As literature is extensive, Spiny Babbler has separated specific areas to emphasize. Genre, movements, personalities are packaged into four distinct areas and each is covered by a three-month package.
The Story: The key components of a story. What makes your story unique? Choosing a topic, fiction or non-fiction, experimental writing, being structured, referral to a choice of writers.
The Poem: The essence of poetry. Hearing the internal music, appreciating and understanding contemporary poetry, older work, poetry in translation, poems shared by stakeholders.
Translation: Techniques, appreciation of translated works in poetry and prose (Nepali to English), Nepali interviews presented in English, and translation exercises.
Research and Documentation: Basic rules, key components of interviewing, content development and knowledge harnessing, cross-checking, and editorial corrections.
This briefing material covers the first literature package: the story. While older children, above six will work with the written format, young children, aged 4 to 6 will work with an instructor using the oral tradition.
The Story:
Session
1:
Being creative. Hike, group effort, come up with a string story based on trees and animals and birds. Stories that cover adventures, being lost. Stories that make animals, birds, trees, fishes come alive. Let imaginations run wild. Exercising an inventive approach to story writing.
Session
2:
Structure. A field trip to a Cultural Complex. Selecting an appropriate subject: a door. A story based on how the door began (beginnings), how the icons on the door formed (main body), events that made the icons important (twists and turns), and why the door, its icons, and the complex are important to us (ending).
Session
3:
Sharing your work and inviting constructive input. Reading stories out and coming up with options. Locating areas where interventions will help. For example, the Garud starts flying. What can happen when he spreads his wings that can make the story more powerful?
Session
4:
Adding character and writing from the heart. A visit to a shelter home, hospital, or rehabilitation center to spend time with people at risk. Turn yourself and the person you are with into story characters, add your experiences and the characters in the jungle and at the temple into your story. Children are required to take a small gift to the person that they will be working with (an old toy, a story book in Nepali, maybe candy, anything that will help ingrain the habit of philanthropy and giving into their system).
Session
5:
Setting a story. Go to the farmlands, see Nepali houses, climb up wooden stairs, and visit the “hobbit land” area. Look beyond the realms of earthly settings and allow the mind to visualize. Let there be magic, wonderment, and majesty in what we conjure. Restructure the stories that you have already thought up and set them in this new place.
Session
6:
The writer. Meet a leading story creator. Visit her/his home or workplace, sit and talk with them, listen to their values and concepts towards literature or the writing profession. Ask them questions about their life or work.
Session
7:
Reviewing, selecting, improving. Children read their own work out, select what they like best and start working on a finished piece for publication with feedback from instructors. They are guided to fine-tune their work as far as possible.
Session
8:
Technology. See how a book takes shape. How picture are placed and pages laid out and designed. Visit a color separation establishment and a press. Learn about positive and negative output, plate-making cutting, binding, and trimming.
Session
9:
Now that the story is laid out, read it again because others will be reading it and if there are mistakes, they will think you can’t tell a good story. Look at the visualization that has been prepared to illustrate your story in color. Discuss the artwork with your art-class friend and sitting with him/her create another story in partnership looking at this artwork. See how your story changes every time you tell it.
Session
10:
Preparing your presentation. From the work done, children prepare what they are going to share during the book launch. They practice reading out a select piece from a story and parents are encouraged to help carry out this exercise at home.
Session
11:
Book launch and critique. Children are welcomed to the world of published writers by a well-known author. Children with their parents read out stories to an audience of adults and other children. Children can share what they like about their stories and comments from the audience are welcome. Children take home a beautifully prepared publication with their stories printed in it. It is a product they can proudly show to their parents, friends, and teachers and can be showcased on a bookshelf at home! This book will be placed on sale in book shops for the public.
Session
12:
Party and awards time. Children have fun. A respite from the rigors of writing.
COLLECTIBLES