Stone Soup in Gaziantep

By Natasha Vrutska

After a long weekend of exploring Gaziantep's bazaars and coffee shops - the Mosaic Museum was definitely a highlight - it was good to return to New World Academy today for another day of drama, English, and art. I started my day with the girls and guided them through the activity of creating a representation of themselves in the shape of their hand in paper to be added to the tree of New World Academy's students. The girls got to decorate the paper cut-out of the palm of their hand in the colors of their choice, writing their name and adding a drawing or two of something that was meaningful to them and made them think of peace and friendship. loved seeing what they chose to draw as I walked around and watched flowers, butterflies, sea waves and sailboats spring up on paper. What stood out to me the most was how much each and every one of them wanted to show me what they drew as they kept calling me over at every step of the process and showing me their work. Where in my "normal" teaching life in Dubai I would have to prod and coax students to work and even more so to share their product, here the girls were just too eager for me to look and comment. A few asked me to write something on their drawing and delighted in having a teacher's contribution to their design. It reminded me of an activity last week when, after I showed them a recording I had made of one of them presenting their "I like" word map, suddenly all of them changed from smiling shyly to wanting to present and demanded to be filmed. It struck me how much they wanted attention, how desperately they wanted to be seen and known. These children yearn for connection. As they finished decorating and cutting out their paper hands, they trickled out to join the art team in the spacious common area to add their "leaves" to the quickly expanding "tree". I snuck out for a quick look and was not disappointed - the "tree" looked fantastic!

We kicked off the literacy hour with a game of tic-tac-toe. Flashcards of the vocabulary studied last week attached to the whiteboard in a grid and the class of girls divided into two teams, the girls quickly got the hang of the game and we enjoyed quite a few rounds as they fine-tuned their strategy and pronounced the words ever more confidently. Next, it was reading circle time. To continue with our theme of helping a friend and working together toward a common goal, we chose to read "Stone Soup". I was afraid the girls might find the story too simple or the language too difficult or the picture in the book too small to see from the back row. I needn't have worried. I was blown away by how quickly me opening a book in frond of them transformed a rowdy crowd into a rapt audience. With Aya helping me with translation after every page, we went through the story, girls craning their necks to see the illustrations better. I caught myself thinking that this was the quietest I had experienced this class since starting to work with them. It reminded me of the power of a good story that we sometimes overlook. Even not understanding half the words, the girls were clearly enjoying it. With Aya's help, we talked about how mutual help led to a nice supper of hot soup in the story, and the girls gave me some examples of the help they get from their friends and give in return. It was time to see how these activities would work with the boys.

If I had to choose one quality that has been paramount for us here at New World Academy, I would say, it is flexibility. We can count on a few surprises every day, and while they keep us on our toes and make things interesting, they also challenge us and test our adaptability. No group is the same two days in a row, with some kids missing and new additions joining in. As students transition from swimming to class to ballet to snack and to class again, we have had to adjust starting and finishing times, transitions between drama and literacy and to welcome new faces to activities in progress. This was definitely the theme of my class with the boys today, as I had a few new-comers, a few familiar faces arriving late, and Ruba, the school director, knocking on my door in the middle of class telling me the boys needed to take a ten-minute break to have a snack. We took it all in stride and managed to play tic-tac-toe, although not as smoothly as with the girls as the boys let their individual competitiveness get in the way of the teams' goals. Me opening a book and announcing story time had the same effect though, and I discovered that it was indeed possible to have these boys be quiet for ten minutes. The tranquility was short-lived as the day was winding down and everyone was tired, so the discussion did not elicit quite the same level of responses from the boys as it did from the girls. I am still hopeful for some insights from them as we move on to creating diamond poems on the same topics tomorrow.

As I reflect on the time I have had with the children of New World Academy and look forward to what we have planned for them for the remainder of our time here, I am happy with the progress they are making and excited to see what they create as their final product reflecting on who they are and how they can help each other as a community of students and friends.