Participants Photo: courtesy of CBN
It is always a pleasure to unite with fellows in literacy even it means traveling to Clanwilliam. Or, taking the beauty of the surroundings into consideration, maybe because it means traveling to small town South Africa.
We were invited to the Olifants River Valley area by Children’s Book Network to run a reading/writing session during a three day workshop themed ‘Time and the Valley’. The focus was on the archaeology, the history, the botany, the stories, the culture and the landscape of this rich valley.
The participants were seventeen teenagers from various schools in the area. Everybody loves being read to! So the first part of our session was easy. The story we decided to read and discuss was ‘The Bully‘ by Ros Haden. In typical teenager fashion, there was the initial facade of disinterest and bored faces. This only lasted until the second paragraph before eyes were glued to the page. There was also a hint of impatience and hurried turning at the end of a page. We had them!
The discussion about bullies afterwards was also rewarding. As soon as they understood that there was no right or wrong but that we wanted them to back up their point of view with a convincing argument, they started participating.
The next part of our session involved writing. We asked the participants to think of a memory from the past on which to reflect upon. Start writing a story with: ‘I remember…’ and to free write. Let the words flow. Though most of the participants managed to feel free, there were a few who felt inhibited and found ways to avoid taking part. We had stories about the first time a love for music was discovered, a first horse ride and first soccer goal. First meeting between friends.
The challenge seemed more in getting the teenagers to share their stories with their peers. After sparse sharing, we did an exercise in unlocking the senses (using a wrapped sweet, no less!) and asked them to go back and inject the sounds, smells, tastes, feelings and visual aspects into their stories. Suddenly snakes became red; soccer balls took flight and even a ray of sun had a smell all of its own. There were faces that lit up as these youngsters became enamoured with their own stories awakening.
Click here to read some of the stories.
We were one part in a three day journey with them and hope that the CBN workshop will connect them more closely with themselves (and the importance of their life stories), their community and their surroundings.
Thank you to each of the participants and to CBN. May we work together again in the future.
Click HERE to read what Children’s Book Network wrote about the workshop.