The
literary week is the biggest literary festival for the students of Bhutan and
has provided a powerful platform to develop students’ passion and love for
literature. The students learn through interesting events and innovative
activities that mark the week. It is being celebrated in the 1st
week of September every year with the aim to pay respect and gratitude to the
works of literature laureates. Literature has always shown a greatest strength
to conquer physical, emotional and intellectual aspects of humankind. Reading
and writing are the primary contributions of literary feast. A literary
festival usually features a variety of literary activities – quiz, debate, poem
recitation, dramatization, etc. The week
long program is planned in the best way with wide range of activities to make
the week meaningful, successful, enriching and of immense learning.
This
year Sengdhyen Lower Secondary School has observed the week from 7th
– 13th September 2016 with the following goals in common:
- To
instill the love for writing and reading.
- To
bind the young lover of literature together.
- To
infuse the importance of reading and writing.
- To
provide the platform to translate literature into real form.
The
some of the activities that are designed for the weeklong literary festival are
quiz, debate, poem recitation, nursery rhyme (lower classes), reading and
departmental literature exhibition.
Day 1
The
literary festival for the year 2016 was kick-off with the welcome speech by the
literary captain Ms. Dhan Lachi Rai, VIII A. She welcomed the principal, staff,
students and participants with the Shakespearean quote “I will call for pen and
ink and write my mind.” She highlighted
on the importance of the literary festival. She remarked the gathering that
writing and reading can enhance the thinking capacity of brain and open neuron
parts to showcase imagination, creativity, critical thinking, etc. She also assured
that the wide range of literary activities for a week will boost up the writing
and reading skills of the gathering. She urges everyone to do actively
participate in the activities and make the literary festival wonderful and enjoy
the world of fact, fiction and myth.
 |
| The unfurling of literary festival banner |
After
the welcome speech, the literary banner was unfurled to officially declare
start of the literary feast.
As
a first activity for the festival, inter house quiz competition was conducted. The
quiz competition was conducted on different fields of study like science,
mathematics, humanities, art and visual, dzongkha and English. The participants
of the quiz squeeze out their intellectual capacity to give their best
performance. About three hours long
program was full of knowledge, enjoyable and wonderful in nature.
Day 2
On
second day, inter house debate competition was organized. This is one of the
most important activities which have diverse impact in the learning of the
students. Debate develops skills and knowledge that will help students become a
good debater in the future. It helps them develop their speaking skills and ability to
express them verbally in front of a group, which builds confidence.
It builds their critical listening skills and their ability to respond to what
other people are saying. Learning to debate can
help children to develop their research skills as research is
an important part of debating. Debate is one method for improving critical
thinking and creativity of the human being. It also helps in improving the interpersonal relationship.
The
participants enthusiastically debated on the topic “skill is better than knowledge.” The debaters has done the great
job in browsing through the different sources to rebuttal the opponent points
and to validate their debating points. This shows the research skills of the
student. The debate went very well and it was very interesting and successful
one.
Day 3
On
day 3 of the literary festival, it was inter house poem recitation competition.
This particular activity was designed for the literary week this year as recitation
of poem is one of the important and effective modes of learning a language and
appreciating a piece of literature. The famous educator Wei Shusheng said: “The sense of language has also been
strengthened by reciting more”. It
is the basic means of training language ability. With its colossal impact on
the learning for the students this program was conducted with following
motives:
·
Poetry recitation is helpful for students to
practice natural language and raise societal ability
·
Poetry recitation is an important and effective mode
of learning English.
·
Poetry recitation opens venues for speaking and
listening
·
Poetry recitation builds pliability in kids and
adults
·
Poetry recitation fosters communal and expressive
Learning.
·
Poetry recitation aid in team building
process.
The
six different houses have presented dramatic-poem recitation of different
poems. The houses have done the great job to come up with the most presentable
house presentation. Poem recitation has showcased the dramatization skills of
the students.
 |
| Dramatic recitation-the Owl and the Pussy cat |
 |
| Bumpa house presentation |
Bumpa
house recited the poem on “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” by Edward Lear. Bumpa house have beautifully
recited the poem with marvelous set of dramatization. The Owl and the Pussycat" features four anthropomorphic animals – an owl, a cat, a pig, and a turkey –
and tells the story of the love between the Owl and the Pussy-Cat who marry in the land "where the
Bong-tree grows" in the presence of turkey.
 |
| Tlot-tlot, The highway man |
 |
| Look for me by moonlight, watch for me by moonlight |
|
The
recitation of “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes was well presented by Dungkhar
house. It is the story of unnamed highway man who is in love with Bee, a
landlord’s daughter. It talks about how two lover sacrifices their life because
of the jealous Ostler.
 |
| Buddha's death |
 |
| Add caption |
Ramesh
Chander Dutt’s poem “Buddha’s Death” was presented by khorlo house.
 |
| No more fear |
 |
| William Shakespearean- No more fear |
The
poem “Fear no more” by William Shakespeare was presented by Meto house.
 |
| Over the hills and faraway-The daffodils |
 |
| Thousand at a glance |
“The
Daffodils” by William Wordsworth was recited and dramatized by Pelyab house.
The
recitation of poem “O Captain! My Captain” by Walt Whitman was well presented
by Sernya house.
 |
| O! Captain My Captain! |
The whole set of poem was easily understood from the
dramatization of the house showcased.
Day 4
 |
| Gatey Tshering PP- reading the text |
 |
| Chungsel Rigcho Lhamo PP |
Very
interesting program was conducted on 4th day of the literary
festival. It was the reading competition among the students from class PP – III
both in English and Dzongkha. This program was aimed to instill the value of
reading and love reading. Reading is one of the fundamental skills that
children need to build up from very small age. It helps in building the
vocabulary and understanding. Learning to read is about listening and
understanding as well as working out what’s printed on the page. A child who
read more performs better in all facets of formal educations than those who
don’t.
Day 5
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| The Bhutanese artifacts |
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| Model of Dzong |
The departmental
exhibition was held on the 5th day of the literary week. The
exhibition is a great platform for the students to exhibit what they have
learned and what they are good at, as well. It was found essential for the
schools to organize exhibitions during the literary festival as it gives some
chance for students in showcasing their talents. In an exhibition, students get a
chance to apply or do the practical aspect of the things that they have learned
in the classroom. The exhibition acts as a real opportunity for the students to
implement the things that they have learned from schools. It is not enough for
the students to learn the lessons from the textbooks, but they should be given
adequate space and time for letting the inner talents get a platform to be showcased. The departmental exhibition is one
avenue where they showcase their inner talents. With the above importance, the
exhibition was organized among five different subject departments.
The teachers and the
students have done the marvelous job to come up with the best presentation of
the exhibition show piece. The different models, facts and figures, scientific
experiments, history, games and puzzle were the parts of exhibition.
Day
6
The week long literary
festival has successfully comes to an end on 13th September 2016
with awarding of the prizes for the various literary activities that has been
conducted throughout the year and during literary week. The prizes were awarded
for the various activities like inter house debate competition, quiz competition,
extempore speech, lozey competition, etc. The prizes were also awarded to the
best performer of the different literary activities.
This small and solemn
occasion was conducted during the morning assembly.
Conclusion
The
Literary Festival was a great opportunity for students to showcase their talent
in various skills of reading, writing, speaking, listening with appreciation
and love for the language. The events organized during literary activities were
more enhanced and creative in their own way. It was a great success with
maximum participation by our students which helped them in enhancing their
varied skills. It has served as a greatest platform for the students to exhibit
their literary talents.
.
