Read Aloud Project 2023

“While school is the place where literacy develops, it is nurtured and shared throughout the community.”

‘Read Aloud’ is about celebrating the power of reading aloud. It encourages children and adults to grab a book, find an audience and read aloud!

Our children are growing up as part of a culturally diverse world. Hence it is imperative that we make sure that the children’s understanding of Indian as well as worldwide cultures is enriched and reinforced. As a school, we endeavour to highlight the importance of reading books, understanding varied cultures, and being a part of this global linguistic diversity. ‘Read Aloud 2023’ was conceived with this goal in mind.

To achieve this objective, we once again tapped into our most enthusiastic and reliable resource - OUR PARENTS! This year’s parent-initiated ‘Read Aloud’ session, was envisioned and conducted with a twist! The focus was on stories and folk tales from India and around the world. Mr. Anup Deshmukh of Spin a Yarn, India, was our valuable linguistic resource. Mr. Deshmukh is a passionate parent and reader who has been spearheading this event for the last couple of years. Thank you, Mr. Deshmukh!

Our parents identified and narrated stories in languages ranging from Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Kashmiri, and Tamil to Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, and African. While the main story was delivered in English, the stories based in different world languages highlighted the native culture, language, beliefs, and diversity of the region and introduced some key vocabulary.

Each class level was divided into two smaller groups, and they were read to in 2 languages, one Indian language and one foreign language. These tales exposed the students to the big world out there with kinds of different ways of living, growing up, working, and thinking. It was an interactive session, with students participating in oral responses and performing an activity. The parents had designed wonderful activities to follow up on the narrative and to make connections to the story.

The Read-Aloud was conducted in several open spaces around the school, stimulating interest and imagination, and promoting the joy of reading.

Thank you, dear parents and teachers, for your support, enthusiasm, and effort in making our Read Aloud a roaring success.