The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Schoolchildren put together a ‘wonderful show’

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2007
ePaper

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Schoolchildren put together a ‘wonderful show’

Staff Reporter

Sports festival orgasnised at Chettinad Vidyashram

— Photo: M. Vedhan

YOUNG LEADERS: Senior students guiding younger students before a caterpillar race at the ‘Dreams + Teams’ workshop held in Chennai on Monday.

CHENNAI: It was a sports festival that children had put together. They decided everything from what the master of ceremonies should say to who among them should be in-charge of the media. It is precisely these kind of skills that the ‘Dreams + Teams’ workshop organised by the British Council trained them for, though not directly.

The sports festival organised at Chettinad Vidyashram on Monday marked the conclusion of a workshop organised for 24 students from six schools in south and west India. Three schools from Pune, and one each from Madurai, Coimbatore and Chennai took part.

The workshop, held from August 5, was part of the British Council’s initiative to develop school partnerships.

Teachers from the six schools had a training session with Karen Arnold, trainer from the United Kingdom. The teachers in turn trained students.

The workshop was developed by the British Council along with the Youth Sport Trust that Ms. Arnold represents.

The workshop was aimed at using sports to develop international young leaders and global citizens. Ms. Arnold said that students were trained in team work, communication skills and organisational skills through sports. “Teachers facilitate this learning. And finally, when the children put together a wonderful show like this adults are happy spectators,” Ms. Arnold said. The ‘Dream+Teams’ workshops were conducted in 44 countries, she said. In Monday’s festival as many as 120 students from the host school (Chettinad Vidyashram) were divided into groups of 30 each. Each team had 3 students from Standards VIII or IX (two leaders and a helper) guiding over 25 students of Standard IV. The job of the team members was to lead, motivate and help the team perform better in the caterpillar race, running race, lemon-and-spoon contest and the relay.

It has been so much fun during the last few days, remarked Deepika and Anubhav Goyal, students from Pune, who were “media in-charge” at the event.

Chettinad Vidyashram correspondent and secretary Kumara Rani Meena Muthiah said this was a good opportunity for students to groom their leadership skills. School principal S. Bhavanishankar was present on the occasion.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail