Hi, I am Avinash Joseph Almeida. I am an Explorer, Adventurer, Facilitator, Traveler, and much more. I am facilitating children's learning in different spaces for the past 9 years. My first working space was Swadhaa- a Steiner school, (Pune) later I shifted to Bookworm - a library in Goa, T. L. C. (the learning center) in Goa was my previous stop. Right now I am facilitating at Chaitanya Kul in East U.P.
Payal and Palak
Dedicated Facilitator: Avinash Joseph Almeida
Payal and Palak are sisters. The older one is Payal, she is 10 years old and Palak is 9 years old, although I am a little bit suspicious about her age and I feel she is a year younger. They come from a small village called Adari, Which comes under the district Mau, which belongs to the state of U.P.
‘Chaitanya Kul in its nature is a free learning space, where children come and become self-directed learners. However, with Palak and Payal, the initial few days were boring not for them but me. Because they were expecting to be taught in a mainstream way, although it was boring for me. Given my thoughts, I just went with the flow and through the process, they have finally begun to understand what is going on.
Common Factors - There are certain common traits, in both the sisters. They treated ‘Chaitanya Kul’ as a tuition/study center. The initial first few days, they only wanted to study from the book. If I made any attempt to do any activity that didn’t involve the book, they wouldn’t consider that they learned something. To break that cycle I have decided to build a schedule, for 1 hour they would study and for the next hour, we would do some activity. Although this schedule became a problem at their home because about activities their mother thinks that girls were playing only. And when a child is moving joyfully, they are not Learning. But now girls, themselves found a way. They study from the book and then go back home & tell their mother. And after five minutes they come back to learn through creative ways.
Individual Factors – Payal is the older sister and being the older one, she has a lot of dominance over her smaller sister (Palak). This became a problem for me because the younger sister depended on Payal to give the solutions. Also at times, Payal would prompt are you mad? If she does not get something right. After days of observing, I made her aware of the situation and she agreed that she wouldn’t impose herself while she is in ‘Chaitanya Kul.’
It has been 4 weeks ever since both sisters started to come. Now Payal has understood the space and has started to become curious and started to ask questions about whatever she has been learning, which also gives me an idea of how to progress.
Palak, on the other hand, is a little tough to connect. She is fearful when she does not see her sister (Payal) around. E.g. I told her to do an activity once, where she had to go outside and tell me the number of leaves, that are there on the baby plant. She refused to move. I couldn’t understand it at first, but after talking to Satyam I realized that this behavior is a product of their family issues. And with compassion and care, I can help Palak to overcome her fears and be a confident independent child.
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