It's good to be home! Today presented the perfect opportunity for the children to learn some more about their own country, Trinidad and Tobago. Some of our campers live outside of Trinidad and Tobago but their parents are Trinidadian so hopefully they went home with a little more knowledge about the land of their ancestors! This morning I started off by showing my little readers a very short video about Trinidad Carnival in 1957. There were lots of "Oooos" and "Ahhhs" at the sight of the Dinosaur and mermaid costumes. The children rather enjoyed the dramatic displays of Carnival of old. I showed them the clip about Carnival because my younger readers were treated to the story of Boy Boy and the Magic Drum, written by Machel Montano. This story tells the tale of how one little boy, as small as a toy, saves the Peace Parade by playing the magic drum! His parents laughed when he told them of his plans to save the Peace Parade, but he was determined. He took to the streets and began to play the magic drum. Everyone joined in, playing the tambu bamboo, bottle and spoon and other instruments. Rich and poor came together to save the Peace Parade. As we read the story I asked the children what they thought the magic drum referred to. That question was too easy, they all eagerly answered "the steel pan." Similarly, they also concluded that the Peace Parade could be likened to Carnival. They answered these same questions in their passports and of course coloured a picture of the national flag. I chose to read the folklore tale of Ti Jeanne's Last Laundry for my older readers. Before we read we discussed folklore at length. They seemed very interested in these fictional tales! I decided I would show them the animated short story of Papa Bois and the Duennes. They concluded that the story was very "creepy!' lol. Ti Jeanne's Last Laundry is the tale of how Maman Dlo (the protector of the rivers, streams and ponds of the forest) turned Ti Jeanne into a water fairy (mermaid). The children were extremely interested in the description of Maman Dlo. Maman Dlo's upper body was that of an old African woman and her lower body was that of an anaconda. When Maman Dlo rose on her tail she was 7 feet tall! "OMG! that is scary miss!" I asked two simple questions of my older readers; Was the story fact or fiction? and How did the story make you feel/what emotion did the story evoke? Everyone agreed that the story was fictional. Most of the children agreed that the story made them feed scared, because of the description of Maman Dlo. Some of the boys decided to be different. They stated that they felt happy/excited that Ti Jeanne was turned into a water fairy. They transcribed this discussion in their passports and they too coloured the national flag. Here are some pictures from our reading sessions: Take a look at some Trini inspired art done in the Arty Pants Studio session.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |