For the past couple of weeks, I have been volunteering in the Sinhala classroom for MYP with Ms Dilini Silva. Sinhala is a fairly new and foreign subject for the kids at OSC so the MYP Sinhala department has decided to conduct a Sinhala story-telling session where you teach the kids a simple story in both Sinhala and English. Through this, the kids catch up a few Sinhala words each lesson.  So when myself and Anouk, from DP2, started to volunteer in this story-telling we decided it would be better to start off with simple stories.

On the first day, we did the story about the hare and tortoise.  First, we showed them a video of the story in Sinhala. Then Anouk recited the story in English and I repeated in Sinhala. Once the story was finished we asked them to tell us the Sinhala names for certain words and vice versa. The kids were very interactive and eager to answer all our questions. I was amazed by how quick they were to learn entirely new words. The following week we did the story on the crow and the cheese. It also followed the same procedure but myself and Anouk shifted the table around so I told the story in English and her in Sinhala. It was very enjoying to work with the small kids. Up to now, we’ve completed about 4 simple stories and hope to do one more before the school year ends.

I am very glad I signed up for this and would like to thank Ms Dilini for her great support extended. It’s sad to realize that this would only last a couple of lessons more but nonetheless, I’m grateful for this opportunity. I am looking forward to the next class to hear the little kids unmute themselves all at once and scream around answers.

Learning outcomes:

• Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

Myself and Anouk discussed together, the story we are going to do each class and the approach to be taken. When doing so we have to consider the age of the kids and their capacity. We also have to make sure it’s interesting for the kids and that it contains a moral.

• Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.

The Sinhala story-telling is usually scheduled for Thursdays from 10.30 to 11.00 am. It falls between the first and second blocks so I make sure that I manage my time accordingly.

• Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

As I mentioned above, when selecting a story we always consider whether it is suitable for their age and that they enjoy it. We also make sure not to include any kinds of discriminations of anyone or anything.