Story time in St. George's, Sabrina Skinner, 13/11/07
Post
Our story starts with a group of students. Wide-eyed and eager to know what they are in store for, they take their seats; and in a moment rarely seen in a high school classroom, a hush falls over the room.
They're ready for their story.
Storytelling has long been recognized as an important way to preserve the culture and past of a place, and students got to learn first-hand what makes a good tale when a storytelling workshop was held at Appalachia High School in St. George's recently.
Newfoundland storytellers Mary Fearon and Marc Cormier spent the day workshopping storytelling with students and teachers at the school as part of Awakening the Dreamer: Opening the Door to Talk. The province-wide storytelling festival is sponsored by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council under their school touring program, and the provincial Department of Education.
Ms. Fearon, who hails from St. John's, says she became a storyteller some years ago after she joined a parent-child literacy group. She says she immediately saw the impact stories had on children's literacy skills. She says she became interested in Newfoundland stories through searching for new stories to tell in the program.
"They spoke to me in a different kind of way, and I became keen to really learn a lot of stories and tell them," she says. "I could see that the history of storytelling in Newfoundland was being lost, and that oral culture and tradition was being lost, so I decided that was going to be one of my missions - to tell Newfoundland stories in particular."
Mr. Cormier, who is from the Port au Port peninsula, says as a schoolteacher, he has been incorporating stories into his curriculum for years - to great results.
"If you give them a choice of watching a movie or playing a video game or listening to a story, they'll always take the story," he says. "Which surprised me actually, but that's what I've discovered over the years."
At Ms. Fearon's session with Level II and III students, she had the students participate in an exercise in which each member of the class added one line to a piece of paper circulating around the classroom.
"A story can be as simple as that," she told the students. "Adding one thought or line."
Both storytellers say students and teachers are often receptive when they hold workshops like the one at Appalachia High and they hope it will grow an interest in the craft.
Arielle Alexander, a Level II student at Appalachia, said she enjoyed her class's workshop, and that she was keen to learn more about storytelling.
"It was really, really interesting," she said.
They're ready for their story.
Storytelling has long been recognized as an important way to preserve the culture and past of a place, and students got to learn first-hand what makes a good tale when a storytelling workshop was held at Appalachia High School in St. George's recently.
Newfoundland storytellers Mary Fearon and Marc Cormier spent the day workshopping storytelling with students and teachers at the school as part of Awakening the Dreamer: Opening the Door to Talk. The province-wide storytelling festival is sponsored by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council under their school touring program, and the provincial Department of Education.
Ms. Fearon, who hails from St. John's, says she became a storyteller some years ago after she joined a parent-child literacy group. She says she immediately saw the impact stories had on children's literacy skills. She says she became interested in Newfoundland stories through searching for new stories to tell in the program.
"They spoke to me in a different kind of way, and I became keen to really learn a lot of stories and tell them," she says. "I could see that the history of storytelling in Newfoundland was being lost, and that oral culture and tradition was being lost, so I decided that was going to be one of my missions - to tell Newfoundland stories in particular."
Mr. Cormier, who is from the Port au Port peninsula, says as a schoolteacher, he has been incorporating stories into his curriculum for years - to great results.
"If you give them a choice of watching a movie or playing a video game or listening to a story, they'll always take the story," he says. "Which surprised me actually, but that's what I've discovered over the years."
At Ms. Fearon's session with Level II and III students, she had the students participate in an exercise in which each member of the class added one line to a piece of paper circulating around the classroom.
"A story can be as simple as that," she told the students. "Adding one thought or line."
Both storytellers say students and teachers are often receptive when they hold workshops like the one at Appalachia High and they hope it will grow an interest in the craft.
Arielle Alexander, a Level II student at Appalachia, said she enjoyed her class's workshop, and that she was keen to learn more about storytelling.
"It was really, really interesting," she said.
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