An old Norwegian saying wisely tells us, “It is the duty of the present to convey the voices of the past to the ears of the future.”
Once upon a summer night, a mother putting her children to bed suddenly changed course and declared there would be no bedtime book read. The mother, whisking a blanket off the bed, ordered the children to follow her. The children lined up like ducklings behind their mother, and together through the house and out the door they marched. Outside in the summer night air, the mother flung the blanket on the ground and the children instinctively sat down wondering what would come next. Without even a hint of whining, they had successfully escaped their beds and that annoying stream of light that always came through the window at summer bedtimes. As their mother began to tell them a story from a familiar fairytale, they could hardly believe their good fortune. There they were, outside at night, on a comfy blanket, listening to a story and staring at the sky as they invented illustrations in their heads to match their mother’s voice.
After that, once a week throughout the summer, the children were treated to outdoor storytelling at bedtime. The stories changed each time, sometimes made up, sometimes retellings from favorite books, and sometimes true stories about the children themselves when they were babies. On one particular summer night, with the whole family assembled on the storytelling blanket, the parents shared some awesome true stories of their naughty misdeeds when they were young. The children liked those stories best of all. With the parents as the model storytellers, the children learned the art of storytelling and grew up to pass on the same stories to a future generation.
Storytelling is the art of conveying a tale through voice and gestures. It is not the same experience as reading a story, reciting from memory or acting out a play. The more you tell stories, the better you will become.
Try different techniques to enhance your stories. Alliteration uses several words in a row starting with the same letter such as ‘Sammy the snake slithered’. Repeating the same key phrase or chant will give your story a sense of rhythm. Creatively using your facial expressions accompanied with other body language will convey the mood. Change it up and use a variety in word choices and fluctuate the tone of your voice to match what you are saying. Eventually you will develop your own style of colorful language that paints pictures in the listeners’ minds, and the storytelling experience will be emotional and meaningful for you, as well as for your listeners.
As we have become more dependent on technology to share our thoughts and ideas, telling a story forces us to reflect on what we want to say and to rely on our own verbal skills to articulate those reflections. There are so many reasons why this practice is as educational as it is entertaining. Storytelling exposes children to language beyond their reading ability, gets them excited about learning something new, helps them to remember important details, teaches them the value of oral history, reinforces the skill of making mental pictures and encourages reading while it enriches writing.
Its value doesn’t stop there. Parents can wisely use storytelling to teach valuable lessons. For example, tell a cautionary tale to help your child predict natural consequences to inappropriate behaviors. Another twist on how to teach character through storytelling is to use an actual event of misbehavior. Have your child tell the story of what happened up to the point where the misstep occurred and allow your child to change the ending to create a happy and more satisfying conclusion.
A famous author once said, “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”
Felicia Bordick and her colleagues, Carol Smith and Joyce Thomas, are authors of “Kitchen Table Time: Recipes for School Success.” Please feel free to contact Felicia Bordick with comments, questions, or suggestions at [email protected].
