(B3) HOW CAN STORYTELLING BE USED IN PRIMARY EDUCATION?

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HOW CAN STORYTELLING BE USED IN PRIMARY EDUCATION?

During this blog, I will be discussing the importance of storytelling in education, and comparing how children of various ages react to storytelling and how they can incorporate it into their work, to improve literacy skills such as reading, writing, spelling and punctuation. 

Fiona Collins, (1999), stated that ‘Children’s typical ways of remembering rhymes, skipping chants and other examples of their oral culture are similar to the methods employed in oral cultures by poets and storytellers.” By saying this, she is simply explaining the fact that a way in which a child could play and interact with others, clearly shows similarities in the way a story may be told. Many children’s authors such as Roald Dahl, David Walliams and Dr. Seuss are infamous for their use of literal techniques such as rhyming and creating poetry, literally catching the reader’s attention, making the stories memorable; rhyming, chanting and making up songs/poetry has always been a major factor in ways that children of all ages play and learn. 

Storytelling has also been used as a way to improve speech for many children. “Activities built on storytelling and talk can provide practice in speaking and listening skills.” (Campbell and Hlusek, 2015) This shows that children are using their reading skills to develop other areas, such as speech. The help of a practitioner would be beneficial, as they would be able to correct and assess the child, or offer support to help develop their oracy skills. Campbell and Hlusek provided an interesting activity in their article ‘Storytelling for Fluency and Flair’, which was to use visuals, read aloud and model storytelling. This is based on an activity where the practitioner will provide a story/tale.

1.    Activation: students walk around to get an idea of the background of the story

2.    Discussion: speak about what’s needed to make a good story.

3.    Read aloud: read out their story 

4.    Student-led conversation: comparing each other’s stories

5.    Conclusion: what did they learn from storytelling

I feel that this activity promotes the use of public speaking, a vital skill to learn, and also gives the children an opportunity to communicate with other students. This activity can be used across the whole of the school, by adapting the type of story given. 'They do not pretend to be storytellers; they are storytellers. It is their intuitive approach to all occasions.
It is the way they think' (Paley, 1991, p.17). She also referred to storytelling as 'a primary cultural institution, the social art of language.' (p. 23). “Unfortunately its potential has been ignored in recent government initiatives on education in England and Wales, such as the National Literacy Strategy of 1998.” (Collins, 1999)

Story and tale telling is one of the oldest forms of communication. This is how we know about our history, and how we know so much about each other and our pasts. “Although on a general level the literature makes it clear that the language forms used by humans must influence and shape each other, it is necessary to explore ways in which this happens in more depth, to clarify the educational contribution of storytelling and other oral work.” (Collins, 1999).  Again, this emphasises how storytelling and repeating words and sounds can help develop speech and language issues. Whether it be reading from a book, or telling their own story, a child’s ability to communicate with another person and express their thoughts and versions of a story shows great confidence, literacy skills, and an eagerness to demonstrate their abilities to read or talk.

Here are some qualities that a good storyteller will have:

·     Depth and knowledge

·     Different tones of voice

·     Facial expressions

·     Hand and body movements

·     Engagement with the audience

As part of this course, we have been exploring Michael Rosen’s work. An English Author who specialises in children’s novels, he is also a fantastic storyteller. Below, I have provided a link for a video that he created, performing his famous book ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’. Although, my favourite video of Rosen’s is one called ‘No Breathing in class’. His expressions and ability to make children laugh is key for a good author, and he does that exceptionally well. 

Bear Hunt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gyI6ykDwds

No Breathing in class:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1cfVQyrQ3Q

REFERENCES

1.    Campbell, T. & Hlusek, M. 2015. ‘Storytelling for Fluency and Flair’ https://learn.cardiffmet.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/783981/mod_resource/content/0/Storytelling%20.pdf

2.    Collins, F. 1999. ‘The use of traditional storytelling in education to the learning of literacy skills’. https://learn.cardiffmet.ac.uk/pluginfile.php/868719/mod_resource/content/1/The%20Use%20of%20Storytelling%20in%20Education.pdf

3.    Kids’ Poems and Stories With Michael Rosen, 2008. ‘No Breathing in Class’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1cfVQyrQ3Q

4.    Paley, V.G. (1991 edition). The boy who would be a helicopter, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press 

5.    Walker Books, 2014. ‘Michael Rosen performs We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gyI6ykDwds