In an age in which children have no time to play, let alone do any extra reading, it is heartening to see those who do not wish to see the habit of reading die make the effort to inculcate its value in school children. Storytelling as a part of the curriculum has been picking up in schools across the city. P.S Senior Secondary School has had the activity is place for over a year now. Other schools in the city that have implemented the activity include Chennai Public School, and A School.
Storytelling is essentially an intimate sharing of a narrative with one or more persons and storytelling in schools has not only helped bring back the habit of reading but also bring about behavioral, moral and value changes in young minds. Storytelling has helped rekindle the love for books in children as storytelling groups expose students with every workshop to newer books and possibilities.
Dr Eric Miller, who’s coducted storytelling in Sri Vidhya Academy, International School and Prasan Vidya Mandir, illuminates, “Storytelling usually leads to a discussion of the story after which students may choose to draw/paint the story, make costumes, masks, puppets and props relating to the story or listeners could act-out the story. Storytelling not only broadens students’ vocabulary but also widens their imagination.”
Says Amrutash Mishra of ilovereadin, who has been conducting storytelling as a part of the curriculum in P.S. Senior, “Our recorded data shows that 78 per cent of children are now voluntarily picking up a book to read as opposed to the low figure of 20 per cent that it was last year.” ilovereadin runs a book lovers programme for schools, which aims at developing the habit of reading. “We resist doing this as a workshop because then reading ends up being a weekend or hobby activity,” says Amrutash.
Arpitha Shankar, who runs ilovereadin’s online library service, adds, “We’ve noticed that children love certain series, like Horrible Histories — a history book written in a humorous way, Percy Jackson and the Diary of a Wimpy boy, better than most books.” The services offered by online libraries have certainly helped in imbibing the dying habit of reading. Shilpa Narayanan, who runs Reader’s Nest, an online library service, says, “Children are more net savvy than their parents and I have 7-14 year olds regularly issuing books.”
Shilpa informs that Enid Blyton is still a favourite among school kids. Fantasy series like C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books and Nancy Drew and Hardy boys are fairly popular too, not to mention everyone’s favourite Archie and Tinkle comics. Meenakshi Madhusdanan, principal, Sri Vidhya Academy, International School, believes storytelling has helped children more than just pick up a book.
“We have storytelling as a Friday club activity. It’s led to vocabulary and personality development in our students as well as bring about value changes in them. We can see the results in the classroom in terms of their engagement with their teachers and classmates,” she said.
