Creative Workshops for Students and Teachers in India

In July I had facilitated a creative workshop using dramatherapy techniques the Poodar International School in Hassan, Karnataka, India, with my co-facilitator, Unnath Jain.  It was an amazing experience…

This was the first time I had visited a school in India. Both of us were asked to speak at the assembly. I found the assembly very meaningful. A few students  were called upon to take an except out of each of the main religious text/scriptures, read it out and explain it in English. The main scriptures were the Bhagavad Gita, the Quran and the Bible. Then a year 7 (12 year old)boy gave a book review of a chosen literary book.  Then the Indian National Anthem was sung after which those who had their birthdays on that day were called upon and given a little gift.

Then the principle introduced both of us and had pretty much read aloud most of what was written in our resumes to give us some credibility to what we were going to do later that day and the next day with the teachers. He had even read out the list of languages I had taken up and speak and asked the children ask me to teach them a few words or practice them with me if they knew them.

Then it was my turn to speak… The first thing that came to mind is how honoured I felt for being invited to do the workshop with that school and how impressed I was with the children, of their presentations that morning and also how impressed I am with the way the assembly was conducted. It was so much more meaningful that the school assemblies here in Malaysia. The way I remember school assemblies in Malaysia is that we all were expected to gather in front of the flag poles, we sang the national anthem, the school anthem and had our nails, and attires and cleanliness and neatness checked by the teachers and/or prefects and went back to our classes. Frankly, I used to think it was horribly boring and a waste of time.

It was so different in this school. The children looked inspired though out the whole assembly. The principle had a constant, kind smile on his face though out the assembly. The energy in that environment was encouraging.

The workshop with the children was a lot of fun! There were forty of them with lots of energy! I could not have managed it without my co-facilitator. My co-facilitator is also a professional dancer and he took over the physical warm up and was very good in keeping the crowd under control.  This was the first time that we had worked together. It was great working with him. I think we make a great team.

The students were very excited throughout the workshop. The energy was very vibrant and they all wanted to participate in everything we did.

At the end of the workshop, both Unnath and I felt like rock stars! All forty children wanted our autographs and had formed a mob around us. We finally said that they had to queue to get our autographs. They even asked me to say and write in their books in the languages which I knew.

The outcome of the workshop with the children was very positive.  The children said that they had learned so much about creativity, one of them whose story was chosen was given the opportunity to direct the play. That was the first time she had ever done that and she was very pleased.  They also mentioned that they had a lot of fun throughout the workshop.

On the next day when we came again to do a basic dramatherapy skills training workshop for the teachers the principle had said that the children told him how much they had enjoyed the session. They even brought it up during the school assembly that morning.

The workshop for teachers turned out to be very successful.  Some of the comments from the teachers included how much they had learned from the workshop and how they could see incorporating the creative ideas into their classes. A few of them mentioned that they did not realize that they are that creative. And one of the common feedback in all the workshops which I have facilitated is how much fun they have had in the workshop. The energy level in the room was very high and positive.

I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to facilitate this workshop for such a wonderful group of students and teachers in India. I would like to thank Unnath Jain for organizing it and for being my co-facilitator for both the workshops.