The summer programs are done and we’ve had great fun over the last few months, learning and enabling others to learn! We look forward to another great year with more programs, and more fun. 

Get ready for the new academic year - new schedules, new friends, new books, new teachers and new challenges!

Highlights for June:

• New batches of *unfold*  and *e x p a n d* and Enterprise! 
• Phonics and stories
• Graded reading programs
• English Grammar and writing
• Dance
• Chess
• Art (drawing and painting)
• Hindi Stories
• Creative Writing
• Research skills

 Get details of all the programs for June 2009!

Singin’ in the Rain

English, 103 minutes.

Wednesday May 13, 2009; 3 pm - 5 pm

There is no fee. Please let us know in advance if you are attending.

Special invitation to those who have completed the Power of Voice course!

“Decades before the Hollywood film industry became famous for megabudget disaster and science fiction spectaculars, the studios of Southern California (and particularly Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) were renowned for a uniquely American (and nearly extinct) kind of picture known as The Musical. This 1952 MGM picture is the American musical that consistently ranks among the 10 best movies ever made. It’s not only a great song-and-dance piece starring Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and a sprightly Debbie Reynolds; it’s also an affectionately funny insider spoof about the film industry’s uneasy transition from silent pictures to “talkies.” Kelly plays debonair star Don Lockwood, whose leading lady Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) has a screechy voice hilariously ill-suited to the new technology (and her glamorous screen image). Among the musical highlights: O’Connor’s knockout “Make ‘Em Laugh”; the big “Broadway Melody” production number; and, best of all, that charming little title ditty in which Kelly makes movie magic on a drenched set with nothing but a few puddles, a lamppost, and an umbrella.”

Jim Emerson on Amazon.com

Want some trailers? Some of the songs on YouTube:  Singing in the rain ; Good morning ; Make ‘em laugh ; Moses supposes

Interknit concluded last week. We had much fun and much learning. Participants and their parents were happy with what they did and saw - and we’d like to share it with you! 

What parents had to say:

“It was a very good experience… Even I have personally learnt a lot of things from this camp” - Ambika Burman

“Amazing, Superb! The whole idea was fun, seeing the little ones producing and then trading a good bargain was unbeleiveable” - Geeta and Gaurav Khurana

“Thank you for a wonderful program which helped my child with overall development of soft skills…” - Radhika Peri

“The program was very well structured. Interest level was high throughout the program” - Sudha Srinivas

What the participants had to say:

The main thing I liked… it’s not like a school, where we always need to be disciplined. This is the best summer camp I’ve attended ever” - Niharika Krishnan

“I got so many friends…it rocked” Ashley Preity

“I liked interknit because they had made a schedule for each day - what to do and how to do and made us play games and activities” - Krishna Modi

Interknit in pictures

The summer puppetry workshop is over. It was amazing to watch the youngsters not only make fairly complex puppets, but also manipulate them and tell stories with sound effects, music and near-professional comic timing!

Some pictures:

 

A note from Ratnamala Nori, the well-known puppet maker, artist and facilitator of this course:

” Puppet have been used from time immemorialas tools to educate, entertain and inform. They fascinate and involve children in a way that few other art forms can… A great deal can be accomplished through puppets. They lead to creative thinking and imagination. The main reason puppets work well with children is because they are so multi sensory. It doesnt matter if the child is very small or very tall, you can reach them with puppets!…”

Ratnamala Nori can be contacted to conduct performances or workshops. Email. Website.

Well, what I mean is, like, you know, when the stuff comes out nice, everyone thinks it’s cool. 

However, when you don’t have the right word to express yourself, you’ve lost an opportunity to communicate, irrespective of whether everybody thought it cool, uncool or otherwise. 

Vocabulary helps you make a point crisply and accurately. It has been acknowledged as a desirable competency for a while - you’ll find all manner of competitive exams demanding to assess your vocabulary level, and many people memorizing endless word lists in an attempt to widen their vocabulary. 

Our observations on vocabulary building (seems to work for any language): 

• Don’t see words in isolation. Understand how they are used and what roots they come from - helps establish patterns.
• Keep it personal. Pick topics and words that make sense to your life and start from there.
• Read. Read. Read. Anything will do - even film posters and leaflets.
• Listen. Listen. Listen. The TV, other speakers, audio books, songs…
• Make your own sentences. The old primary school exercise is perfect to get going with using words on your own.

If you’d like to read more:

• Some tips to learn any language.
• Really easy-to-use online English dictionaryand thesaurus
• Excellent free audio and video based courses for 36 languages, from BBC.

*e x p a n d* completed its first batch last week. (For those who came in late - *e x p a n d* is part of *EVOLVE*, Kaleidoscope’s growth program for youngsters. It aims to equip children with the concepts, skills and belief systems to deal with the world around them  - and which the education system does not provide! Read more>>)

On Sunday March 29, we had a valedictory session, where the participants, all aged between 10 and 14, presented their experiences of six months, with a whole lot of charts, slide decks, demos and very vocal, enthusiastic explanations.

Doting parents and other friends of Kaleidoscope came in expecting the usual open-house and were plesantly suprised at the enthusiastic lot and their articulate presentations on topics ranging from communication and balance to emotional literacy, career choices and visual language. Which, by the way, are all sessions that they had had in the *e x p a n d* classes. The range of topics and the confidence and clarity demonstrated by the presenters stood out in this event. 

The audience response ranged from “I never knew my kid knew all that” to “I’m overwhelmed” to “Wish I’d had a course like this when I was a kid”. In fact, most of the topics covered under the *EVOLVE* program are applicable at all stages of life in one form or other - which makes it relevant to participants and audience, irrespective of their age.

We are very happy and proud of our first  *e x p a n d* batch. We know they have learned a great deal. The process has been mind-blowingly enriching for us as well. And we know we are on the right track with this program.

Kaleidoscope offers Interknit, a new 3 week program for 10-15 year olds in association with the Education Times.  The aim of the program is to provide activity-based learning in several areas including communication, planning and organization, the art of skillful discussion, art for school work, voice and theatre exercises, writing exercises and the like.  

Interknit (meaning to knit together or unify) brings together different kinds of activity under one theme. Participants get a little bit of everything, and also a sound learning experience on the whole. The program is designed from Kaleidoscope’s master curriculum and employs a range of learning resources.

• Course duration: 60 hours
• April 13- May 1; Monday to Friday; 2 pm to 6 pm
• Call us for more details

Little drops of water. Little grains of sand. Make the mighty ocean. And the beauteous land…

Can you

• Turn off some lights and reduce global warming?
• Use your tiny vote to make a difference to the election?
• Find 10 minutes for yourself every day and feel any different?

Maybe you can. Maybe you can’t. You could only give it a shot.

If things change, you can’t ever ”prove” it was because of your actions. If things don’t change, you could always say “How could that little thing have made a difference any way?!”

Take your pick.

Sometimes, change comes with much drama and fanfare. More likely, we’ve observed, that it creeps up quietly at the tail end of a bunch of small, seemingly unconnected events and actions.

Many small actions work together to create large impacts. Especially when the actions are

• Done consistently for a period of time
• Applied in everyday tasks
• Thought about often (But not judged and evaluated every minute)

This belief underlies pretty much all our programs. We’re convinced it works.

Pick a small action. Apply it for 8 weeks everyday. Enjoy your discoveries. Share them with us.

A quick overview of the summer of 09 at Kaleidoscope. Click here for the  complete schedule.