RAJA AND HIS GRANDMOTHER

Creative Expressions in English Language Class-3

There is a beautiful  drawing of Raja's family given in the first page of  'Life with Grandfather'.
I asked the children  to colour the picture.
They  enjoyed the activity very much. They talked to each other while colouring  and exchanged their crayons and colour pencils.
They finished the activity within ten minutes.

“Sir, look. All the pictures are different.” Pointing to the pictures of his friends, Vishnu said.
“You are right,Vishnu. Your text books are no longer the same. Now all of you have a different coloured page in it.”
They all exhibited their text books on desks with the page opened. They  looked each others' coloured pictures.
“You are right,sir.” Jishna said.

“Sir,I have a doubt.” Athul said after a while.
“What is it?”
“Sir,Raja has a grandfather,grandmother and father. Where is his mother?”
“What do you think?” I asked.
“Died?” Vishnu asked.
“No,sir. Gone some where.”  Gowri said.
They did not like to imagine Raja as a boy without a mother.
“Sir,he has no sister and brother?” Dhanith asked.

 The colouring activity had created an image of Raja in their minds. It was growing.

They want to know more about Raja and his family.
“O.K,children. Can you make some questions  to get more information about Raja and his family?”
They were ready.


I divided them into six groups. They sat on the floor and began discussion. After some time,they opened their note book and started  writing questions. Mean while, I wrote some question words like where,when how,who etc. on the black board.
  “Children,if you want you may use these question words.” I said.
All the groups finished their writings within ten minutes. Each group presented their questions. I picked up one question from each group and wrote it on the black board and  edited them. Afterwards  they refined their writings.

I realised that the context was apt to  read the story.
“Children you will get answers to your questions from the story. You may read the story now.” I said to the class.
Children sat on the floor in a circle. They opened their text books and began reading. They were eager to know about Raja.

After reading the first stanza,Safeeda said.
“Sir,Raja's mother died. His father left him.”
“The man in the picture was not Raja's father.” Vibhith said.
“Then,who is he?” I asked.
They continued  reading. After finishing the first part of the topic 'Home',Sreehari said.
“Sir, that is his uncle.”

 Most of the children could pick up some information from the story at the first reading itself.

I asked them to mark the sentences and words they could not understand with a pencil.
Children found out the meaning of some difficult words with the help of pocket dictionary they brought along with them.
 Then they read in groups helping each other. One child from each group read aloud the passage.
I asked. “Children, do you like the passage?”
“Yes,sir.”
“Why?”
“Raja is a good boy,sir.”Abhijith said. He want to say more. But he could not say in English.
“He has no father and mother. He has a grandfather and grandmother.”Aishwarya said.
“Grandmother  loving him very much.” Abhishek said.
Most of them could understand the story. I was happy.
I want them to go deep into the story.

“Children,you said grandmother loves Raja very much. Can you find out the lines showing this?”
“O.K,sir.”
They found out the lines from the story and marked it with a pencil.
Gopika read aloud the lines.

'Grandmother was kind and gentle. She took good care of me. She would follow me like a shadow,saying,Drink this milk or Eat your food or Have your bath or Go to bed. I did not like this,but still I loved her very much.'

“Children,can you present the relation between Raja and Grandmother through acting?” I asked.
They thought a while.
“O.K. We are ready.” All of them said.
They likes acting very much.
“Can we say dialogues?” Swetha asked.
“Of course. Why not?”

They were sitting in a circle.
Sfeeda came to the centre of the circle and said.
“I am the grandmother.”
“Who's Raja?”
Malavika stood up and came to the centre.
“Sir, I am Raja.”
“Can I take a steel plate and a glass?”Safeeda asked.
She wants properties. That is a necessity to do acting.
Property can stimulate their imagination. 

 Safeeda took a steel plate from her bag and a steel tumbler from shelf.
Both of them stood at the centre and discussed for two or three minutes.
“We are ready,sir.” They said.
They started to improvise the situation.
 Malavika was running. Safeeda was following her by saying,
“Raja,please stop. Here is milk. You drink this. You like banana. Eat this banana, my son. Please,stop dear.”
“No grandmother, I don't want.” Malavika said.
“Raja, it is late.You take a bath.”
“No,grandmother. I want to play.”

All the children clapped their hands. Then,came Varsha and Abhaya.
 They placed Raja in a new situation. That was like this.

'Raja please, come dear. You are always sitting in front of TV.
You come and eat this chappathi. You drink this tea.
I am preparing unniyappam today. You will like it very much...Now you come and eat this chappathi....'

In this manner, all the pairs improvised and moulded  a  new Raja

and his grandmother. They never repeated the same dialogue. They were creating a new text and thus filling the gaps of the story. It was a verbal text. It gave them more chances to use speech while reading and understanding a written text. Thus, it aims at development of speech also. Children can 't  acquire  reading and writing skills without the development of speech.

“What about Raja's grandfather and uncle?” I asked.
They marked the portions that described  his grandfather and uncle. They read aloud those lines.
“All of you wanted to know more about Raja's family in the  beginning. You asked so many questions. Did you get answers to your questions?”
“Yes,sir. Now we know more about Raja and his family.”
“Can you write a short note on Raja's family?” I asked.
“Sure,sir.”

  Now they have a clear picture of Raja's family. They could write very well. They began to write individually. I realised that they were more confident in writing. The process we followed had given them a strong support for writing.

 Malavika wrote like this:(first draft)

'Raja is a good boy and he is a mischievous boy. His name is suspense. He has a grandmother and grandfather. But he has no father and mother. His mother died and his father left him. He lived with his grandfather,grandmother and uncle. He has a big house and a small family.
Grandfather and grandmother was Raja's guardians. He liked his family. He has relatives. But they live their own houses.
Grandfather
Raja has a grandfather. He was tall strong and old man. He spoke in a loud voice. People respected him. And grandfather knew all the people in the village. They came to him advice and help.

Grandmother
Raja's grandmother was a good lady. She loved Raja very much. She was kind and gentle. She always followed Raja like a shadow. She gave him food and compel him to eat. Raja did not like this. But he loved her very much.
Uncle
His uncle is a clever man. Every day he help grandfather to looking after his fields and garden. People and Raja like uncle very much. Whenever Raja is in trouble uncle come for Raja's help.'

 There are mistakes in her writing. But,she is improving. Now she made less mistakes  compared to her earlier writings.
When they completed, a few of them presented what they wrote about Raja's family.
Thus, they got a chance to compare their writings with others.
“Children do you want to revise your writings?” I asked.
“Yes,sir.” They said.
They sat in group, discussed and revised their writings.

Soon after writing,Dhanith came to me and said.
“Sir, I got the real name of Raja.”
“What's it?” I asked.
“Shankar. He was a famous cartoonist. His full name is Kesavan Sankara Pillai.”
He opened the text book, showed his photo and a brief description about the great cartoonist Shankar.

M.M.Surendran