GIIS Dubai, celebrated it’s ‘English week’ from 15th-17th June 2020, this year with a lot of enthusiasm. The virtual platforms reverberated, with the children’s dialoguing popular book characters, poem recitations, words plays, story sessions, discussions and debates. The whole atmosphere, though virtual, echoed with a carnival like feel where children were seen all dressed up in colorful costumes carrying vibrant props.       

The activities identified focused on creative thinking from grade 1 to 5 with all the children participating in various activities. The students were given a choice of choosing any three activities as per their liking from a large variety of interesting activities.

The major highlights of the English week this year were; the character carnival, poem recitation, spell bee, make your own hero, story reading with parents, creation of stories and elocution.

The fun and frolic filled learning week finally culminated with a Virtual Pajama Party.

Character Carnival / Make your own hero: The activity gave children an opportunity to come dressed up as their favourite character and assay to others what makes the character their favourite. The event witnessed ‘Jack’ from the story Jack and the Bean Stalk, Aladdin, Elsa and various other characters from the books and Disney world.

Poem Recitation

The children appreciated and recited their favourite poems with fluency, expression and diction tastefully. It was indeed a pleasure listening to the rhythmic recitations of the budding poets.   

Spell Bee

Children from all the grades wrote the spelling dictation of the familiar, grade level, age appropriate words taught to them in class. The ‘Spell Bee Competition’ was aimed at creating awareness of the possibilities of using varied words in oral and written expressions and add words to the active vocabulary of the students.

Story Telling

The little story tellers of grade 3 narrated the stories from different genres to their friends and classmates confidently. They used toys and hand puppets to make their story telling more interesting and effective.

Creating stories  

The ardent readers and blooming authors of grade 3 also tried their hands at creating their own little stories on the subject of their own choice, keeping in mind the important elements required for a good story writing. Later, the stories were shared with the classmates, teachers, parents and grandparents.

Eloquent Elocution: Children from grade 5 confidently contested in the elocution competition. The topics for the elocution were allotted to the students which was held in two rounds. The topic for the preliminary round was “Ocean Pollution- life below water”. All the participants of the preliminary round spoke about the same topic and the ones who were shortlisted appeared for the final round of the debate on the topic “Responsible Consumption and Production”. The elocution fabulously projected, the students well developed oratory skills.

Pajama Party : The ‘ English week’, finally  concluded  with an enticing fun ‘pajama party’, yet, another opportunity for children teachers and all the mothers to showcase their talents and just let their hair  down . The party started at 8:00 p.m in the night and the dress code was night suit or pajama suit.  The children played riddles, word games, sang out their favourite songs and danced to their hearts content.

The Principal Mr. Ramesh Mudgal and Primary Head Ms. Alka Yadav appreciated the participants and winners. Certificates were given out too. A good collaborative effort between the English department headed by Ms. Vasantha, Teachers from all subject areas and Parents resulted in splendid performances by the students to make the virtual English week a success!