Happenings

Capoeira with Mr. Michał Sławiński

IHS students had the opportunity to meet and interact with Mr. Michał Sławiński, a capoeira practitioner from Poland. Michal had initially started his training in tai chi and kung fu, and had dabbled a bit in kickboxing before finding his calling in capoeira. While at IHS, Michal conducted an assembly, during which time he provided an overview of this 500-year old Brazilian martial art form, an amalgamation of fight, dance, rhythm and movement. He also conducted separate introductory sessions for interested Middle and Senior school students, on 25^th and 27^th December respectively, where he taught a few basic steps.

 

Exploring Theatre with Thespian en

On the 16th of December, 2016, the theatre TED students along with a few other interested students had the opportunity to attend an acting workshop conducted by Mr. Ajit Chitturi and Mr. Rajeev Anand, who are the part of a theatre group from Chennai called Thespian En.

Thespian En was founded in 1994 by Creative Director Ajit Chitturi under the auspices of theatre veteran Mohammed Yousuf. The aim was to provide more, and better, theatre. The group has since then trained and evolved more than 250 actors. While Ajit is a voice specialist, Rajeev is an acting specialist.

There were around 23 participants and the workshop was conducted over a period of 3 hours. Out of these 3 hours, the first 1.5 hours were dedicated to voice exercises which focused on breath, diction, delivery and projection. The sole purpose was to improve voice quality. The second half was dedicated to acting techniques. Participants looked at eyes as a medium of expression, building up and breaking down character, reacting to sound and posture and movement.
No one realized just how quickly the time went by. It was a theatrical treat.

Guest Interaction with Tabla Artist Mr. Rahul Pophali

On the 26th of December, the students had the privilege of meeting, Mr. Rahul Pophali, a professional tabla player who has been practicing his art form for more than twenty-seven years.
He started his initial training at the age of 10, after he got inspired by watching Ustad Zakir Hussain on a television show. He initially trained under Pandit Raghonath Agashe after which he furthered his training under the mentorship of Pandit Nishikanth Barodekar and still continues to do so, in the Punjab Gharana. His professional career debut was at the age of 19 and since then he has performed in the US, Europe, Hong Kong, Dubai and many other places. He has collaborated with many artists from different genres including Folk, Rock, Flamenco, Electronic, Jazz and World Fusion.
Mr. Rahul Pophali conducted a lec-dem assembly during which time he introduced to the audience to the language and intricacies of the tabla. He mesmerized the audience as he went back and forth between reciting the tabla bol pattern and demonstrating the corresponding fingering.
Through variations in strokes, he was able to convey a conversation. Mr. Pophali also conducted a tabla workshop for select students, and furthered their understanding and appreciation of the instrument.

Haiku Happenings

On the 9th of December, eight IGCSE 9th grade student-teachers conducted a haiku workshop for the middle school. Having completed a haiku mini-book project themselves in the previous term, they felt confident enough to take on this challenge.

“Students were given some preparation time, a workshop plan, and some guidelines to work on in pairs, with some tips here and there,” shared Mrs. Amishi Doshi, their English teacher and mentor for this workshop.

A haiku is traditionally a three-line poem with seventeen syllables, written in a 5-7-5 syllable count, which focuses on directness of expression and juxtaposes two images and/or ideas. The student-teachers provided a brief history of this ancient form of Japanese poetry, explained how to write a haiku and facilitated the writing process.

“The student-teachers did a great job! They [even] followed a structured lesson plan,” shared MS English teacher, Mrs. Shyamala G. “It was delightful to see them helping students individually, particularly those who needed additional help. The students really enjoyed the session,” added MS English teacher Mrs. Chandrika Patel.

“To learn from a different person, especially a fellow student, was a new experience,” shared Vedant Patil, Akashmalli Class.  “I wrote one poem and [the student-teacher] said it was impressive. I was delighted and wrote seven more.”

For the neophyte teachers, teaching wasn’t as easy as they anticipated. They faced a few disinterested students, but managed to channel their indifference into the desired form of expression.

Sarcasm

I’m not bored at all

I’m not using sarcasm

When does this class end?

– Araj S. Dariwal, Manoranjita Class

 

“At first, [the participants] didn’t open up. As we interacted with them more, they relaxed. As the atmosphere became more casual and informal, they came out with a lot of creative ideas,” said Vrisha Vekaria.

Although traditional haikus generally use nature as their subject, when students were given the option to write haikus on topics of their own choice. The workshop concluded with a haiku-writing contest, where students had to come up with a haiku in three minutes.

Featured below are select pieces from each class:

 

Neuer

Blocking all the goals

Top or bottom he is there

The god of football.

– Parun Sethupathy, Mandara Class

 

Fireworks

Bursting in the sky,

They have lots of bright colours

Shining in the dark.

– Ritvikaa Sarathi, Manoranjita Class

 

Little Slug

A small little slug

Climbing up big Mount Fuji

Hope he won’t fall down!

– Cibikumar K, Kanakambara Class

 

Rivers

Rivers flow down hills

Shimmering in the bright sun

Home to many fish

– Shravya S. Iyer, Akashmalli Class

National Mathematics Day – A ‘Mathemagical’ Celebration

On the 22^nd of December, IHS commemorated National Mathematics Day with a kaleidoscope of “mathemagical” events. The day included a special assembly, a math exhibition and fun-filled numerical treasure hunt.

In 2012, the then Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh declared December 22^nd as National Mathematics Day at a function which commemorated the 125^th birth anniversary of Indian mathematician and autodidact Srinivasa Ramanujan.

Fittingly, the day began with a tribute to the life and legacy of Ramanujan. The presentation included a short biography, card tricks based on coding principles and a ‘magic square dance’ featuring Ramanujan’s birth date.

Budding mathematicians from across the school worked feverishly over the preceding weeks to meet the deadline. Students also worked behind the scenes supporting with coordination and logistics.

“The excitement of the students is what inspired me,” shared Dr. Suhas Saha, Head of the Mathematics Department and Co-Coordinator of the event. “I want to make math accessible to everyone – students and teachers.”

“We love mathematics. While teaching, we discovered that many students do not like this subject. We decided to expose students to the beauty and deeper aspects of mathematics. We felt that 22^nd December would be an apt day for a mathematical celebration and culmination of student projects,” shared Co-Coordinator and Math Teacher Mrs. Nidhi Tyagi.

The math exhibition-cum-carnival was the highlight of the day. Junior school students gave presentations to their seniors on a variety of concepts using manipulatives and materials from their Montessori classroom and from the Ramanujan Museum & Math Education Centre. The Middle school section included displays on permutations, river crossing puzzles, Collatz conjecture, modular multiplication circles, the tower of Hanoi, the Monty-Hall problem and Piks theorem.

Senior school students focused on cryptography, geometrical marvels, mathematical art displays, puzzles and brain teasers, statistical analyses of school surveys, estimation games, trivia stations on famous mathematicians, and a variety of examples of mathematical application in daily life.

“I used to think of math as a very dry subject,” said class 10 student Abinaya Damodaran, “but after exploring different aspects of math, I realized that there’s so much more to the subject.”

The icing on the cake for all the math aficionados was a mathematical treasure hunt, where students and teachers teamed up for the race to the finish line.

“It’s been more than eight years since I’ve been teaching math and science to Middle School and Senior School students,” said Sivakumar S. “The Math Day was an enriching experience not only for the students, but also for me as well. I’ve learnt a lot in this process.”

Plans are already underway for next year’s celebration.