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Practice is the key to beautiful handwriting: Prapthi 

29 Nov 2020

By Kusumanjalee Thilakarathna Photo Saman Abesiriwardena    Prapthi Rianne Rathnasiri is a grade four student from Sujatha Vidyalaya, Nugegoda, who is an all-rounder. She is a good badminton player, a skilful swimmer, a young actress, as well as a member of the school choir. She has exceptionally beautiful handwriting and has been placed first in many handwriting competitions. In an interview with The Sunday Morning Little Stars, Prapthi spoke about herself and shared a few tips on how students can improve their handwriting.    Prapthi, tell us more about yourself. My full name is Prapthi Rianne Rathnasiri. I am a student of Sujatha Vidyalaya, Nugegoda, and I am currently studying in grade four. My favourite dish is cheese pasta. I have a lot of good friends. I live in Nugegoda with my parents, elder sister, and younger brother. I love to be with my grandparents. They are in Galle. I wish we could go to see them every day, but Galle is far.  What I enjoy doing the most is running to the garden and playing badminton with my akki. I read books every day. Before the corona curfew was imposed, we used to travel everywhere. I have been to many places in Sri Lanka and many countries in the world. I enjoy travelling with my family very much.    What is your favourite place to go to when you are travelling? If it is in Sri Lanka, I would say my favourite place to go to is Nuwara Eliya. I love Nuwara Eliya because it is very cold there. And it rains all the time. I love to watch the rain and play in the rain. I enjoy being outdoors a lot. Out of all the countries I have been to, my favourite country is Thailand. It is a very beautiful country and there are a lot of new things to see. I also like the people’s friendliness and politeness. But not only that; in Thailand, there are a lot of places where you can go shopping for amazing little things.    Do you have any pets?  Unfortunately, my mother does not allow a puppy at home. She says that it is a big responsibility and if we are not able to take care of the pets all the time, we should not have them. But I love to play with puppies. We give food to puppies and dogs on the road. I just love to watch them play.    Your mother says that you are a strict vegetarian. Who told you it is good to become a vegetarian?  Well, no one told me to become a vegetarian. I just felt like it is not a good thing to eat meat. I think all those animals whose lives are sacrificed to become food for humans, don’t deserve to die. So, I always stick to vegetarian food. My mother spoke to our dietician and she said it’s okay to be a vegetarian as long as I get all the required nutrients.   Since when did you play badminton? I started playing badminton when I was in grade two. I go for practises regularly at school and I go for private training sessions too. I really love to handle the racket and the shuttlecock, it’s easy to play, and it is good exercise too. My coach loves and supports me a lot. He says he is a big fan of the work I do on television. I have won several school competitions and received many certificates, medals, and cups. I feel very happy to see my parents’ happiness when I win a medal or a cup. I feel very excited to compete and play in badminton matches.    You are also a swimmer. Yes. At school, we used to get swimming lessons. One day our swimming instructor observed all of us when we were swimming and chose the best-skilled ones to represent the school swimming squad. I was lucky as I got to be a part of our school’s swimming squad.  I am also taking swimming lessons from the Bolling Swimming Academy. That is also something I love to do.    You mentioned you have acted in a drama. Can you share your experience with us? Well, I have acted in one Sinhala teledrama and was chosen for many TV commercials. I think I am talented in acting and I enjoyed taking part in those. It was fun to work with the teledrama team and I got praised because I was able to remember my lines. I really enjoy going for shoots and really miss it when a shoot is cancelled. I have been told that I am very talented in imitating characters. I don’t know how to explain how I do it, but when I watch someone for a long time, I can act like that person.    You are also a member of the school choir. How did you become a part of that? We had auditions at school last year. That’s how choir members are chosen. I performed well at the audition, so I got selected to the school choir team. I was in grade three.   What is your favourite storybook? I think my favourite book is Secret Princess. That is a very interesting book. But I think if you ask me about my favourite character, that would be Princess Sofia from Sofia the First. I also like the story of Frozen.   What is your ambition?  I like to become a teacher when I am older like my mother. She is now a principal. I like to teach children, to teach them what is good and what is bad. I like how I’ll get to wear different sarees in different colours every day. Teachers look very smart. I would really like to be a teacher in the future.    You also said that one of your special talents is writing beautifully. Tell us a bit about that. Yes. I have represented the school in zonal level and district level handwriting competitions. I have won places too.    Can you share some tips with Little Stars readers on how they can have neat and beautiful handwriting?  I think practice is the most important thing when it comes to nice handwriting. You can practise writing on lined paper as a starting point. I started with dotted letters, but that was when I was very young. You can practise writing by using a handwriting book. I copywrite passages, focusing on one sentence at a time. It is also important that you chose the right pen or pencil, one that is comfortable for you. At first, you can take your time. After you have perfected the shapes, you can start improving your speed.


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