A Writer's PLAYground indeed!

Creative writing, although being a crucial stepping stone to develop literary skills, has over the years transformed into a mundane, stereotyped process, especially for children. To generate interest in creative writing, courtesy of SPEED Youth, “Writer's PLAYground” -- a three-day workshop -- was held on 20th, 26th and 27th September, 2014.

The Junior section of Scholastica, Gulshan campus, welcomed 123 students from 8 schools in Dhaka -- Scholastica, Southbreeze, Greendale International, Happy Times International, Playpen, Beaconhouse School System, Darland International and Ebenezer International -- on the first and second day of the workshop. The students were allowed to choose from 6 genres based on their age groups: Fairy tales, Tell me a story, Stories through pictures, Choose your own adventure, Mysteries and ghost stories and Ideas factory. Followed by putting students into groups, the trainers assigned to each of the groups were introduced; they were Zafreen Chowdhury, Ishmam Chowdhury, Raiyan Khan, Seemin Masood, Kazmin Samia and Aazreen Chowdhury. With the guidance of trainers and innovatively designed worksheets and exercises, the students were prepped according to their chosen genres. At the day's end, the students were organised in pairs where they would act as each other's writing partners for the writing competition.

The second day focused on the writing competition. The day started off with the students discussing the stories they had written on the previous day and receiving constructive feedback from their trainers, who also introduced the students to the rules of the competition. At 10am sharp, the writing competition blasted off to an energetic start. At the end of an hour, the first writing partner of each team had to switch the pen over to the second writing partner who continued writing the story for the second hour. However, the partners were allowed to discuss the story's development while they wrote. Twisting things up, cue words were provided randomly for each genre which had to be incorporated into the stories.

The Writer's PLAYground closing ceremony was held at the Mirpur Campus of Scholastica on September 27, hosted by Fatima Faheem Raadia. All participating students received certificates from Umme Asma, Manager of SPEED, and the trainers Aazreen, Ishmam and Kazmin.

Finally, it was time to announce the winner and runner-up from each of the three competitions. From classes I-II, Naisha Ali and Marzuka Reefat (Southbreeze) became the runner-up, while the team of Zunaira Islam and Nasif Ahsan Khan (Playpen) bagged the winner's title. From classes III-IV, Sheersho Mustafa and Monjila Khan Mojlish (Happy Times International School) were announced as the winners, and Zarif Khan and Aurko Datta (Greendale International School) followed as the runner-up team. Quazi Zulfiquer Ahmad and Tahmidul Haque (Happy Times International School) were the runner-up from classes V-VI, and Mohammad Rakin Anam and Mahnaz Chowdhury (Scholastica) collected the winner's award. The awards were presented by Samia Mallik, Deputy Manager of Youth Development Programs and the coordinator of the event.

Moreover, gift hampers were presented to some of the students who didn't make the top stories, but were close enough for an honorable mention as a token of appreciation from SPEED Youth. They were Faraz Emad, Lazina Amreen Aarisha, Ishra Rahman, Zahra Malik, Ieram Fahinaz, Tasin Kamal, Tahsib Faiyaz, Sheherin Rahman, Samiha Faizah Khalid, Amelia Zaman, Zarraf Huq, Raeda Sarwar, Nowmita Nasir, Aafna Islam, Sadman Sakib and Anika Tajrian Khan.

On asking about how the idea of such a workshop came about, Samia Mallick said, “We see a lot of monotonous school activities happening all the time but our intention was to bring something fresh for the kids. Creative writing is definitely an essential academic skill but we wanted children to loosen up and learn how to have fun with it.”
The sponsors of the event were Lyra, Bijoy Software, Burger Bar and Boi Bichitra, while SHOUT was the media and communications partner.