On October 29, 2022, the Montreal Chapter of the Armenian Missionary Association of Canada (AMAC) launched the long-awaited, 4-session children’s program entitled “Effective Communication, Successful Children” in Laval, Quebec, Canada.
Following a brief orientation to the parents and the participants, Salpi Nercessian, the program director, engaged the children in fun-filled, action-packed and laughter-detonating educational games that engage the mind, body and senses.
The first few let’s-get-to-know-each-other games included the “spider web of friendship” and the “human scavenger hunt.”
The four communication lessons of the day, taught by Salpi Nercessian were “greet,” “be specific,” “speak clearly” and “be brief.” The games were designed to teach the children these four lessons.
In the back-to-back drawing game, the children sat in on straight line, back-to-back and in pairs. One side received different picture and the other side paper and pencil. The exercise was for the picture holding children to describe the picture content enabling the child behind him to reproduce it without seeing the original picture.
In the “cooperative standup” game, pairs of children sit on the floor, back-to-back with arms tangled with each other’s. The aim is for the pair to cooperatively and jointly stand up, without touching the floor.
In the “show-and-tell” game the children blindly drew an object from a bag which they were expected to describe.
The fun-filled day ended with the telling of the first part of a four-part captivating story about a little boy who overcomes mistreatment by communicating kindness. The children and the five assistants were attentively listening when unexpectedly the telling was suspended at a most suspenseful point triggering everyone’s protests. The tale continues in the next session.
The program was designed, planned and led by Salpi Nercessian. She was helped by Houry Sevadjian, Perlanty Laham, Anna Marandyan, Zina Mktrtchyan, Alice Hadjian and Margo Melkonian.
The AMAC thanks Salpi Nercessian, the five assistants for their efforts in organizing this event. We also thank the Armenian Evangelical Church of Montreal for providing the facilities.
We are glad to report that over $3,500 was raised in fees and special donations for this program. All proceeds will go towards the support of the AMAA-AMAC Yeprem and Zabel Basmajian Kindergarten in Askeran, Artsakh.
AMAC’s fundraising goal for this event is $5,000. We kindly ask you to donate towards this program by clicking www.amacnews.org or contacting Raffi Shnorhokian at (514) 947 3242. Please mention “Children’s Program, Askeran Kindergarten.”
