I read out stories to children for a living! Sounds quite weird, funny and strange, doesn’t it?
But it isn’t.
Power of Storytelling is real. It is fast developing as an effective form of communication and teaching. It isn’t a new concept, not at all. Most of us have grown up listening to grandma’s tales or being put to bed with a happy, soothing bed time story. However, with the growing number of nuclear families, busy working life of parents, the time spent on researching and telling a story has started dwindling. The only reading kids do is their text books and occasional novels. Book shops are visited only for the cool stationery they offer, and library is just a boring period in school!
Hence the birth of professional storytellers. If you can’t do it, we do it for you!
For me, it all started with a need to constructively use my girl’s free time. I used to cook up stories on the fly and encourage her to keep adding the scenes with me. We made songs, funny dialogues and character tones and had a good time. It was working out well. But I needed her to read good old classic literature too. Unfortunately, I had caught the reading bug only in my teens and hence didn’t know much about good children’s books or authors. I wasn’t happy with what I was picking at the school book fairs, or book shops. The absence of a good library around just added to the despair.
Rumi says, what you seek is seeking you!
Thankfully, even Google works on the same principle.
And so, while browsing random content on Facebook, I stumbled upon an article on Little Readers Nook. They are revolutionising the way children read, making reading books fun and interesting. And the best part? They have done their research and hand-picked the best kid’s books and authors.
It didn’t take me long and within a couple of months, I was a story educator with them.
So, here’s what I/we do.
More than 100 amazing story books have been divided into 25+ themes (Sound words, Jobs people do, Seasons, Out in Space, Mythology, Fun with Maths etc.). One theme comprises of 4 story books, which we cover in 8 sessions of 1 hour each. The sessions include story narration, activities, fun games, vocabulary building activities and art & craft. Basically, all the things kids enjoy doing, are intertwined with learning! They love what they do here, the repeat percentage of enrolments is quite high for almost all the centres.
We don’t stop there. The way we add tremendous value to this learning process is by asking deep thinking questions. We don’t end it where the story ends. We ask questions: How did the character feel? If you were one of the characters, what would you do next? What feelings did the character have in the beginning? Towards the middle of the story? At the end? Have you felt like this? When? Why? How? Where? Ah!! Questions!! Questions are beautiful! They have the power to startle you, impress you and awaken you!
As a life coach, I have been certified to ask deep meaningful questions to adults, to help them realise their potential and purpose in life. Asking such questions to kids, at this age, makes me confident that they would grow up to be far more mature, confident and aware adults.
It’s a mission- to change how little India reads. Are they reading a story book just because they are being forced to? Are they enjoying it? How are they processing it? What are their key take-aways from every book they read? How is that story helping them? I’m so glad I am on this mission! I am so glad that all the 150+ kids I have had the chance to tell stories to (till now) have ENJOYED the experience. I am so glad that parents say their kids are addicted to this class. I am so glad that kids finish their studies on time so that they don’t miss these classes.
Stories, creating an experience of it, living the characters and thinking differently is a magical world, and I am not only glad I am doing it, I am proud of what I do. And whenever I get a smirk or laugh from people when I say I tell stories for a living, I smile with them!
Photo by Steven Libralon on Unsplash
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