IAPE MUMBAI BRANCH
The Indian Association for Preschool Education (IAPE a national voluntary non-profit organization was established in 1964, with the goal of bringing together professionals in the field of early childhood education and child development, in the interest of the young child.
Mumbai Branch of IAPE is one of the several branches across the country. The membership of the organization comprises of individuals and institutions.
Mumbai branch has an active executive committee of 13 members who together plan and organize a variety of programs to empower the preschool teachers and concerned adults. The programs include workshop, refresher courses, conferences, seminars, parent interaction programs, and consultancy services to preschool, advocacy and net working with other NGOs.
2001 - 2002
The year 2001 to 2002 was a year of varied activities for IAPE Mumbai Branch.
Meeting and Workshops
- 7th, 8th and 9th June 2001 at Gurukul Group of Schools, Ghatkopar.
“Readiness to Read and write” by Myrtle Nazareth, Senior IAPE E.C. member
Refresher Course for pre primary teachers of the school on English Language which included visual and auditory perception, writing, music, movement, organization of students, their emotional development, plan and optimum use of space and material.
2. 4th August, 2001 at Bandra Hindu Association
“ Emphasizing Child’s Self Worth” by Joyeeta Sengupta, ex Coordinator, Arya Vidya Mandir Institute for Teacher Training, Juhu,
A full day workshop, which emphasized the need for increasing the self-worth of children. The focus was on becoming aware of children’s strengths to make them feel respected and feel special for what they are. Varied activities were done to help the teacher in discovering herself and her role in raising the self esteem of children.
3. 14th and 15th September 2001: at UCDC Bandra
“Scientific enquiry and thinking skills in young children” by Jasmine Bheda, Lecturer, SNDT Women’s University, Juhu.
A two day workshop where different science experiences were provided to the participants to help them make children go through the process of discovery, exploration, satisfying curiosity and observing details.
4. 8th December 2001 : Two simultaneous workshops –
- at SNDT Women’s University, Juhu.
“Yoga and other activities for children”, by- Aban Mukherjee and Varsha Desai, Pre Primary teachers of New Era School, a highly creative workshop where the Yogic asanas were brought to the children’s level and activities were done to imbibe in the children a the spirit of cooperation rather than competition.
- at Victoria Memorial School for Blind, Haji Ali.
“Auditory Perception in preparation for Reading and Spelling” by Myrtle Nazareth, Senior EC member of the IAPE Mumbai branch. A full day workshop where she emphasized on the ability that an individual has, to recognize and interpret what is heard by associating with memories of past experience. Activities related to listening and discrimination were given.
5. 15th and 16th February 2001: Two full day seminar on
“Quality in Early Childhood Teacher Education” at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Deonar, Principals, Heads and Supervisors of different Teacher training institutes and schools attended. Group discussions were organized to discuss strategies for quality improvement in the field of ECCE and also the need of regulation in ECCE. The formation of the Board for Early Childhood Education was put forth.
6.Need based modules for consultancy was offered for setting up the pre primary section of Kasturi Memorial ICSE School. Dombivili St. Xavier’s College of Education, Marine Lines, and Rishikul Group of Schools, Bandra.
2002 - 2003
The year 2002 to 2003 was a very hectic year for IAPE Mumbai branch. Besides being involved with empowering pre primary teachers with different skills it was decided to reach out to the parent community and invite experts in the field of pediatrics, child psychology and child development for better parent – child relationship.
Meetings and Workshops
2002-03
1. 3rd to 7th June 2002: “Refresher Course
– KISMIF- KEEP IT SIMPLE MAKE IT FUN” at Nehru Science Centre, Worli.
A refresher course on Science, Maths and Educational Technology by Dr. Routella, Head. Nehru Science Centre and his team of Science Experts and Ms. Jana Mahadevan and Ms. Nalini Chugani, Senior IAPE Resource persons. The programme involved activity-based learning, use of technology in classroom education and 2 hour 30 minutes of computer training everyday on 1:1 basis.
2. 17th August 2002
Two Simultaneous Workshops:
- SVDD English School, Ghatkopar. “Project Method” by Ms. Shanta Borkar where she provided related activities and experiences for an in depth study of a topic covering all areas of learning.
- New Era School, Hughes Road: “Preparing for reading and spelling – the Phonics Way” by Mrs. Tanee Trivedi. She emphasized on the sounds of the alphabets and the stages that the children must go through to understand the sound of the hard and soft consonants and vowels. Different experiences and activities were provided for the same.
3. Tuesday 20th August 2002:
“Building Partnerships with Media for Advocacy for the Young Child” at the Hall of Quest, basement, Nehru Planetarium, Worli.
IAPE and Maharashtra FORCES (Forum for Creche and Child Care Services) both bodies of professionals working in the field of early childhood care and development in collaboration with Department of Post Graduate Studies and Research in Home Science SNDT University organized an interactive meet with the media to take up the cause of the young child in the field of early childhood, care and education and present a holistic perspective of the varied issues in the field.
4. 21st September 2002
Repeat of the above two workshops.
a)New Era School: “Project Method” by Ms. Shanta Borkar.
b)SVDD English School, Ghatkopar “Preparing for reading and spelling – the Phonics Way” by Mrs. Tanee Trivedi.
5. 30th November 2002 at Udayachal School, Vikhroli. A full day workshop on “Language Development” by Ms. Myrtle Nazareth Sr. IAPE EC member, Listening speaking, reading and writing, the 4 basic components of language were taken up and related experiences and activities were provided.
6) 15th February 2002
Two simultaneous workshops
- Arya Vidya Mandir, Juhu: “How Children Learn” by Ms. Joyeeta Sengupta An interactive workshop which helped the teachers to understand varied ways in which children learn and how to scaffold that learning.
- New Era School, Hughes Road: “How Children Learn” by Ms. Nalini Chugani and Ms. Jana Mahadevan. Very interactive workshop where participants learnt how children learn through sensorial experiences, trial and error and imitation.
The month of March was utilized in planning for the Parent Fun - a two day Parent interaction programme held in the beginning of the Summer Holidays in April.
2003 - 2004
The year was once again very hectic and eventful. The EC member worked very hard to make the two Parent Interaction Programme titled “PARENT FUN 03” AND PARENT FUN 04” a resounding success! We were very happy to have reached out to at least 1000 parents and realized how much more needed to be done in this area!
12 and 13th April 2003
“PARENT FUN 2003”
Venue: Indian Airlines Ideal School, Kalina, Santacruz West.
There were talks by renowed psychologist Dr. Harish Shetty, pediatrician Dr. Poddar and Neuroscientist Ms. Vidita Vaidya followed by Question Answer sessions. These were attended by over 500 parents over 2 days and highly appreciated by them. Information was also given about appropriate books, food and toys for children.
About 500 children enjoyed the Puppet shows, painting activities, story sessions and games organized for them.
27th September 2003
Two simultaneous full day workshops on the same theme
- Theme” Guidelines for forming Preschool Syllabus”
Venue: Royal Girls High School; Mira Road, Dist. Thane.
Resource Persons : Ms. Nalini Chugani and ms. Farida Baria.
- Venue : Udyachal Primary School; Vikhroli
Resource person: Ms. Binaifer Chhoga
There were 50 participants at each workshop.
22nd November 2003
Two simultaneous full day workshops
- Theme: “Emotional Quotient”
Venue: Swami Vivekananda School; Kandivali
Resource Persons: Ms. Joyeeta Sengupta
- Theme : “The Art of Story Telling”
Venue: New Era School; Hughes Road
Resource Person: Ms. Nandita Jhaveri
There were 50 participants at each workshop.
10th and 11th January 2004
PARENT FUN 04
Venue : Swami Vivekanada International School, Borivili
4 Talks and Question/ Answer sessions each day
Dr. Nivedita Rawal on “Discipline for children”, Mr. Anish from BNHS – slide show on “children and Environment”. Ms. Varsha Desai on “Development concentration in children through Yoga” Ms. Joyeeta Sengupta on “Influence of Media and TV”; Ms. Charlotte Fernandes on “Pressure on Children”, “Dental Hygiene” by Dr. N. Tandel; “Nutrition and Health” by Dr. S. Vaidya, “ How children learn” by Ms. Nandita Jhaveri.
A projection of IAPE preceded every talk.
There were puppet shows, painting activities, story sessions for children
7th February 2004
Two Simultaneous workshops
Theme: “Music and Movement”
Venue: New Era School: Hughes Road
Resource Person: Ms. Aloka Dutta Gupta.
Music is an integral part of the child’s life. Mrs. Dutta Gupta and the staff of Greenfields Pre Primary School, Juhu, conducted a full day workshop on the importance of music; and how it could be a creative tool for the teacher. They emphasized on movement being the basic need of the child and how by integrating Music and Movement can make a rich sensory environment.
There were 65 participants from various schools and was very highly appreciated.
Theme: “Emotional Quotient”
Venue: Springfield School, Bandra
Resource person: Ms. Joyeeta Sengupta.
There were 55 participants at the workshop. The workshop was meant to assist the teachers in understanding their own emotional intelligence and ways to improve it. Also, activities were done which helped the teachers to realize how their EQ had an impact on their relationships and their roles.
2004 - 2005
Mumbai branch of IAPE over a long period has followed a routine of starting the new academic (June 2004 – April 2005) with a refresher course and then moving on to other workshops and advocacy programs.
There was an overwhelming response, in all there were 40 participants from preschools all over Mumbai.
The nine full day course was divided into 3 sessions.
- General Readiness to learn
- Readiness for reading
- Readiness for writing.
Each session had activities at 3 different level, i.e. from simple to complex, developmentally appropriate for each level.
These workshops sessions were conducted by professional experts in the field of early childhood education.
The sessions were meaningful and practical, the experience elicited an interactive response from the participants. This was followed by a display of the participants work. They shared their valuable experiences in a form of a skit. The skit represented what they had assimilated from the nine day of interesting activity.
Other workshops conducted were:
- “Building sensitivity towards children”, by Ms. Joyeeta Sengupta
- “Possibilities” a workshop conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Shroff.
- “Stress Release Techniques”, conducted by Dr. Nevidita Rawal a professional expert in holistic healing and a counselor.
2005 - 2006
The hectic programme for the new academic year June 2005- April 2006 started with the Refresher Course. The theme was “Integrated Learning” or the “Project Approach” –
The “Project approach” is an depth study of a particular topic for example fruit, vegetables, family, seasons, transport. It integrates all the areas of learning and development. The project approach engages the children’s mind as they are actively involved with various first hand experiences and activities. The 5 full day sessions were conducted from 30th May 2005 to 5th June 2005 by Ms. Shirin Choksey, Ex-principal of Uddyachal School in Vikhroli an expert in the field of Early childhood Education, who believes in quality education.
The response was tremendous, we had to limit the number of participants to 40 so as to give quality.
The participants were worked on several child friendly topics like vegetables , community helpers and fruits.
At the end of the sessions, the participants displayed their charts on these topics. Each group shared their experiences. Teaching aids, poems, stories were part of their innovative display.
Then followed a series of 4 full day workshop spread over 4 Saturdays. The dates were set as 24th September, 1st October, 8th October and 15th October.
The theme was Auditory Perception and Memory.
-Integrated activities to understand the pre requisites and develop the desire to learn to read and spell joyfully from preschool to Standard II.
-The first two sessions of the workshop was conducted by Ms. Myrtle Nazareth and Ms. Pragna Maniar. The last two sessions were conducted by Ms. Snehlata and Ms. Gulshan Bawa. All the resource persons have had several years of experience working with preschool children.
-The first two sessions of the workshop dealt with activities that helped auditory perception and attentive listening the next two sessions dealt with ‘phonics’ awareness of sounds of the letters of the alphabet and its related activities.
-There were 40 participants who came from far of suburbs of Mumbai. The group was very interactive and the activities generated a lot of discussion. The participants enjoyed the learning games played with them by the resource people.
-At the end of the forth day the participants played games that they had invented. It was a joyful experience and the participants applauded the resource people.
This followed a workshop on “resolving conflicts, by Ms. Joyeeta Sengupta. In the early years children are in the process of understanding social norms and behaving in a social manner. Conflicts may arise due to the child’s ego centralism or to a competitive environment.
The response was very good. In all there were 30 participants from all over Mumbai.
The groups enjoyed all the activities and were very involved through out the session. A lot of doubts were cleared by asking questions and discussions…
The academic year ended with a photographic exhibition of children involved in various activities titled “Children in Action”.
The photographs belong to a school in Surat - Madressah Taiyebiyah Preprimary School.
The school followed the “Project Approach”, and the active learning method. The photograph displayed were graded stage wise i.e. how the child goes from a concrete experience, then moves on to a semi-concrete stage. The photographs were based on various topics – family, environment, animals, fruits and vegetables. Besides these there were Indoor and outdoor activities. Readiness work cards for reading and writing and number were displayed.
Charts and work cards related to the above mentioned topics were also displayed. The response was excellent. There were 300 visitors from all over. Mumbai. Teachers, parents and children formed the crowd.
The comments were appreciative and a lot of queries and doubts were answered, by professional experts on duty.
By
Nalini Chhugani.
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