Dec 4, 2022 - Grade 2 (Sunday AM)

Hariom Parents,

 

We had a great start to Sunday morning with all the children yesterday. Here is a recap for you about the session. We are meeting after a week and we missed many of your children today. It is a good idea to discuss the last class details as you drive to the ashram in the morning. We will be revisiting our Hanuman Dhyana Shloka meaning(where we discuss 8 important qualities of Hanumanji) in yesterday's class. We will be also doing a project next week which we call Hanumanji backbone project. So, please make sure not to miss the next session on Dec 11th.

 

We started class with 3 Oms and then followed it by chanting Opening Prayer Om Sahanavavatu. 

1. Chanting Slokas- Vakratunda Mahakaya (Ganesha shloka),  Saraswati Namastubyam (Saraswati shloka) and Gurur brahma gurur vishnu (Guru stotram)

2. Dhyana Shloka - Buddhir balam

3. Discussion – We had a one week gap so we revisited the 7 qualities of Hanumanji how we say in Sanskrit in English what it means and the examples of people or stories where the quality of Hanumanji was seen in ordinary people and how we need to imbibe these qualities in us. 

Today we discussed the quality "Vaakpaduthvam" which  means eloquence. To be able to effectively communicate we must first think and then speak.

We then asked if you want to say how you would tell others about Balavihar. Children came up with the idea. They would say they learnt slokas and bhajans, listened to stories, played fun games and made new friends outside of school. Next we asked how they would spread the message

• Tell friends and family
• Use a microphone in a gathering and speak in front of a crowd
• Create a video and post in youtube
• Made a leaflet and gave it to people

In order to succeed in life it is very important to speak eloquently. So to be an effective speaker one must know

• When to speak
• What to speak
• How to speak and
• How much to speak

4. Story - Yes, The Fees Are Doubled

Socrates was a Greek philosopher and a teacher whose teachings were based on discipline and vigorous thoughtful dialogue. He never used unnecessary words in his speech and kept his conversations to a minimum. He was a very effective communicator.

Once, a young man came to him to learn the art of speaking. The young man was very talkative and introduced himself using many words.

Socrates told the young man " I will take double the money from you" The young man was taken aback, replied "Sir. I have heard that you do not care for money, so then why are you asking for double the fee?"

To this Socrates replied "Because I have to teach you two things. First, how to be quiet and then how to talk effectively with minimum words".

Thus an effective speaker is the one who can deliver his message with maximum impact using minimum words.

5. Activity -

We had the events of Ramayana  in 15 lines. Each line was separately cut out. We asked the children to form groups of 3 and arrange it according to the sequence of events as it happens in Ramayana.  

Now one child from each group had to stand up and narrate the sequence of events loudly and clearly. This made them collect their thoughts and speak loudly in front of their friends. Every group found that it needs a lot of preparation even if the material was in front to prepare to speak and speak effectively.

This was a fun activity for the children as the subject was very well known to all but it led them to prepare on their own and try to communicate their best way.

6. Hanuman Chalisa chanting - We started to learn Hanuman Chalisa. We covered the first 2 dohas. We found that 5 children in the class already know the Hanuman Chalisa and chant the chalisa regularly. We found a youtube video were chanting is very similar to how we chant in class. Here is the link (132) श्री हनुमान चालीसा Hanuman Chalisa I GULSHAN KUMAR I HARIHARAN, Full HD Video, Shree Hanuman Chalisa - YouTube. Add to your playlist and please play it regularly at home. This is the easiest way to learn listening to shloka.

7. Bhagawat Gita chanting: We learned and then chanted  along with Swamiji Bhagawat Gita the shlokas 7 and 8. (132) Verses 7-8 Ch.3 BG - YouTube

Please play the video and chant along with your children. This will encourage your children to chant.

8. Likhita Japa : We then proceeded to write rama rama in our likhita japa notebooks.

9 Aarti and Pledge : Then we proceeded to the temple for Aarti and Pledge.

We had a fun class with all your children. Thank you for working with them in practising the shlokas. We found all the children could chant Buddhir balam very well. Please continue to send us video recordings of the Bhagawat Gita chanting. 2 shlokas at a time is good. Please do not wait for them to chant all 8. We will start our class at 9.15. Please try to be in Balavihar by that time.

Pranaam,

Meena Rajan and Ramya Belavadi