Nearly eight decades after it was published, American cartoonist and writer James Thurber’s anti-war short story The Last Flower continues to be relevant. To introduce the story to children during the lockdown in a manner that caught their attention, T.P. Kaladharan, former Samagra Shiksha consultant and retired DIET employee, made a video in which he narrated the story in Malayalam, backed by Thurber’s illustrations. Children were then asked to pen an appreciation or write about how the story related to contemporary events. In another video, he asked children to maintain a diary of their childhood experiences but with cartoons, taking inspiration from Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
The videos Mr. Kaladharan makes are posted on WhatsApp groups of teachers and then forwarded to parents to reach the children.
Storytelling
The first video that he posted was for primary students on how to read a story by bringing in emotions and expressions. The story he read out was his own work Nirangale Madangivaroo. Not only did students send back videos where they followed his tips, a group of teachers even held a competition on reading books.
It was while presenting a story Ammini Kummini, along with songs, to demonstrate storytelling that he asked students to make it into a play with acts and colloquial dialogues or make a movie out of it. While a group of students from Kannur shot a movie based on it using their mobile cameras, some others made it into a radio play. “I believe that instead of telling a story and asking questions, reproducing it in other forms helps students internalise it better. I communicate with teachers the academic possibilities of each activity. Now, they too have started understanding the importance of such activities.”
Possibilities of video
Mr. Kaladharan says his approach could be used a model for teacher training, with possibilities for tweaking it. “It is an attempt to make optimum use of new media for academic activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover the videos explore the possibilities of visual texts. A teachers’ group has started preparing video lessons in various subjects and sending them to me for feedback,” Mr. Kaladharan says.
Mr. Kaladharan, who is settled in Pathanamthitta district, also gives regular feedback to the students. His blog Choonduviral has around 10 lakh views, 30,000 last month alone, and he has been putting up posts every day during the lockdown.
