George P J
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LifSkool: The SPARK Challenge Begins
Over five weeks at SDPY Boys High School, students explored life skills through games, discussions and hands-on challenges. They practised recognising and managing emotions, thinking creatively, solving problems, communicating and working with others. But what happens when there is no facilitator guiding the activity? Can students recognise when to use these skills and put them into practice themselves? This is what we wanted to explore next. During our final LifSkool session, we introduced the SPARK Challenge, a series of weekly team missions designed to help students apply what they have learned to situations in their everyday lives. The students formed five teams and chose their own names. We also created a WhatsApp group with parents to share the weekly challenges and stay connected with the students. This week, we began with Mission 1: SPOT IT. Each team received an envelope containing an illustrated instruction sheet and a worksheet. We also shared a Malayalam voice note to explain the mission. The students have one week to look around their school, home or community and notice small problems. Each student is encouraged to identify at least one problem independently before sharing their observations with their teammates. Together, they will then discuss up to three problems, choose one they would like to explore further and explain why they selected it. They can write or draw their responses in Malayalam or English. Each team submits one completed worksheet at the end of the week. We have deliberately asked them not to find solutions yet. The first step is to observe, listen to different ideas and make a decision together. Over the coming weeks, the missions will build on one another, giving students opportunities to practise the skills they learned during LifSkool without us directing each step.
A Quiet Saturday of Drawing and Making
We had prepared a full afternoon. The children would begin with a word activity, choose books and read together in pairs, and then work in teams to invent something that could solve a problem they had noticed at home or around Kochi. But this Saturday, just one child arrived. We waited until 2:30 pm in case others were on their way. When no one else came, we asked whether he was happy to stay and what he would like to do. He chose drawing. As he had missed the previous session, the word activity was unfamiliar to him. Instead, he tried the Circles Challenge, turning the empty circles into faces, planets, balls and other pictures. Afterwards, he picked up Lights Out written by Vibha Batra and illustrated by Sahitya Rani, and asked whether he could draw his own version of the cover. We gave him chart paper and colours and let him work. When he finished, we cut strips from black paper and added them around his drawing to make a frame. He was curious about what else we could make, so we tried cutting and folding paper into a small cube. While his hands were busy, we talked. He told us about drawing at school and the prizes he had won. It was not the session we had planned, but it became a quiet afternoon of drawing, making and getting to know one child a little better.
In earlier sessions, we noticed that some children could read words aloud without fully understanding them. This week, we changed from paired reading to reading aloud together, pausing to explore unfamiliar words and discuss the story’s meaning. We chose Stage Fright, a Pratham Books story about Champa, who loves singing but is afraid to perform on stage. We prepared slides with selected tricky words, inviting children to guess their meanings from the story before revealing the Malayalam explanations. We discussed why Champa felt scared and asked who had felt like her before. Children shared their own experiences of nervousness, connecting the story to their lives and exploring the feelings behind the words.
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This week at Curiosity Club, we explored a question: What helps us share our ideas when we feel nervous? We began with Champa from Stage Fright, a story about a child who loves singing but is afraid to perform. Her worries helped children talk about their own feelings when facing an audience. We prepared slides with prompts and examples, and set up a microphone for practice. We started by inviting each child to introduce themselves with an action. Afterwards, we asked how it felt to stand up and speak. Children described shaking hands, trembling legs and sweaty palms, connecting their experience to Champa’s. This led us to practise breathing to calm our bodies and shaking out our arms and legs to release tension. We then warmed up our voices with tongue twisters and tried changing our volume and expressing different emotions. A facilitator demonstrated different speaking styles, and children noticed the difference posture, voice and energy made. They then chose topics for short talks in Malayalam or English. We introduced PREP — point, reason, example, point — to help organise their thoughts, with paper available for notes. They then came to the front and used the microphone to share their ideas with the group. We closed by reflecting on how it felt to speak and what had changed after trying.
We begin our Curiosity Club with free play as children arrive. They choose games and building materials and play together, giving everyone time to arrive before we gather for the guided activity. We had asked children what they wanted to play and added games based on their suggestions. They were excited to see their choices and began setting them up themselves. With six games going on at once, children could choose what interested them. Two older children attending for the first time were initially unsure how to join in. Our facilitator invited them into an UNO game with others. As they played, they became more involved and helped explain the rules to younger children. The group later learned dominoes together too. Another group prepared Guess Who for next week, helping each other when the setup became frustrating. Jenga, LEGO and Dobble were also very popular.
LifSkool: Taking Our Learning Forward
Students were ready to go with our familiar movement and mindful breathing routine and settled into the session quickly. Today was our last in-person LifSkool session before a break and it brought together the skills we had explored throughout the programme. Students revisited what they had learned, why the skills mattered and how they could use them in everyday life. It was encouraging to hear their reflections in their own words. We introduced the SPARK Challenge: noticing a small, real problem at school, at home or in the neighbourhood, and using their life skills together to try making a difference with a buddy. Students will receive weekly SPARK challenge envelopes in person to complete with their buddies. They will share updates through our WhatsApp group, where we will stay connected and support them. At their graduation day in January 2027, they will present their work and learning. To finish, students worked together to spell SPARK using their bodies. It was a playful, emotional close to this part of our journey, with more learning ahead.
LifSkool: Understanding Each Other
We began by revisiting The Egg Drop Challenge: why had some designs protected their eggs, and how had the teams worked together? This connected our previous session to interpersonal relationships - how we listen, share ideas and make decisions together. We explored the relationships in our lives and what strengthens or damages them. The idea of a “relation-ship” helped us talk about trust, listening and respect, and how to work through disagreements. This time, we changed the pace, watching two short films, Snack Attack and Purl, and coming together for circle discussions. We explored misunderstandings, being left out and the pressure to change ourselves to fit in, connecting the stories to everyday school situations. Students practised asking directly before making assumptions and inviting someone to join their group. We closed with a reflection on being themselves and responding to peer pressure, bringing the discussion back to everyday choices in their relationships.
Malarvattam: Making Space to Share
We surveyed nearly 100 people in Fort Kochi and Mattancherry to understand what support the community wanted. Their responses highlighted a need for parents and caregivers to share experiences, feel heard and support one another. This led us to create and name Malarvattam ("flower circle"), a monthly parents and caregivers’ circle. For the first gathering, we chose a get-to-know-you conversation. The facilitators reviewed the survey together, developed discussion prompts and prepared slides. Their role was to make space for everyone to contribute, listen and summarise what participants shared, rather than give expert parenting advice. We designed a poster and shared it widely through partners and community contacts. On Saturday, the facilitators held a mock circle, working through the slides and practising how they would introduce questions and guide the discussion. They also prepared their own scripts for Sunday’s session. Two participants joined the first circle. Together, we explored memories of childhood, children’s lives today and experiences of parenting and caregiving.
LifSkool: The Egg Drop Challenge
Students returned with creations they had continued at home after “LifSkool: What Else?”—photo frames, a little fan, a house, a puzzle and chopsticks. It was lovely to see their ideas develop beyond the session. We began with our routine movement break and mindful breathing, giving students time to shake off the school day and settle. Then six teams took on The Egg Drop Challenge: protect your egg from a fall. We chose the task to bring problem-solving, effective communication, decision-making and creative thinking together through discussing ideas, choosing a design and testing it. Students combined recycled materials from home with supplies from our inventory to create their egg carrier. We planned a second-floor drop, but their confidence went one floor higher and they asked to test from the third! One student from each team stayed with a facilitator to drop their design, while the others went downstairs to watch and check whether their egg survived. Much to their amazement, two of the six eggs appeared to remain intact. With little time left after returning to class, we planned to revisit why some designs worked and how the teams worked together in the next session.