“Everything Around Us Is A Story!”
Divya Anand, a storyteller by profession, believes that one only needs to keep one’s ears and eyes open to spot stories happening right in front of us. Her love for stories led her to storytelling for children aged 5 to 12 years and she has been at it for almost 5 years now. She has been to various schools, storytelling festivals, workshops and so on. For someone like her who can spot a story anywhere and narrate in the most entertaining manner, creating the love for story books amongst children comes naturally. Reading Journey by MerryGoBooks caught up with her to find out her tips to enable children to enjoy reading.
Some storytellers use music, some use props, some use the power of their voice and so on to make the story session more engaging. What is your special approach to making storytelling sessions magical and enjoyable?
I have also been with the Voice Industry for over a decade. I have been doing Voice overs for children’s content, corporate videos, training modules and promos. So using my voice and modulations naturally comes first to my mind while telling a story. I primarily depend on voice modulation to express, explain, give life to the characters, tell points of view of the different story elements and of course keep it interesting and enjoyable. They can imagine vividly the descriptions of the story. When needed, I also use props, but predominantly it is voice.
In your opinion how do such engaging experiences motivate children to inculcate a love for books early on?
Firstly, more than being a form of entertainment, storytelling is a great way to communicate. It’s the kick start of a pleasant relationship with your audience and the engagement with them thereon. The earliest this starts, is of course when the parents / grandparents tell stories to young children and they listen wide-eyed. So gradually when their thirst for interesting tales grows, they have to turn to a wider domain, which is books. So its a natural route for them to take from listening to stories, to reading them.
Storytelling is a great way to communicate. It’s the kick start of a pleasant relationship with your audience and the engagement with them thereon.
Several children go through a difficult phase when they are learning to read. Even those who love story books shy away from learning to read. One kid even told her mother that the “learning to read” activity takes away all the joy from a storybook. These children love books in all probability because they are exposed to a variety of storytelling sessions either at home or outside. Yet that love tends to go away when they come to this phase. What are your thoughts on this? How can parents help them in this phase?
That is true. Sadly, “learning to read” seems more like a chore than a fun thing to do, probably because they associate it being similar to school work. Not that school work isn’t fun, but it is categorized in a more formal way and more serious. So story listening seems easier whereas story reading seems trickier.
So story listening seems easier whereas story reading seems trickier.
Children are naturally curious and ask a lot of questions. So while telling a story, parents can keep their interest and enthusiasm going by answering their questions. They must also encourage them to know more, by leaving a few questions open ended, so they could read the book and find answers or other interesting facts by themselves.
Encourage them to know more, by leaving a few questions open ended, so they could read the book and find answers or other interesting facts by themselves.
Additionally, we could have formal story reading sessions with the children where the storyteller not just tells the story in his/her own words, but reads the story in a fascinating manner, focusing on new words, interpretations, context and usage. This will help the children to overcome any uneasiness about reading and language and help immensely in building their vocabulary.
Are there any tips you can provide to enable parents to read a story in a more entertaining manner?
Voices are a nice way of getting the attention of children. Parents can modulate their voices according to the characters and have the kids listen. Also very complicated stories could be tricky to read. So working with simple yet entertaining stories is good.
If you would like to know more about Divya Anand and her storytelling sessions please visit her website:
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