therabbit so many things so he is suffering from gas.

• Finally who won the race? “The tortoise”- the children answered loudly.

• Have you ever won medals? Some said yes in running, kabadi, some won in story writing, some got first prize in drawing and memory test too.

After the read aloud session the students were shown some books from which they chose books to read on their own. Each student read at least one book and some of them read more. Then they were asked whether they liked the book they read and their reasons for doing so. Tanisha said she liked the book she had read, Mithu Aru Tair Jadukori Juta. as she wanted to fly and had dreamt about it many times. Sagarika liked the book Bipodor Bondhu, because the book was about helping others. Hiyamoni likes the pictures of the book Ronga Aru Nila Pencil Dudal. Tanmay liked the story of the book Mora, where the baby elephant saves his mother.

The children created library cards and wrote down the names of the books they had read.