Love for the art of storytelling

Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of education and a great art in the world. Anita Abdulle always enjoyed it and after attending the capacity building workshops as part of the Foundation’s Shikshaantar program in association with Grammangal, she acknowledged her skill of storytelling and began incorporating the technique in teaching the toddlers. A creative head and storyteller, Anita is a pre-primary school teacher at Nehru Nagar balwadi in Pune. She is a trained elementary school teacher certified in Nursery Teacher’s Training and holds more than 25 years of rich experience in teaching.

Before the Foundation’s intervention, Anita was conducting her classes in the conventional ‘Chalk and Talk’ manner and was more focused on making her students sit in one place and learn. During the workshops, she learned about the stages of child development and how she can facilitate a child at different steps. The training sessions helped her identify her strengths and weaknesses and also instigated her to develop a constructivist approach in the classroom. An enthusiastic participant, her creativity clearly reflects in the Teaching Learning Materials she created during the workshops. The training has boosted her confidence and enhanced her skills. The Shikshaantar program was designed with an aim to enhance early-childhood knowledge and skills of pre-primary teachers teaching children in the age-group 3-6 years of age, by far the most important developmental stage in children.

Her passion for storytelling helped her connect and communicate with the children better and encouraged them to understand the concepts. She has created storytelling corners in her classrooms and they are a big hit among her toddlers. Musical instruments are an integral part of her classroom teaching. Besides, she likes to share and impart knowledge about cultural events and festivities using various activities. While interacting with parents, she tries to encourage them to participate in the enrichment of the balwadi. She often organises events like ‘Best Out of Waste’ camps for the parents to rekindle their creative side.