Page 262 - DAIS Insignia 2021-2022

EcoSpeak La salud mental no es una broma
The world lies in imbalance. From the largest rainforests to the smallest mangroves,
ripples of human activity can be felt throughout nature. While humanity races
towards scientific and social advancement, we have left the environment abused and
degraded to levels hitherto unheard of. Rising sea levels, scorching temperatures and
a critical depletion of natural resources are all symptoms of the disease that plagues
nature today.
Choosing the path of inaction is folly. EcoSpeak resolutely stands by this
philosophy. Awareness is the first step towards change; as such we are committed
to amplifying students' voices on pressing environmental issues. Through
EcoSpeak, we aim to provide an exposition to the environment to make you more
cognizant of nature surrounding us by
creating a magazine that focuses on
bolstering environmental and social
awareness.
Even with the pandemic ruling out
multiple extra steps we would have liked
to take, we were determined to make
EcoSpeak a success. Therefore, in order
to expand our impact, we also
collaborated with and sought
submissions from another school
named Dnyanmandir Vidyalaya, Powai.
We would like to thank all students for their submissions and would also like to express
gratitude to all the teachers who came together to help us.
Our team was divided into a number of units, looking after content creation, collection,
editing, outreach and layout. Collaboration was essential for our success as a team.
Although there were difficulties like being unable to collect enough articles for our
magazine, we persevered as a group and were able to meet our deadlines. Each member did
their work in an organized manner and everyone helped each other when required.
We do hope that EcoSpeak was able to change or perhaps strengthen, the environmentalist
mindset within our audience and that this project will be taken further next year.
Sia Harisingani
THEATRE
Theatre at the IB Level enables students, much like us, to be equiped the various
skills required of a practitioner on stage. Ranging from design concepts like
lighting and costumes to acting techniques like proxemics and characterisation,
the course encouraged us to broaden our view of theoretical concepts,
particularly those that form the founding blocks of performance. In
understanding the specifics of such theatrical terminology, our classes consist of
systematic yet boundless experimentations that aim to fully explore the topic at
hand. Whether it was exploring the different atmospheres created by varying
paces as indicated by Jacques Lecoq, seven levels of speed or writing reports for
how we would construct a play - our horizons were broadened by the duality of
exploration and analysis that the course maintains.
However, one can correctly state that this was not achieved easily during the
pandemic. When regular classes, those that fit on a white/chalkboard, were
displaced, one can imagine the shock we underwent as theatre students. The
challenge wasn't simply being unable to act, but the difficulties posed to the
collaborative process as a whole and the inability to feed off of each other's
energy. Despite this, as our screens transformed into the CPA, we explored how
the online stage can be used to create theatre. Do different video calling
platforms have different effects on the story we were telling? And how can we
play with individual lighting for a character? It was these questions that
ameliorated our theatrical experience online, ensuring that we remained
connected to our previous experiences during the lockdown.
Neel Maheshwari
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En el mundo de hoy, problemas de salud mental son muy comunes entre los jóvenes, y no podemos identificar una causa definitiva. Sin
embargo, hay demasiadas fuentes de estas aflicciones de salud mental en la vida diaria de estudiantes. Primero, hay causas escolares
como malas notas y presión académica. El campo de educación a un nivel escolar alto es muy competitivo, lo que causa muchos
problemas para los estudiantes. Segundo, hay problemas domésticos como abuso doméstico, niños con padres separados y
problemas con el dinero. La vida en la casa tiene un gran impacto en la salud mental y pensamientos de un niño. Tercero, hay
problemas personales con el amor propio, o con grupos de amigos a través de acoso escolar etcétera. Finalmente, las redes sociales
podrían causar estereotipos negativos sobre el esquema corporal y de esta manera afectar las mentes de jóvenes impresionables. Las
problemas de cada persona son diferentes, pero muchas de las veces las causas son de unos de estas categorías.
Luego, quiero decir que los síntomas de salud mental son diferentes en cada persona, y hay diferentes tipos de problemas de salud
mental. Los problemas más comunes son el trastorno obsesivo-compulsivo, depresión, y la ansiedad. En continuación, los niños que
tienen estos problemas, pueden aislarse, no tener interés en sus estudios, no comunicarse o hablar mucho. Pero, unos de los
problemas más grandes son las autolesiones, porque es muy peligroso.
Ahora, estemos donde estemos y no podemos evitar estos problemas, pero hay muchas cosas que las escuelas y adultos podrían hacer
para los niños. Quiero subrayar que cuando estamos hablando sobre salud mental, el primer paso siempre es crear conciencia entre
jóvenes sobre no solo los tipos y síntomas de salud mental sino también los recursos como terapeutas, médicos o centros de salud
mental. El efecto más importante de crear conciencia es que el nivel de estigma en torno a la salud mental disminuirá y los niños que
están sufriendo podrían hablar sobre sus problemas con profesionales sin vergüenza ni vacilación. Además, es esencial que tomemos
cuidado de nuestra salud física porque hay un vínculo muy fuerte entre los dos. Sería excelente si pudiera hacer ejercicio regularmente
y comer una dieta equilibrada porque estos van a mejorar su salud mental también.
Para concluir, es imprescindible que recordemos que cada persona es única y no sufre los mismos problemas que otras personas. Cada
persona tiene circunstancias diferentes y por lo tanto cada persona
necesita su tipo personal de ayuda si está sufriendo de problemas de “Social wellbeing is when the social being does well.
salud mental. Por eso, presta atención a todos tus amigos y compañeros Engaging in volunteer people's struggle against the
de clase y compruébalos de vez en cuando. Estamos todos juntos en esta society polluted by socialites, spending quality time with
lucha. the one commune that unites us all, from each
La salud mental no es una broma. according to his ability, to each according to his need,
Ananya Sachdev y Anirudh Fadia is the true meaning of social wellbeing.”
Arnav Sabharwal
English Vinglish
CAS Project English Vinglish has been a major
part of the DAIS community for over five years.
The project's focus is to provide a vital part of the
school community, the non-teaching support
staff, the chance to equip themselves with real-
world skills and conversational English. The
project's stakeholders - the security,
administration, housekeeping, and bus staff –
interacted with thirteen Grade 12 students over
three months in this endeavor.
The support staff felt unequipped to deal with
situations they deemed typical, whether
conversing with their children, speaking to their children's teachers, conducting bank transactions, or navigating online purchasing
platforms. In addition, considering the pandemic and shift of these services to online platform, they often met unfortunate situations
where a non-English alternative was unavailable.
The Support Staff is a pillar of the DAIS community, contributing to the school in every way possible and becoming an integral part of
students' lives. Therefore, it was important to every member of this project to steer them through their challenges and help them
effectively communicate their ideas in English. Giving back to those who give us so much was the goal!
Every year this project builds on past efforts. The Support Staff was well versed in a range of vocabulary. Therefore, this year the project
revolved around improving their abilities to form sentences to enable fluency in the language, especially in the present tense. This was
complemented by confronting the issue of confidence in our guided weekly sessions.
The Friday sessions were looked forward to by both stakeholders as it was an hour of learning and games. Students used Quizlet to
create flashcards with vocabulary and tenses, encouraging conversation and eliciting personal examples. Through breakout rooms on
Teams, the project retained its classroom environment with students working in groups re-joining a common session for a few lessons
and general conversation. The pinnacle of their efforts were their short skits and engaging in fascinating conversations in different
settings. After six weeks of interaction, their fluency and confidence were immediately visible.
English Vinglish wanted to be of service to the DAIS Support Staff, helping them find confidence in environments outside the school. It
was a heartwarming experience to interact with the support staff once again and witness their enjoyment and excitement to be with us.
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