STARTALK Balvihar Hindi Summer Camp 2018
Theme Intermediate
The theme for this year’s Startalk program is Exploring India through its colorful stories and meaningful parables about learning from, and sharing knowledge with others. Through these stories, students will become aware of culture specific practices and moral norms of India. This theme would serve as the focus of what this cohort will learn during the program. In addition, they will compare common moral categories and behaviors between the two cultures, such as conflict resolution, bullying, teamwork, tolerance towards others’ perspectives, etc. Also, they will learn about the various traditional ways of story-telling in India by visiting the Center of Puppetry Arts exhibition and by participating in a workshop with a local Hindi speaking puppet artist. Specifically,they will read, view and listen to one parable and explore its characters, setting and the message of the story. Then, they will compare the main event in the story with their own life and discuss how the main message applies to real-life situations in their everyday life. In groups, they will explore the cultural significance of the characters in the story and will view or/read a different story and suggest a different outcome, based on the moral of the first story. They will extend the original story with new characters and settings. Finally, based on what they have learned, students will create their own story. They will work together to create a storybook and present their story using
two different styles of storytelling (video story, puppet show, kaavaR kathaa, etc.). Each student participates in different clubs and the work in it will support the final product. Students will participate in Online learning sessions in the beginning of the camp, with the focus on literacy skills and sentence structures used to describe themselves, a person and a place. They will also present about themselves, a friend or celebrity, and a place, on the online platform. The online session will serve as a foundation for the face-to face sessions.
Novice
The theme for this year’s Startalk program is Exploring India through Friendship and Togetherness stories from the colorful Panchtantra (stories with animals as main characters) collection, through which students will become aware of culture specific practices and moral norms. This theme would serve as the focus of what this cohort will learn during the program. In addition, they will learn about positive character traits such as bravery, loyalty, helping others, kindness etc., through the actions of characters of the stories. They will learn vocabulary and phrases related to geography
and environment (natural features, landforms, plants & animals). Also, they will learn about the various traditional ways of story-telling in India by visiting the Center of Puppetry Arts exhibition and by participating in a workshop with a local Hindi speaking puppet artist. Specifically, they willread (with the help of pictures and memorized words/phrases), view and listen to one Panchtantra (stories with animals as main characters) story and explore its characters, setting and message of the story. Then, they will compare the main event in the story with another Panchtantra story
with similar message. They will retell, with the help of pictures, memorized words and phrases, one of the two stories, with new characters. Finally, based on what they have learned and working in groups, students will create their own story. They will work together to create a storybook (using
pictures, memorized words and phrases), and present their story using two different styles of storytelling (video story, puppet show, kaavaR kathaa, etc.). Each student participates in different clubs and the work in it will support the final product. Students will participate in Online learning sessions in the beginning of the camp, where they will learn to read and write Hindi script and some basic sentence structures used to describe
themselves and a familiar place. This will work as a foundation to the face to face portion of the camp.
Advance low
Performance Range: Intermediate High to Advance Low
The theme for this year’s Startalk program is Exploring India through its colorful stories about respect and tolerance of others, through which students will become aware of culture specific practices and moral norms. In addition, they will compare behaviors between the two cultures,
and explore the roots of democracy and free speech even under autocratic rule in ancient India. They will analyze the main character’s point of view on issues such as diversity (socio-economic, personality, disability etc.) and apply it to suggest solutions to issues facing modern day society. Also, they will learn about the various traditional ways of story-telling in India by visiting the Center of Puppetry Arts exhibition and by participating in a workshop with a local Hindi speaking puppet artist. Specifically, they will read, view and listen to a historic story comprising of multiple related events and explore its characters, setting and the message of the story. Then, they will compare the main events in the story with their own life and discuss how the main message applies to real-life situations in their everyday life. In groups, they will explore the cultural significance of the characters in the story and will re-tell the story and suggest a different outcome. They will extend the original story with new characters and settings. Finally, based on what they have learned, students will create their own story. They will work together to create a storybook and present their story using two different styles of story-telling (video story, puppet show, kaavaR kathaa, etc.). Each student participates in different clubs and the work in it will support the final product.Students will participate in Online learning sessions in the beginning of the camp, with the focus on literacy skills. They will describe a famous person, what makes the person great and what they like about that person and describe a place of tourist or historical interest. They will present about a person and a place of their choice, on the online platform. The online session will serve as a foundation for the face-to face sessions.