Summer- a time for telling stories - BC Home Educators' Association

by Marty Layne

Stories are tools people have used for thousands of years to teach and share observations about how the world works. One way to learn and understand more about First Nations is to listen to or read their stories.

This link has a number of stories from various First Nations https://www.historymuseum.ca/history-hall/traditional-and-creation-stories/.

When my children were young, we enjoyed telling stories. One way to jump into group storytelling is to use the “One Word Story Method.” Each person tells one word and then the next person in the group tells the next word, etc. Everyone works together to bring the story to a conclusion. It can be quite hilarious.

Here’s a link to an example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA4UHou-BiE

Another way to create stories to tell is to use prompts. Make your own prompt cards. Create 10 +/- character cards, 10+/- setting card and 10+/- problem to be solved cards. One card chosen from each gives you a framework for telling a story.

In this article by Laura Grace Weldon, she discusses how important telling family stories can be.

There are many storytellers and storytelling festivals around the world that you can find online. Libraries often provide storytelling times for children in the summer. A storyteller my family has enjoyed for the last 37 years is Jay O’Callahan.

You can listen and view him telling the story he was hired to create and tell to celebrate 50 years of NASA, Forged in the Stars, a NASA video. You can also listen to a broadcast performance here. One of my favourite of Jay O’Callahan’s stories is The Little Dragon.

Here’s a link to an illustrated Shadow Maker performance of Jay telling the story of The Little Dragon.