Storytelling in a swedish school
Hello again dear friends of Edward Ndlovu Memorial Trust Library in Gwanda,
Last week I wrote about storytelling, and promised to come back to the subject. To celebrate "World Book Day" i out school, Linnéskolan, in Älmhult, Sweden, the elder pupils read to the younger ones, This is a part of the schoolday, to show that you can express your self infront of others. When you are 13-16 years old you dream back to old times when you heard so many stories, at home, in school and in the local library. Most of the time they chose books which were popular when they were preschool kids. And that is good, because when you read/tell a story you have loved as child, the feeling is still there and your voice will be warm and smooth. You give the children a gift, very often they take that warm and nice feeling with them through life.
Once (it is 12! years ago now) I had a girl coming from Lebanon. She did not understand a word of Swedish, but she came with her class to the library and listend to my voice. She did not understand a word of what I was telling, but she liked the feeling in the room, the sound of my voice telling the story and seeing all children so concentrated on what I was telling/reading to them.
After some month, being able to speak more and more swedish, she told me that "she shivered of joy" when the teacher told them it was time for "storytelling" in the library. I never forget her and the longing for stories in this girl!
Do you have any stories about listining or reading for somebody else? Maybe something from your childhood, or anything with storytelling? Please tell me and I will publish it here on the blog.
love for this time Kersti
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or mailto:[email protected]
Storytelling in Sweden
Dear friends of Edward Ndlovu Library in Gwanda, Zimbabwe,
In old times in Sweden, before television and electricity, when work was finished in the evening, people sat down together in front of the fireplace. (of course still working, like knitting, making tools of tree and other small things), there was a man or a woman telling stories, very often about love, hate, lies, truth, trolls, giants, fairies, monsters and other scary phenomenon.
But most of the time they ended like: the princess got her prince, they married, got a lot of children and lived happily together the rest of their lives. The stories could also be funny making people to laugh.
The story tellers walked around from farm to farm, or from cottage to cottage. They were well respected and people longed for them to come.
Later all this stories were collected and written down. And now days we can read them in fairy tales collections. Today the stories are made films from, (like Disney) or collected in children books. And of course they are not terrifying the children. From the beginning the stories were written for adults and the children were there and listened.
And now days I sit there and read aloud for our school children, and I think most of you do the same. All over the world!
I would like to hear from you about story telling in your country and also memories from your childhood or from what your parents or grandparents have told you!
Lots of love from me in Sweden with the heart in Gwanda Zimbabwe!
Mail me: [email protected] or mail Jackson at: [email protected]
Storytelling at the Edward Ndlovu Library
An important part of a Library, at least I think, is storytelling. On this picture Mrs. Moyo, librarian, tells a group of children a story from a book. Mrs. Moyo read the book, first all the way through, then once again, stopping and discussed with the children. After that they got a piece of paper and some cryaons and the children was drawing something from the book they just heard. This is the traditional way of storytelling all over the world. I do so, every day of the week at my School library in Sweden, but I am not so ambitious so I read the book 2 times and they do not draw pictures either. That’s because we don’t have the time I guess. This story telling is ordinary working days. But sometimes a real story teller comes and tell the children an old folk tale and that is something else. We have a Folk tale museum 55 km from Älmhult (where I work), and from there a woman comes and tell the children an oral story (that is without the book). She is an educated woman in storytelling. But maybe me and Mrs. Moyo have a different purpose with our story telling. We want the children to know about the book, and want to borrow it and take it with them home and ask parents to read to them and their brothers and sisters.
A story telling event is more of a performance and give the child quit another experience than our ordinary day reading. But I don’t say it is less worth, only different purposes! Anyhow I wish I had the education of a real story teller.
I think you in Zimbabwe have a very old and well developped tradition of storytelling, which we lost a good bit of in Sweden. We used to have it, and I am afraid the same losing of storytelling is on iny Zimbabwe of today!
What can we do to keep up traditions of storytelling?
I will think of that and come back to you. I am most grateful for any suggestions and thoughts about this important subject.
Good bye from a lovely spring in Sweden and from a still hot Zimbabwe, which is waiting for the cold period you call WINTER!
Kersti
