Friday, August 27, 2010

Looking for Lullabies

We don't really want our kids falling asleep to depressing lullabies like 'Rock-a-by Baby', do we? Lines like 'When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Down will come baby, cradle and all!' are just plain cruel! Especially when we have a treasure trove of beautiful lullabies in Indian languages that celebrate babyhood in all its glory! 

That's why we're looking for lullabies! We know you loved Karadi Rhymes, and we're working on a book of Karadi Lullabies just for you! We've put together lullabies in various languages - Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Malayalam, Manipuri, Assamese etc., but we're greedy for more! 

So if you remember any lullabies from your childhood (or your adulthood!), send us the words and a translation. If you can sing it, that's even better. Send us an MP3 file. We want as many beautiful Indian lullabies as possible for this audiobook. Won't you help us?

Leave a comment on this post or drop us an email at contact@karaditales.com if there's a lullaby you want us to include.

Thanks!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Introducing Karadi Tales AfterSchool



A lot of thought goes into the development of any Karadi Tales audiobook. The books use a scientific combination of phonetic words and sight words to increase the child’s vocabulary. A conscious attempt is made to marry word, picture and sound, making it easy for your child to grasp the meaning of unfamiliar phrases. Concepts are woven into the stories and characters. The ‘book and CD’ format is a proven tool that enhances listening skills, reading skills, language skills and attention span.

Still, what struck us as we worked with children was the fact that perhaps these audiobooks were not being used to their fullest potential. While some learning objectives are effectively met merely by the process of listening and reading along, we realized that there was much more that could be done – so much more.

Around this time, we began working with educationists, artists, musicians and theatre professionals to fully explore and realise the potential of these books. An inherent spirit to create tangible expressions using the media of art, theatre, music and storytelling exists within each child. What we wanted to develop was an opportunity for the children to work with skills that they may already have to execute these expressions in a fashion that they might not have had the chance to before.

We found that when we played little games and tried out small exercises built around these stories, an extraordinary spirit rose in these children – they displayed a sense of ownership with the stories and began to use their imagination in unexpected ways. The result was heartwarming – and it was certainly gratifying.

Thus was born Karadi Tales AfterSchool. Developed by experts in the fields of education and the arts, Karadi Tales AfterSchool seeks to offer parents a unique and refreshing option for their children’s all-round development.

SuperStory is our flagship AfterSchool programme. This compact, power-packed programme is structured across 32 entertaining, one-hour sessions and uses storytelling as a powerful tool. The programme is designed to help the child develop an appreciation for creative expression, overcome her inhibitions and become expressive and articulate. The idea is to build a foundation for life-long learning and achievement. And it’s so much fun!

SuperStory is now being offered at 5 Karadi Tales AfterSchool centres - 2 in Mumbai and 3 in Chennai. Email us: contact@karaditales.com for details.