Months ago, I found out about an NGO @kids.smile.surat whose aim is to bring more smiles to the faces of small underprivileged children. On the 28th of November to 4th of December 2021, I visited the NGO to teach some of the art lessons on making portraits based on the medium of charcoal on newsprint paper. I joined Fountainhead School in Grade 5 and since then I am passionate about Fine Arts. I decided to choose my strength and Service component of CAS as a platform to give the most to the underprivileged.
To better execute the project, I decided to enlist the assistance of my neighbours and some of my friends who are affiliated with this NGO to assist in the execution of the lessons being given to the underprivileged, which will allow me to engage with them properly and pay attention to each child. One day before the art workshop, I attempted to put into practise what I had learned in the previous month by exploring portraits in charcoal and basic drawing techniques that might help me explain those children better. I brought all of the resources and paper with me to the NGO, where I could give them these resources to explore on their own without any instructions. This assisted them in opening their minds and hands to freely draw throughout the workshop.
VIDEO REFLECTION:
LO1: Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth: The day I visited the NGO, I was worried about how will I manage to teach these children in an entire week within 3 hours each day. Being an introverted person I don’t usually speak to everybody, but only to people who I have been for years. The Service got more challenging when I was not able to explain some English Art terminologies to them. As I have experienced teaching in bal-mela and other school events I was able to communicate with them. Here my strengths to be creative helped me where I showed them pictures of my artwork and my practice of charcoal on newsprint paper which made the concepts understanding to them.
LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process: It is said by many that “The more you teach, the more you learn”, Before my Diwali break we had our unit in IBDP VA classes about human anatomy, nude study, stilt life, and life study. In this unit, for the first time, I learned about the use of Charcoal as a medium. Through this experience, I was able to improve my skills by delivering my knowledge to children about strokes, lines, shading, light and shadow, form, and proportions.
LO3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience: In the first place I contacted the NGO, with the help of one of the volunteers, who already did a session there. I organized my experience by sorting children according to their age group. I divided them into two groups and gave them dates and timings accordingly so that I could manage them properly. I made a list of children and gathered resources accordingly, My task was to teach them to make portraits, and to achieve that I made three steps which each child had to follow.
LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences: I am not saying to just say that I was committed over my experience It can be seen in my work. At the end of the session, half of the children were left to complete a portrait, I took an additional session the next day with those children so that they could learn from the knowledge I have today.
LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively: On the second day with a smaller age group it was hard to manage them. When I visited the classroom there was nobody, not a single child was there, I had to gather those children with the help of the higher age group children, with whom I had my 1st session. In the first session, I created a bond with them which helped me, teach smaller ones by working collaboratively.
LO6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance: When I visited the slum area, I found that the children there were not going to school at the first hand but they started going when the NGO had the fundraising campaign to pay off their admission fees in a local school. Parents were not ready to send their children to schools in the first place because of the financial crisis. The NGO already has teachers who teach the concepts of Maths, English, Hindi, History, and EVS. They didn’t have teachers for extra-curricular activities though they had resources for it. My teaching helped them to explore a new medium that they might have never thought of using. I think my Art lessons might help them improve their skills and interest in the subject which might help them in the future.
LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions: During my lessons, I found that there were fewer girls participating because my teaching lessons timing was at eve which caused them to be called early at home. I gave them homework but they refused and told me that “ama mare gi, agar der se ghar aaye toh”, “kal mei nai aayegi, kam karne jaana hai”. I was feeling that being a female their mother is not supporting their children and understanding what they want to do.
All in all, I found the experience very enjoyable and had very good learning with small children there. After the lessons, their face had a big smile which still comes to my mind when I think about them.
–Arjun Agarwal