Kids events at GLF
The Fairway Galle Literary Festival Children’s Programme 2018 took place on January 27 and 28, at the Thomas de Gall School in Galle. Set in the colonial building of the Thomas Gall surrounded by nature and a serene environment children from the age groups 3 – 5 years, 5 – 7 years, 8 – 11 years and 12 + years were introduced to a variety of activities that aided in deeper storytelling methods from cultures around the world such as Sri Lanka, Japan, Africa, Europe and the UK.
Programme Coordinator Tracy Holsinger shared, “The focus is on giving young people a lot of practical experience in creating their own work, using a variety of forms such as poetry, prose and drama.”
When Funday Times joined the kids on Saturday at the Thomas Gall School, Tahira Sheriff was doing a reading from her book, “Mariah the Wonderer”. The Reading and Art Workshop, for kids aged 5 to 7 years was based on the adventures of Mariah, a little girl with a big heart who learns important lessons from connecting with people from various backgrounds through “acts of kindness”. Kids were encouraged to interact with Tahira as she took them on the imaginative journey through her words. This was followed by an art workshop by Shimali Perera as kids were encouraged to draw their own acts of kindness as inspired from the themes of the book. “We’re teaching them how important random acts of kindness are to their day to day,” Tahira shared with a smile as many little voices pointed to the story exclaiming “that book made me feel good inside!”
This was followed by a session of “Call and Response” by Kimaya de Silva as she taught the children African folklore of call and response with the help of recycled buckets and ‘S-Lon’ pipes. Children were taught patience and communication with enriched history allowing happy thudding to their makeshift ‘drums’ and teaching them how to communicate harmoniously with each other.
Following the various sounds emerging from looper artist Larry T. Hills session we followed the beats of “boots and cats” to witness children younger than 11 years produce their own musical tracks and rap. The classroom was divided into two sections with one group producing the beat and the others making a story to accompany the looping musical score. Speaking to Zubin Dhal, one of the students intently writing the accompanying rap he said, “I like experimenting with sounds as there’s no limit.” Voicing Michael Jackson as one of his favourite artists, Zubin shared that this session went on par with his interests in instruments and music.
Nine year old Areeba Aflah who was busy producing beats to mix with rap said, “My older sister studied music and she teaches me piano,” adding
“I like beats, singing and beat-boxing.” This is the second time Areeba has come down for the kids programs and she intends to come back again stating, “It’s fun here.
We learn things here that we don’t learn in school.” On the opposite side of the vast garden of the school, Andare’s Adventures had us in hysterics as kids from the age group of 8 to 11 years created short plays and scenes of Sri Lankan folklore with famous court jester Andare through the creative improve techniques found in professional Italian theatre – Commedia dell’Arte theatre. According to the session director Kimaya de Silva this Italian technique “allows kids to be conscious of their surroundings, relationships with other characters and physicality.” This resonated well with the emerging young thespians as one hilariously adopted a rather sombre expression embodying her role as Queen as she ordered her “Servant Perera” to “Bow Down.”
Parallel to this was environmental advocate and artist Firi Rahman’s workshop as he encouraged young students to create animals from Alexander McCall-Smith’s world of Akimbo. Students were encouraged to use recyclable materials as they were given the options of recreating crocodiles, Hippos, pythons etc. Shyan who was busy making a lion out of a plastic bottle shared “I love cats and dogs and all kinds of animals!” An Animal Planet enthusiast he likes coming back for these sessions as his parents explore the adult programmes of the Fairway Galle Literary Festival.
