Generation Facebook!!!

AN ARTICLE FOR THE 'GENERATION FACEBOOK' - OMG!!!! ( Oh My God! ) Is txt mightier than the word?

Is text messaging infecting or liberating the English language? When a 13-year-old Scottish girl handed in an essay written in text message shorthand, she explained to her flabbergasted teacher that it was easier than Standard English. She wrote: ‘My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kids FTF. ILNY, it's a gr8 plc.’ (In translation: ‘My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York. It's a great place.’) The girl's teacher - who asked not to be named - was not impressed, saying: "I could not believe what I was seeing. The page was riddled with hieroglyphics, many of which I simply could not translate." Text messaging, e-mail and computer spellcheckers have long been blamed for declining standards of spelling and grammar. A publisher of a new dictionary warned last Friday of a ‘degree of crisis’ in university students' written English. But could the anonymous Scottish schoolgirl be right? Could ‘txt’ take over more of our expression because addicts simply find it easier than normal writing? And could this mean the liberation of our use of language? Already, text message shortcuts have been adopted by those keen to get their point across in as little space as possible, be it advertising copy, poetry or Biblical passages.

Even Shakespeare - famously inconsistent in his own spelling - might succumb. Is it a great travesty to render his more famous passages in text message shorthand? 2b or not 2b thats ? a @(---`---`--- by any otha name wd sml swEt rm rm w4Ru rm? 1nc mr un2 T brech dr frnds 1nc mr The Lord's Prayer, for instance, could be thought of as somewhat stuffy even in its updated version, so the satirical Christian online magazine ‘Ship of Fools’ ran a competition to rewrite it in 160 characters or less - the length of a mobile phone text message. The winner, Matthew Campbell of York University, condensed it thus: ‘dad@hvn, ur spshl. we want wot u want &urth2b like hvn. giv us food & 4giv r sins lyk we 4giv uvaz. don't test us! save us! bcos we kno ur boss, ur tuf & ur cool 4 eva! ok?’ It may be just a coincidence, but when invited to pick a classic text to read together for ‘World Book Day’ (06.03.03), BBC News Online readers voted for the slimmest volume on the list – ‘Heart of Darkness’, a dark but short read at a mere 96 pages. Rewritten in text, Joseph Conrad's tome would be shorter still. Surely such treatment would make epics such as Tolstoy's ‘War and Peace’ - at present a whopping 1,400+ pages - into a handy pocket-sized read. Posted by Meena and Ruchi Courtesy : http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/inthenews/newstome/0306.shtml

THEATRE WEEK!!

Theatre week at Sancta Maria was such fun!

With a little help from Mr.Shetty, the children put up plays scripted and directed entirely by them. [ Talk about creative genius!] :)

The teachers contributed to an afternoon of fun with a mime and a rather comical and modern version of Cinderella!

-Shailja and Ankita

Theatre Week @ Sancta Maria

Teachers Exploring Puppetry!

Ready for the puppet show ?

Puppets in action!

Miming around! Monkeying around! (Story - Cap seller and the Monkeys)

Miming around! Monkeying around! (Story - Cap seller and the Monkeys)

Trendy Cinderella with a twist! OMG!

Actors and Spectators.....

Children's Theatre! Super Girl to the rescue!

Children's Theatre! Robbers in the dungeon!

On Learning

What I hear, I forget.

What I hear and see, I remember a little.

What I hear, see, and ask questions about or discuss with

someone else, I begin to understand.

What I hear, see, discuss, and do, I acquire knowledge and skill.

What I teach to another, I master. (Silberman, 1996, p. 1)

Few questions teachers need to ask frequently:

Are our children getting enough opportunities to discuss and do things?

Do students get to explain what they do? Is there peer teaching happening?

Splash of Colours

Holi marks the advent of spring and people celebrate it joyously with a ‘Splash of Color’; as we named this celebration! Holi heralds the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Holi celebrations match the mood of the nature and the riot of Holi colors match the flowers in full bloom.

As we celebrated Holi, students and teachers threw colored water with pichkaari (a traditional device to spray colored water from a distance keeping oneself safe). Laughter and mischief added to the gaiety of the occasion. Traditional Indian sweets, the laddoo, were distributed to all at the Campus.

As one group gets ready to spray their friend with colours of the session.....

....the other group gets ready for retaliation!!

Holi aayee reee......'

Holi aayee reee......'

Enjoying the season of 'fun 'n' frolic'!!

How can the teachers be spared!?

Finally drenched in colours....

4th Virtus Workshop @ Sancta Maria

The 4^th Virtus Workshop by the Sancta Marians was held at Sancta Maria’s School library on March 5^th, 2011.

The toys tinkered and the stories charmed!

The children along with their parents enjoyed making toys and listening to stories. Aathira, G-2 was at her demonstrating best when she explained the process of putting the bird in the cage. The audience had a hands on experience of how animation and optical illusion works when they made the revolving wheel with stick figures in different positions.

The stories of ‘The Wise One’, ‘Wee Gillis’ and ‘Horton Hatches an Egg’ transformed the audience to a magical world of fantasy and at the same time leaving them pondering over the understated message in them. As Mrs. Shetty quoted in her concluding words to the parents – “I am a curved mirror. I have no identity of my own, except what you show me.”

The perfect ambience for story telling!

Mrs. Shetty and ‘The Giant’ (Story – ‘The Wise One’)

Aathira at her demonstrating best (Toy – Bird in the Cage)

Equally enthusiastic parents

Equally enthusiastic parents

Equally enthusiastic parents

Equally enthusiastic parents

Meena with Wee Gillis and his Bagpipe (Story – Wee Gillis)

Optical illusion – hands on experience!

Horton, the elephant up on a tree! (Story – Horton Hatches an Egg)

The audience spell – bound!

Mrs. Shetty with her thought provoking concluding words!

WORLD BOOK DAY @ Sancta Maria

Sancta Maria observed the World Book Day on March 4^th, 2011 in the school library. The children of Grade 1,2,3 and 8 read out stories to the Pre-Primary children. It was the perfect platform for these kids to share their stories and explore their skills at story telling. The interesting part was when the Pre-Primary children got so motivated that they grabbed a book too and wanted to tell their stories! The World of Books is magical indeed!

Practicing the presentation!

Engrossed!

Shreyas and Scooby Dooby Doo………

Sanchin at her best narrative form!

Children glued to the narration

Aathira and ‘The Sleeping Beauty’

Ethan enthralling the kids!

Pia – the story teller!

The ‘littlest’ ones also charmed by books!

The ‘littlest’ ones also charmed by books!