The Art of Imagination

Working for SHOUT has many perks, one of which is that I get to go to some very inspiring events. On November 10, I got to visit Mount Royal Academy in Narayanganj for an 'Imagine – Write Creatively' workshop. This is an initiative taken jointly by The Daily Star and United International University in order to encourage school children to be more creative in their writing. 'Imagine' workshops were held in many schools throughout this year, and it was a great success. Mount Royal Academy was no exception. 

This quaint school has been one of the pioneers in English medium education in the city of Narayanganj. The teachers were extremely welcoming, and the students were very attentive and responsive. The workshop was moderated by Naziba Basher from The Daily Star and Sharmin Sultana, Associate Professor at UIU's English department. Personally, this was my first time attending an 'Imagine' event, and I must say I was very impressed by how engaging the session was. Basher and Sultana were articulate, energetic and they both possessed the rare skill of making learning a fun activity. The students were somewhat stiff and shy at first, but within a few minutes, they were freely participating and asking questions. The workshop was focused mainly on the three elements of a story: character, setting and plot. Each element was discussed in detail, complete with fun games for the students. 

I was surprised at how well-read some of these kids were – they had read everything from Tales of Shakespeare to Harry Potter. They were very serious about the session, and though it took them a while to loosen up, they enjoyed it immensely. One of the participants who had stood out to me was Safwan Haque, an 8th grader with keen interest in creative writing. "I don't remember having this much fun in school ever before," he said, "I've always wanted to write and I have tried it in the past, but now that I know the right way to go about it, I think I'm going to improve a lot. The moderators were great teachers; I felt very comfortable speaking up and asking questions. Most of all, they motivated me to pursue creative writing and read more."

This school has some of the most dedicated teachers I've ever seen. They genuinely love and care for the students, and this workshop wouldn't have taken place without their enthusiasm. Shaswati Pal is an Economics teacher as well as the coordinator of O and A Levels, and she was very pleased at her students' reaction. "I personally enjoyed this session a lot! I know that my students have excellent potential, but I think they often have trouble figuring out how to use their imagination. This workshop taught them how they can put their thoughts into words, and what direction to take when writing. As a teacher, I think the moderators did an excellent job of introducing the children to creative writing," she said.

The moderators of the workshop were very happy with how the students freely interacted with them; they both said that the kids exceeded their expectations in every way. All of us from The Daily Star team and the participants loved the time we had. Here's hoping that the children took away something from this workshop that will help them grow as writers, and as creative individuals with limitless imagination.

Aanila Kishwar Tarannum started hating on everything the moment she realised why her parents put so many A's in her name: because they knew her transcript would be devoid of any vowels. Find out about her relentless rants at aanila.tarannum@gmail.com