“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.” Flora Lewis.
The Inter-School Language Festival- 2019, ‘Bhasha Utsav’ was hosted by Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram on Saturday, 21 December, 2019. Schools from Delhi and NCR participated in the event. The guests of honour for the valedictory ceremony were: Ms Maryline Laidin, Attachée of Cooperation for French, French Embassy, Dr Sanjay Sahay, Editor, ‘Hans’ and Dr Pankaja Ghai Kaushik, Sanskrit Professor at Delhi University.
This event, which was jointly organised by the Hindi, Sanskit and Foreign Language Departments, was a platform for students to showcase their linguistic abilities and talents.The Headmistress , Ms Rashmi Malhotra was the overall incharge of the programme.
GERMAN
Marchen figuren (Portrayal of a Fairytale Character), was an event for classes 6-8, in which the participants had to portray a famous character from any of the Grimm Brothers tales and speak a few lines about the character. They were assessed on the Voice modulation, Diction, dialogue delivery, creativity and originality. Story Writing Competition was an onsite competition for the students of Classes 9-10. The participants were to write a story in German.They were judged on the basis of originality, content, creativity and the overall presentation.
HINDI AND SANSKRIT
इसके अंतर्गत हिंदी में नाट्य मंचन, भजन और ग़जल गायन प्रतियोगिताएं आयोजित की गई।
नाट्य मंच में हिंदी साहित्य की कविताओं पर आधारित नाटक प्रस्तुत किए गए तथा भजन और ग़जल गायन में कबीरदास, अमीर खुसरो, तुलसीदास, बुल्लेशाह द्वारा रचित भजन तथा ग़ालिब, मोमिन जैसे शायरों की ग़जलें प्रतिभागियों द्वारा सुनाई गई। संस्कृत में कव्वाली तथा हास्य प्रहसन भी आयोजित किए गए।
निर्णायकों के रूप में दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय के डॉ. अशोक कुमार नंगवाडा तथा प्रसिद्ध कवयित्री पूनम माटिया, प्रसिद्ध रंगकर्मी एवं अभिनेता इमरान खान तथा संदीप कुमार इत्यादि मौजूद थे । अतिथियों द्वारा सभी विजेताओं को पुरस्कार दिए गए। प्रधानाचार्या , मुख्याध्यापिका के साथ -साथ हिंदी विभागाध्यक्षा श्रीमती फ़ातमा किरमानी ने भी मंच साझा किया ।
इस अवसर पर हंस पत्रिका के संपादक श्री संजय सहाय जी तथा दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय की लेडी श्री राम कॉलेज की प्रोफेसर श्रीमती पंकजा घई मुख्य अतिथि के रूप में मौजूद थे। छात्रों को संबोधित करते हुए डॉ. सहाय ने कहा कि यह विलक्षण बात है कि पब्लिक स्कूलों में भाषा उत्सव में इतनी रुचि ली जा रही है। उन्होंने कहा कि भाषा संगम में तमाम संस्कृतियों का समन्वय देखने को मिला। डॉक्टर पंकजा ने कहा कि भाषा लोगों से जीवित है तथा छात्रों ने मंच को जीवंत किया।
FRENCH
Les Voix De La Poésie was a French poetry recitation competition for classes 6 to 8. 2 participants per school were to recite together a poem by a renowned French poet on the values of peace, freedom or liberty. They were assessed on choice of the poem, synchronisation, voice modulation, expressions and speech.
Jeu de Rôle was a role play competition for classes 9 to 12, wherein topics were allotted on the spot for participants to present a two-minute dialogue on. The judgment criteria consisted of language use, performance, adherence to the theme and overall impact.
SPANISH
The Spanish Solo Singing competition – held for classes 6 to 8 – required one participant per school to sing a suitable Spanish song or Spanish version of a popular song, to optional background music. Students were judged on choice of the song, appropriate introduction, singing technique, pronunciation and overall performance. The judges for the Spanish event were Ms. Komal Dhawan of Khaba College and Mr. Gaurav Kumar, Assistant Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
During the valedictory ceremony. The Principal, Ms Vanita Sehgal felicitated the Guests of Honour. Addressing the students, the Principal stressed upon the importance of learning new languages and spoke of how languages help us make friends and discover new cultures.Ms. Sehgal acknowledged the significance of the event in celebrating unity in diversity. She expressed her belief that the exposure to diverse cultures ,belonging to different countries and states surpasses the process of learning languages itself. She highlighted the significance of the practice of presenting the culture of a state in class assemblies helped students to immerse themselves in diverse traditions through dance, music and food of the particular state The Principal congratulated all the participating students.
Some of the winning performances were then put up for the audience followed by the address by the Guests of Honour. The annual Hindi Department magazine was also released on the occasion. The Prize distribution ceremony followed with the winning teams being compensated for their hard work and endless talent.
The vote of thanks was delivered by the Headmistress, Ms. Rashmi Malhotra, and the event concluded with the National Anthem.
The results of the various events are as follows: