Introduction
Story telling is one of the mechanisms through which teachers can interact and impart knowledge to children. For my story telling session, I selected “The hare and the Hyena”. The story is about the relationship between the hare and the Hyena and how they lived in the jungle. I chose it because of the following reasons. The story had a good plot and the children could easily understand the episodes in the story. Besides this, the story is generally interesting and it also has a moral lesson.
Preparation for Story Telling
Before I conducted my story telling session, I made the following preparations. First, I read the story a number of times in order to remember it. I also thought of it in spare moments and this gave me a good understanding of the plot. I also tape recorded one of my narrations before the presentation and it enabled me to improve on a few areas that were not coming out clearly.
Story Telling session
After doing a proper preparation, I proceeded to the presentation aspect of it and this is how I conducted the story telling session. Before I started the narration, I made a short introduction. In this process, I drew the attention of the children who acted as my audience. I chose to be flexible by not necessarily using the exact words that appeared in the text. Even though I did this, I made sure that the story line remained the same.
This enabled me to be fluent in my narration and it therefore saved me the burden of trying to recall some words and phrases. I chose to use a moderate speed while narrating the story in order to give the children a chance to think bout it. In the process of narration it, I could change the tone of my voice. For example, when I was talking about the hare I could use soft nagging tone and when I was talking about the hyena, I could use a totally different tone. In order to enhance my presentation, I used body gestures as well as body movements.
For example, I could wear a gloomy face to show sadness and vice versa. I also used some adjectives to enable the children develop some mental picture about the story. For example, I described the hare as beautiful and intelligent, while the hyena was ugly, greedy, and careless. After the narration, I allowed the children to ask questions and share their views about it.
Advantages of a Story Telling
From my experience in story telling, I realized that it has the following advantages. “First, it helps in the physical, emotional, and spiritual growth of children” (Mellon, 2000). In this case, the children were able to learn some moral values. For, example, they learnt the importance of honesty. Story telling also impacts on a child’s capacity to think and respond to various circumstances. The moral values that were learnt from the story also helped in shaping the words and actions of the children.
Disadvantages of a Story Telling
Apart the advantages, this exercise can be time consuming especially if the story is long. The presentation can some times take much time, hence interfering with other lesson activities.
Application of Story Telling Skills in Teaching
From my experience in story telling, I learnt that it can be used to enhance comprehension skills such as reading, writing, and summary among students. For example, a teacher can give the students some passages to read and then they can present them to their colleagues in class. It also enhances verbal communication since it is done orally (Mellon, Storytelling and the Art of Imagination, 2003). Therefore, it can be used for teaching students a second language. For example, a teacher can narrate a story to students learning a new language and after that ask them questions about it.
References
Mellon, N. (2003). Storytelling and the Art of Imagination. New York: Yellow Moon Press.
Mellon, N. (2000). Storytelling with Children. London: Hawthorn.