Hi I’m Urmila to the teachers I train – or Miss U – to the kids who know me through my Creative Writing classes. I wear two hats_ teacher and teacher trainer.

I’ve had a lot of fun teaching mainly in South Bombay schools like Alexandra, Queen Mary’s, J B Petit, Bombay International and Cathedral and the Aga Khan Schools- among others since 1981 and Kodaikanal International School. I’ve taught many hundreds of “monkeys” – as I like to affectionately call my students – over the years and now their little and big “monkeys” come to learn Writing from me. (Now you can guess how old I am!)

I hold an MA in English Literature, a B. Ed from Bombay University and an M. Ed from the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, UK , where I studied on a Commonwealth scholarship (1995-96). (As you can see, I have been quite a studious owl myself.)

I LOVE English and all languages, and helping kids discover that writing can be a lot of fun.

Teaching kids to feel confident and to care for each other using Circle Time is something I also feel happy doing. I trained for that and completed a pilot study of Circle Time in four Bombay schools – under Jenny Mosley at Bristol University in 1998. Since 1999, I’ve trained teachers in Circle Time strategies through workshops in Bombay, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai and Punjab. I was a trainer with the WATIS (Wipro Applying Thought in Schools) programme in Bangalore too and trained teachers in the area in over 50 schools all over the country and participated in and read papers at various national and international seminars.

I offer my Circle Time consultancy to schools in the area through The Fourth R Training and Resources – as the fourth R – Relationships/ Emotional Intelligence – is a much neglected area in our schools today. 

The thing that keeps me going daily though, are year -long Creative Writing classes at my centre for children aged 7-14. I conduct holiday workshops as well – happy ones where we chatter and laugh – and also by the way – do some writing work.

Our Writing classes are mostly cheerful but sometimes though, I do growl and snarl and then I am not such a pleasant person – more of an ogress or a Cruella De Ville who gives homework and insists on corrections – but then all teachers are this sometimes, (right kids?!)

That’s enough about me.

Enjoy the kids’ work!