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The past year has been unprecedented. We are slowly making our way out of an era of separation and isolation. As we move forward itâs going to be important to teach children how to rebuild relationships, connect with the community on a personal level, and maintain a sense of self.
One way to do that is through storytelling activities. Storytelling is a human pursuit that crosses all cultures and generations and can help restore some of the missing elements in our childrenâs lives today.
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Here are three examples of storytelling to explore:
1. Personal storytelling
Telling personal stories is a powerful way to begin because the story is their own. Stimulate story ideas by asking direct questions about emotionally charged experiences that resolved well. For example, ask âWhat was the best present you ever got?â When they start telling, help them elaborate the story by gently asking for details. Tell them you want to see the story in your imagination. Where were you? Who was there? What did you do? Even if you know the answers, let them be the teller. Donât interject or correct.
Other story prompts you can use are: When were you the most scared? Tell me the story of your scar. What was the funniest thing Grandpa ever did? These tellings often evoke laughter and prompt more telling.
To further build self-esteem, suggest specific stories that position the child as the hero. Do you remember the time you found your auntâs keys? Tell me about the time you saved that bunny. Again, ask for details. Where were they? How did they feel? Personal telling fosters a sense of self and helps them find meaning in their own experiences.
Once your child has some experience with this, you could suggest your child reach out to grandparents or close family members over Skype or Zoom. They could ask for old family stories that these family members remember from their childhoods, or stories of their parents growing up.
2. Creative storytelling games
Parents and teachers tend to rely on books to provide stories. To develop creativity and a sense of belonging, develop your own imaginative stories together. In this round-robin game the story starter sets the who, the where and the what.
For example, I might say, âYesterday morning in the park I saw an enormous, purple dragon!â The next person gets to continue the story with the next line. Including all of you as characters in the story adds an element of excitement. Encourage all tellers to use lots of descriptive words so the listeners can visualize the story. This can be a great family activity if you are travelling in a car or stuck waiting for something. You could also incorporate people, objects or buildings around you into the stories.
If the children are older, you can set a theme or genre. Or, you could challenge them as tellers using story cues.
Create three piles of cues: the first pile contains names or pictures of characters; the second pile contains names or pictures of settings; the last pile contains names or pictures of objects. As a group you can withdraw a card from each pile and create a story incorporating whatever is on the cards, or each individual can tell a short story incorporating all three cards.
There are also many storytelling resources available online that stimulate creative telling. You can download fairytale bingo cards, download a storytelling dice app or order storytelling board games. These games reinforce sequencing skills, which enable a child to order events logically, stimulate creativity, increase vocabulary and foster a sense of community.
3. Performance telling
You and your child can write any of these stories down, make cartoon strips of them or record them. Once they are familiar with them, suggest they retell them out loud. Enhance the telling by using gesture, vocal expression and facial expression. They can share the stories with other household members or video the telling and share it with friends or family living elsewhere.
Telling stories to a small audience or sharing publicly not only builds confidence in the teller, it promotes community spirit.
As humans, we thrive on stories. Now, more than ever, we need to share stories that build relationships, community connections and self esteem, especially with our children.
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Mrs. Kellan was 70 years old and she had made the sock monkeys 5 days ago. She placed them in her knitting basket and today was her Senior Citizens Group Day. She got to play Bingo, meet other people, do knitting and have a day out. The sock monkeys were alone and they had been bored.
Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was a land where mythical creatures lived. There were dragons, werewolves, unicorns, mermaids, phoenixes, griffins, centaurs, minotaurs and many, many more. The creatures lived in harmony with a pact that they would only prey on non-mythical creatures. However, one fine day, the mermaids broke the pact. It marked the beginning of the end for the peaceful town called Shimmermore.
As the cows continue to talk to Hooter, they discover Hooter does not speak or understand their cow language. They have a challenge ahead of them! How will they teach the owl to learn to speak cow?
In a small country home nestled within the arms of the forest, lived Theodore Bodducker, a House Elf. He stood all of nine inches tall with tiny hands and a turned-up nose, curly blond hair he stuffed beneath a wrinkled old cap with a blue-jay's feather stuck in one side.
Bumble Bear had been looking forward to his trip to the seaside with Sarah and her mummy and daddy. All the time he lay shut in Sarahâs suitcase, listening to the chug-a-chug of the train, he dreamt of eating sugary candy floss and building sandcastles with his best friend. |
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Comments received from my last Drama Newsletter, "Drama Newsletter (February 24, 2021)"
Quick-Quill  wrote:
I'm keeping this NL. It's a great format to writing any genre
s  wrote:
Great newsletter! Sorry, hereâs my thoughts:
Leave something to the imagination.
When writing my horror stuff, I find that this sort of open-ended finish works really well. Sometimes the imagination of the reader is stronger than we give them credit for. I think a lot of movies especially fail to do this.
Say more with less.
I have a habit of being too verbose, and so I like to write my story as a bare bones drabble or flash fiction piece if I think Iâm going on too long, then use that as a âplanâ (for want of a better term).
Make readers work for it.
So many writers donât do this. I see it especially in fantasy stories â the exposition/ information dump right near the start. Great way to turn the readers off.
Start close to the end.
Great advice, especially if you have a limited word count to play with. Also good advice when struggling with a novel.
Jazz up the conflict in dialogue.
Very important, and another thing too few people donât do. Especially the âsubtle conflictâ mentioned in the newsletter.
Consider death.
Again, as a horror writer, I used death all the time. If you do, then readers are never sure if a character they come to like will die or not, so they can be tense while reading.
A Thought On Process: Write your Short Story in one big push.
I always do this. That way everything is fresh and it all comes out in a logical flow.
iKïyħama  wrote:
Ah ha! I wondered why I suddenly started to get reviews on my story *Laugh* Thanks so very much for the feature in your very informative newsletter.  |
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Drama: March 17, 2021 Issue [#10669]
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