Abu Dhabi schoolteacher uses paintings and poetry to impart a love of English literature

With Abu Dhabi Education Council keen to improve literacy in schools and get youngsters more interested in reading, one British schoolteacher found that the perfect way to do this was right under her nose.

Left to right, Ryka Bopaiah, Akshaj Airon and Kiomora Mathias, who won third, second and first prizes in a writing contest at Cambridge High School in Abu Dhabi. Irene García León for The National

When she set a writing challenge for young pupils at her school, Gail Walster took a leaf out of a Victorian poetry book – and her own literary history.

With Abu Dhabi Education Council keen to improve literacy in schools and get youngsters more interested in reading, the perfect way to do this was right under her nose.

On her classroom desk is a treasure box that is most intriguing to her pupils.

Inside it is a Victorian poetry book that was given to the teacher when she was nine years old, the same age as her students.

“It was a gift from a very old lady, who used to be a schoolteacher in the English village where I grew up,” she says.

"I remember her reading me a Victorian poem from it, The Lady of Shalott, by Alfred Lord Tennyson, and it became one of my favourite poems. I think it was at that moment that my love of language and literature really began."

Now a teacher at Cambridge High School in Mohammed Bin Zayed City, Walster decided to use The Lady of Shalott as a starting point for a contest, in which pupils were challenged to write a descriptive paragraph from a Victorian story about the surroundings of a house.

Seventy children took part in the competition at the British curriculum school, where most of the students are Emirati and Indian.

The overall winner was nine year-old Kimora Mimathias, from India, whose prize was to have her words given form in a picture painted by the school’s resident artist, Jennifer Carter Dixon.

The Briton, whose children are students at the school, volunteered in the art department for three years before becoming an art assistant.

To help inspire the children to get writing, Dixon first set to work painting a large landscape picture of what she imagined Shalott would look like, based on Tennyson’s words. It hangs on Walster’s classroom wall.

When Mimathias’s writing was chosen as the winner by a panel of five judges, Dixon set to work painting the youngster’s vision of a Victorian house, making sure not to miss a single detail.

“The puffs of smoke, the vermilion roof, the ivy clinging onto the arched porch, the dark wooden door, the great oak tree, all of Kimora’s writing was interpreted into the painting,” Walster says.

Dixon says that she gets a tremendous boost when she sees the smiles on the children’s faces after bringing their words to life. “The expression on Kimora’s face when she saw the painting made it all worthwhile,” she says.

Mimathias says she will be hanging the painting on the bedroom wall at her family’s home in Mussafah.

“The picture is lovely – I really like it,” she says. “This project was very inspiring. It has made me more interested in English literature.”

Dixon’s artistic impression of Mimathias’s writing was unveiled in front of Key Stage Two students during a special assembly last month by the school’s principal, Jason King.

“Part of this initiative is in line with what ADEC are now pushing in terms of literacy across all schools, and making sure the kids are excited about reading,” he says.

“It’s important to bring stories to life. I think sometimes children forget to dream, and when you get them away from technology and get them reading, it stimulates their creativity.

“We’ve seen a real enthusiasm, particularly from our Emirati students, for reading, writing and literacy.”

Emirati student Aysha Almenhali, 8, was awarded a special commendation for her descriptive prose and for an additional poem she wrote about The Lady of Shalott. "I didn't do this because I was told to by my teacher but because I wanted to, because I am interested in poetry and language" she says.

Walster, who is Almenhali’s teacher, says: “Every topic I introduce, Aysha goes home and creates something on the theme of that topic to bring to me. She is someone who is truly inspiring.” Walster says the youngster’s family is incredibly supportive of her passion for English literature.

“I know her mother sits with her – they read and study together,” she says. “Our recent homework was to go on a nature walk, and Aysha’s family all went with her.”

Walster says she has found a certain poetic sensibility in many of her Emirati students. “I can see it in pupils as young as seven years old that they have very poetic souls, and that is transferred into their writing. It may be because their society is less rushed and stressful that families take time to sit together, discuss topics and appreciate their beautiful nature.”

Walster’s next goal is to find an Emirati writer or poet who would like to partner with the school, “so that these children can also recognise the beauty of poetry in their first language. That would be amazing”.