MEETING PLACE with PADMINI SANKARAN  
on 23 July at Sishya, Chennai
 

Padmini Sankaran teaches at Escuela Bella Vista, the American International School in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Her innovative teaching methods include using the concept of Global Issues – a multidisciplinary programme that looks at the links between subjects and at learning more comprehensively. Stories, she feels, are a wonderful way of communicating at all levels, and that became the subject for animated discussion with students of classes 8 and 9 at the Sishya library – starting off with a simple "Why do we tell stories?'. A great storyteller for all occasions, Padmini chose to tell the children an allegorical tale about a bat called Stella Luna. The otherwise lively bunch of students listened in absorbed silence to the simple, charming story . . . and came to life only when she suddenly stopped just before the end and asked each group to decide which way the story could end. Some reactions:

Stella Luna, the bat tells us her story, with an important aim — to make the simple values it conveys a part of our life. This way, we never forget the story and it becomes a part of us. 
 Aarthi G

What can a good story do? We had 
to write down our opinions. And the group had 
many like "for sleeping", "for values" etc. 
It was so lively, we enjoyed the session 
with her. But the best time was when she 
started her story of Stella Luna, the bat. 
Deepika Mohan


I liked the concept of writing an end to the story.
Akshay Modi


Working as a team gave us a chance to interact amongst ourselves and co-operate. . . Before the session ended, we had to think up a suitable conclusion to the story. Yet again, the students came up with imaginative and innovative ideas.' 
Malvika Saraogi


I felt that though bats and birds are different, much like two different kinds of people, they still can feel for each other the same way they would, for one of their kind. 
Raghav Somani