Story telling by an author for class 5

The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell us how to think, but to give us questions to think upon.

Story telling is one of the most effective ways of communicating with children. A story stays with the child much longer than facts or statistics as it is extremely engaging of the child's sense of wonder and imagination. It tells of the world around us as also carries the child on a journey of fantasy. In fact storytelling is a universal and traditional art form that has featured strongly in Indian culture as an effective oral communication tool down the ages. It can be used to St. Mark's Sr. Sec. Public School, inform, entertain and educate and is often used as a medium to ingrain values, improve comprehension skills and open the minds of children to the world of imagination.

To foster the skills of listening and reading, a fun filled story telling session by Ms Divya Mehta, founder of The Readers Tribe, was organised for the students of class V on 18 and 21 December, 2020. Ms Mehta's story telling skills demonstrated that story telling is a shared experience among equals in which the audience is just as active a participant as the storyteller. The unique warmth in the way she narrated the stories from The Spiderwick Chronicles captivated the children leaving them spellbound and asking for more.

Listening in rapt attention, they were exposed to the basics of dramatisation in terms of movement and gestures, voice modulation and rhythmic communication. Developing communication skills and stretching the realm of the imagination was the objective of the workshop.

It was a great learning experience which was thoroughly enjoyed by the children who were also egged on to try telling a story individually on a future occasion.