Texts for Translation: 2006
  Rona Barbour

Welcome to the world of “The Storyteller”

As she tells you what she sees as the Correlation between; Oral Storytelling and Reading

Storytelling is the original and most effective way to communicate effectively. People remember stories. Stories capture the heart and mind. They bring clarity and meaning to complex messages. Stories spark the imagination and inspire solutions. They provoke action and stimulate change.
Taking the principles of oral storytelling and applying them to everyday situations where people, especially children, find communication difficult will transform their lives and give them the skills they need to make themselves understood and to be better at understanding other people. Using the special skills learned through Storytelling, for example listening and speaking skills, we can assist everyone to explore their role within society, be it classroom or workplace and emphasise the vital role they all play in moving their own life story forward.
Children are naturally curious, motivated learners, but sometimes the enjoyment of learning can get lost in today’s pressure to do well in education and in most cases, even more importantly, the pressure to impress their peers.
At the same time, parenting can be the most rewarding and important role we have in our lives - it can also be the most challenging and the resources used by The Storyteller – Rona Barbour to this end, have been carefully chosen to support conscious, positive parenting through the early development of effective social and communication skills;
It is a fabulous experience to be able to listen to a story with all the family where everyone is able to enjoy equally at their own level and where quality communication about thoughts, feelings and beliefs underpins the whole process and where values and principles can be carefully instilled.
The Storyteller’s stories are designed to enable the child to develop self-esteem and self-confidence. Through the stories she writes (and the traditional tales she tells) The Storyteller will impart a vision of a world, which is magical and awe inspiring yet humbling and in which, all living things are connected. Her collection of stories promotes spiritual understanding in the widest sense through opening a child's eyes to the wonders of the world around them.
All of the stories in her Children’s Workshop have either been written by or chosen by Rona Barbour because they support and develop the positive beliefs and values of: co-operation, collaboration, and tolerance as well as providing good, positive, nurturing fun, re-igniting their creativity and natural hunger for learning.

The teenage years are often the most vulnerable stage of growing up. Young people have to cope with so much change, including internal and external pressures, which can sometimes be difficult to understand. Teenagers are bombarded with images and messages, not all of which are positive. We have to be very careful about what we choose to share with our children to ensure that the messages we give, both implicitly and explicitly, support and underpin our own positive values and beliefs.

Nurturing a child's development through Storytelling:

Children are born with a very strong sense of self however, yet again, as they develop external relationships and pressures can begin to have a negative impact on their confidence, self-image and self-esteem. Having high self-esteem has been shown to have a positive impact on personal and academic fulfilment. All of the resources included in this section have been specifically selected for the powerful, positive impact they have on promoting children's self-esteem and will support and empower children to deal positively with specific experiences such as friendship, tolerance, change, positive choices, loss, death and bullying.

All children enjoy can Storytelling and in fact most adults will as well, after all watching TV soaps is following a story. However, the secret to being able to create or tell good stories is reading. All good storytellers and writers have been avid readers at one time in their life and most never lose the love for it
Children who read at home are generally much more successful in school, than those who do not. The easiest way to raise a child's performance in school, their language skills along with their self-esteem, and confidence is to raise their reading level. Read with them, the extra benefit is that whenever you spend quality time with a child, that child feels special and well loved.

Teaching the love of reading to children

What can you do as a parent?

The most important thing you can teach your children is to love reading. This is the greatest gift that you can give them. Children watch their parents. From the time they are born, they are constantly imitating adults. They copy all that we do, good and bad. Reading is no exception. If your child sees you reading a book, they will want to do it as well. This can easily be seen when your toddler finds your book and pretends to read it. Children won’t see the fun in reading if they never see their parents doing it.
Some children have a natural love for books; others wouldn’t mind if they never learned to read but sadly that’s because they have no idea what they are missing.
Here are some ideas for giving your children the desire to read.
Always have books available to your child. Even before your child can read, they can be highly stimulated by the pictures they see in books. If you are worried about little hands ruining the books you purchase, buy toddler board books that your child can look at by himself or second hand books that are already tatty but please, teach your child to care for his or her books. When you have spare time, sit down with your child, and read several short books. A toddler’s attention span is very limited so you’ll need to keep the stories short to keep them interested.
If you have a particularly active child, make bedtime your reading time. Let your child lie down and relax in bed while you read. You can sit beside the bed, and read to them; be sure to hold the book where they can see the pictures as you read. Another option is to get into bed with them. Lie down next to them, and read the book while holding it between the two of you for them to look at the pictures.
Allow your child to ask questions. When you are finished reading a page in a book, let them point and ask questions about what they see. You can also help them by asking what they see happening in the pictures. Talk about the characters and their actions. Not only is this interaction great fun, it helps your child to learn that the story and pictures relate to each other.

Make reading fun.

Use funny voices while reading a story. Encourage your child to use funny voices. Both of you can role-play the characters of the story, pretending to be part of the story. The more you play with your child, the more excited he or she will be about learning anything.
When your child asks you a factual question, tell him or her you don't know, but you'll help him or her look it up. This gives you the opportunity to instil in your child the invaluable skill that reading really is. It gives you both time together to talk and discuss any information that may be important to one or both of you. By creating this kind of intimacy with your child you are allowing him or her to feel safe in coming to you with his or her questions. You will also be showing your child that reading is not only enjoyable, but purposeful as well.
When you want to give a reward for something your child has accomplished let it be reading time with you. Or, even let it be a trip to a bookshop to buy a new book. Picking out a new book is always exciting and this will give you a chance to observe the kinds of things your child wants to read. Then take the book home and read it together.

Children often become attached to a particular book and this is a good thing. They remember a lot of the words because they have heard them several times. It is a good idea, though, to give your child some variety. You want to keep your child excited about reading, not always knowing what will happen in a story. Fresh words and pictures combine for fresh interest in reading more and more books.

If the adults in a child's life do not read and do not allow the child to see them reading, the child will have difficulty making the connection between reading and enjoyment. Read everything. Novels, biographies, non-fiction pieces, magazines, newspapers, the backs of cereal boxes, are just some examples of the things you can read in the presence of your child.
Let them see you responding to what you are reading. If it is a funny story, laugh and tell your child you enjoyed it because it made you laugh. If it is a sad news report, act sad and explain why you are sad to your child. If it is a how-to article that you have learned from, let your child know you just learned something.
Make a special time to read and share stories together.
At least a couple of times a week get comfortable in a favourite spot with your child. Let him or her pick out what they want to read with you. Talk about what you are reading and discuss any pictures or points of interest that come up while you are reading. By talking about it and asking him or her questions about how he or she feels about what you are reading you are telling your child that this is important and you value his or her opinion. This kind of positive reinforcement will create warm and comfortable memories that encourage the love of reading.
For times when you are too busy to read, books on tape are a real treat. Books that come with tapes can be a lot of fun. The best tapes are those that use different voices (sometimes the same person). Listening to these can really draw your child into the story, and they make the story more entertaining than a single person can. Not only are these tapes enjoyable to listen as your child follows along in the book, but they are great for long car rides and bedtime. It’s much more fun to fill your child’s mind with a story than silence. Many of these tapes are also educational.

The most important thing to do is support your child’s interests. If your son loves superheroes, buy books that are about those characters. If your daughter would rather read about dolls and pets, find some books about those things. The purpose is helping your child to want to read; they have to want to do it. Make reading fun, and you will have a child that grows up loving to read.
Read to your child every day. Encourage them to go to the Library often. Let them join book clubs in school and attend book fairs. Have grandma and grandpa buy books for birthdays and holidays.
Go on book shopping sprees. Buy a book for yourself and your child. You can be the best role model for your child.
Instead of watching TV, read a book. Set a time each day for the family to all sit and read a book together. Whether the time is set for an hour or two, your child will grow up and follow the same rules in his household. There is so much joy in sharing stories.

An added bonus

Listen when your child is pretending to read the book later; they will be creating their own stories from the pictures! YOUR CHILD IS A STORYTELLER!!!

Rona Barbour: Storyteller, Manchester, UK

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