2. Ode to 398.2 by Heather Forest I've traveled around the world
without leaving home. I go anywhere my imagination wants to roam. I
take a look,in a folktale book, and travel on the wings of words.
Soaring to far away places, ancient times, or magical spaces, I
find a fantasy view... reading a bookfrom the library shelf
marked398.2 3. Elements of African Myths
- Importance placed on nature/wildlife
- May explain an historic event
- May contain moral instruction
4. The Griot
- A West African storyteller, singer, musician, and oral
historian. The griot kept an unwritten record of all births,
marriages, and deaths that was passed down from one generation to
the next.
5. Mapping Stories to Remember Their Plots
- Stepping Stones If you have ever stepped across a brook by
hopping from one stone to the next, you know how it feels to
quickly travel a distance by leaping from one secure spot to
another. One effective mapping technique is to draw the stepping
stones of a plot. Major moments that lead one to the next would be
the noted points in the plot. Graphically, the map could take the
form of a flow chart or circles with text inside. The important
stepping stones need contain only a few words, or even a small
picture, to remind the teller of the sequence of events as the eye
travels across the page.
- Sunday Funnies The colorful cartoon box design of the Sunday
funnies could be the model for a folktale map. Draw the folktale as
a sequence of boxes that read like a cartoon. The sequence of
events could be illustrated with simple images that help the teller
remember specific points in the plot, not the words or the story.
Important dialogue summaries could be included as thought or speech
"bubbles."
- Time Line A plot is like a timeline of events. Draw a timeline
and put the action into chronological order. It is an interesting
way to remind yourself of details that must be stated early in the
tale.
6. Beyond Words: Nonverbal Communication
- Allowing the body to reflect the story being told can enhance
storytelling. As words are spoken, vividly imagine the setting and
characters of the story and let your body speak too. In our
everyday life we speak with our bodies, faces and gestures as well
as our voices. The meaning of what we say is subtly altered by how
we stand, move, and gesture while we speak.
- Even in Complete Silence We Speak
- For example, how would you say the following sentences without
words?
- "It's too hot." "I'm too cold!""SSHHH! Be quiet.""Come here."
"Come here quickly!" "Stay back! It's dangerous!" "I'm impatient"
"I'm tired""What did you say? (I can't hear you)"
- While Telling a Story, Let Your Body Speak
- Try allowing your body to reflect, not demonstrate your
wordsasyou are telling your story. If you clearly picture the story
in your imagination as you tell it, your body, face, and voice will
respond naturally to your inner vision.
7. Using Descriptive Language: Words Paint Pictures
- The storyteller's words are like a painter's colors. Changing
just one word in a sentence can alter the picture or detail that a
listener is imagining. For example, construct a sentence without
any adjectives. Then be more generous. Add some descriptive words
and see how the picture evoked by the words changes. The more the
storyteller says, the more the listener will "see" in their
imagination.
-
- A man walked down the road.
-
- A tattered old man walked down the hot dusty road.A young man
walked down a crowded city road.
8. Improvising with Folktale Skeletons
- Story Skeletons are the bare bones of the tale, or the plot.
Additional detail, setting and characterization can be added to
flesh out the story. Be generous and the reader or listener will
see the tale in their mind's eye. Everyone's imagination is
different, so retellings will differ from teller to teller.
Students could retell one of the following tales in their own
words, improvising language and adding dialogue between
characters.
- A Skeleton: The Sun and The Wind ... an Aesop's Fable
- The wind and the sun argued about which of them was the
strongest. They decided to hold a contest. The sun suggested that
they see who could take the coat off of a man walking along the
road below them. The wind blew hard, but the man, feeling chilly,
held his coat tightly around him. The sun then became gently warmer
and warmer. The man felt so hot, he took off his coat. Sometimes,
they say, you can get your way more easily with gentleness than by
force.
9. With Additional Dialogue:
- The Sun and The Wind ... An Aesop's Fable
- The North Wind boasted of great strength. The Sun argued that
there was great power in gentleness.
- "We shall have a contest," said the Sun. Far below, a man
traveled a winding road. He was wearing a warm winter coat.
- "As a test of strength," said the Sun, "let us see which of us
can take the coat off that man."
- "It will be quite simple for me to force him to remove his
coat," bragged the Wind. The Wind blew so hard, the birds clung to
the trees. The world was filled with dust and leaves. But the
harder the wind blew, the tighter the shivering man clung to his
coat. Then, the Sun came out from behind a cloud. The sun warmed
the air and the frosty ground. The man on the road unbuttoned his
coat. The Sun grew slowly brighter and brighter. Soon the man felt
so hot, he took off his coat and sat down in a shady spot.
- "How did you do that?" said the Wind.
- "It was easy," said the Sun. "I lit the day. Through gentleness
I got my way."
10. Practice and Stage Fright
- A story grows each time it is told, becoming more vivid in the
imagination of the storyteller. New details may enter the
storyteller's mental picture of the tale. Those new details then
can be brought out in the telling of the story for the listener to
enjoy. Practicing a tale can start by simply "chatting" it out loud
to oneself and then move on to telling it to just one person. It is
in the actual telling that a story takes shape. As a teller gains
confidence, telling to a larger group becomes more
comfortable.
- The best way to improve storytelling skills is topractice
telling stories . As your listeners travel into the tale with you,
trust that your words will inspire their imaginations to conjure
pictures. As those pictures become more vivid, the storyteller
fades into the background. Rather than wasting any energy on having
stage fright or being self conscious, truly give yourself over to
telling your story. The more you inhabit your tale, the more
listeners will be transported to the imaginary world you are
creating for them and you, the teller, will virtually
disappear.
- Those jittery feelings of nervousness are very similar to the
feelings of being excited. Help yourself relax by affirming, "I am
excited to tell this tale!" Use that adrenaline for a useful
purpose, to encourage you to get up and share the story!
11. You Are Ready!
- Choose an African Folktale
- Close your eyes and try to see the story's plot as if it were a
"movie" inside your head.
- If there are any parts that you were not able to clearly
remember: Read the story again.Watch the movie again
- Write a short skeleton of the myth
- Ask a friend to be a good listener. Then have fun retelling the
plot in your own words, picturing the story in your imagination
while you tell it. Allow yourself to "become" the characters as
well as the narrator.
12. Works Cited
- "Story Arts | Retelling Folktales."Story Arts | Story Arts
Online!28 Apr. 2009