(Recounted by one of our volunteers)
"Yesterday Pratima didi’s class (didi means 'sister') had a cooking session scheduled, and nimbu pani (literally ‘lemon water’) was on the menu. Now most of us would absent-mindedly squeeze a few lemons into some water, add some sugar and stir before serving, without giving this process much thought. Pratima opened my eyes to what might be most accurately described as “the mindfulness of nimbu pani”.
When the beginning of the session was announced, the students washed their hands, then helped collect and position chairs around the round table in our room. This gave the opportunity for 1-to-1 matching (one chair for each person), an important pre-counting skill. With Pratima’s guidance, they then gathered all the materials needed for the preparation and placed them on the table, in full view of everyone. The students were asked what items were and how many there were; basic counting is a skill all the children practice at every opportunity.
Once all the necessary tools and ingredients were assembled, Pratima did some sight word practice, using teaching aids prepared by the teachers at Karuna Vihar, Hindi words such as pani (water), nimbu (lemon), chammach (spoon) were held up, and some children read, while others matched words (pani to pani, for example), and the words were placed by the items they represented.
It was almost time for the operation to begin, but Pratima extended the learning to a lemon, asking the children to identify its color, taste, and shape. Lemons are round in this part of the world, and once the students correctly ascertained this, they were asked to look around the room and identify other examples of roundness, such as the table they were seated at.
Finally, with the children all focused and interested, the actual drink preparation got underway. The children told Pratima how many glasses of water to put into a bowl, and counted as it was poured. They all then helped cut the lemons, squeeze the juice into the bowl, and stir the refreshing-smelling concoction once the sugar (and salt - yes, salt!) had been added (again, spoonfuls were carefully counted!). The resulting juice was passed through a strainer, the seeds in the strainer were examined and discussed (Why don’t we want to drink these?), and the nimbu pani was finally poured, carefully and slowly, into our waiting glasses, where it didn’t last long, as we gulped it down gratefully; it’s still quite warm in Dehradun, and after the exertions of the preparation, it was well-deserved!
But the learning didn’t stop there. Students gathered up the materials, returned them to the kitchen (where I presume they played a major role in washing and redistributing them to their proper places), the table was wiped, and order was restored in the classroom. Phew.
To those with young children in many schools, this may seem a familiar scenario. To me, this was an inspiring revelation. I had no idea that an activity like this could be so genuinely milked for its educational potential! To attempt to summarise what went on, the students practiced fine and gross motor skills, independence skills, taking turns, sharing, passing around, measuring, sequencing (what happens next?), 1-to-1 matching, sight word recognition, counting, relating shapes to each other, and probably much more that a better trained observer/participant could elucidate. Oh, and then, in the afternoon, the students were given the opportunity to draw what they had done and explain it to Pratima, who wrote their ideas next to their drawings.
On an educational level, it was fascinating. On another level, it was a wonderful reminder of how much there is in such a simple activity if we give it our full attention. It all succeeded in bringing a sense of the extraordinary to the ordinary, like a good poem, with a number of different stanzas integrated into a fluid image, the energy sustained throughout. The children were captivated, felt a sense of achievement, practiced numerous useful skills along the way, and had fun!"
