Monday, January 21, 2008

Have you tried "storytelling"?


Sounds childish? Definitely not. Childlike, may be..which is positive indeed. This is a common genre of creative speech that is discussed at TESL conferences. As much as it is mostly children who participate in storytelling competitions, students in secondary school, colleges and higher istitutions may want to try it out themselves.

My children have tried storytelling, and these stories have taken them through challenging moments on stage, losing and also winning the prizes and incentives, of course. To me, what really matters is that they find enough courage in themselves to stand in front of a big audience, being only 7,8, and 9 then, participate, and learn the tru meaning of perseverence (lots of practice) and endeavour. Congratz Nadia & Farah. You are such darlings:)

Why storytelling, you may ask. Well, most interestingly, it improves your paralanguage ( which is like icing to d birthday cake & spice to mamak's curry). That includes intonation, voice, expressions,...hmmm..can imagine a speech embedded with these effects? a conversation embellished with these secret formulas?

Like reading aloud, try storytelling. Grab a big book this moment and have lots of fun. Enjoy.

19 comments:

dunhill@*london-paris-new york* said...

hmmmmm.. nope. :) but i do enjoy doing my presention " Privacy over the internet!! ".. ;) "We want privacy! We want privacy! We want privacy!" he he.. miss those kodak's moment.. :)

Munira said...

Storytelling? reading books n having fun wif it.. now these kinda thing i can relate to..huhu (",)

Anonymous said...

Yup..Hehe..it’s an old story.. Storytelling,ermm..Interesting.. This is good actually,for children and all people and it will improve our skills day by day..

Anonymous said...

not yet..but i think its cute..like u have a story to tell and it just become a storytelling rite..i don't really know but i'll try one day..haha..hope so..just when u listen to word storytelling..u can know is gonna be attention-grabbing..

Anonymous said...

ai ;). actually i also have been take part in storytelling in primary n secondary.. its so enjoy! its not easy to give all out to audience when to tell them a such wonderful story. i love to take part either storytelling or public speaking. its so enjoy although a little bit shy and fear..;) i just only want to share bout my experience.. thanx! tata~

Munira said...

eve's comment is simple yet so true.. maybe what we really need is to take the whole public-speaking-is-serious-business perspective away so that people can just enjoy it and do it a whole lot more.

annette said...

storytellin is kinda exciting...i prefer storytelling than public speaking..4 me storytelling is easy..hehehe...chnge ENGF103 public speaking to storytelling..

Anonymous said...

Emm..I've been participated into a storytelling competition too when i was 12,but i think i delivered my speech 'bout "Government expenses and how to control it" topic and i won for 3rd place.Maybe,yeah..Definetely is not a storytelling competition!Its a public speaking...How goofy I'm.*Pokes my face8No..No..Don't say im stupid~*shake my head*

I prefer to choose more maturity topic..Haha..But story tellin-mellin is wonderful!Imagine fairy-tale world,fantasy..What a such wonderful dreaming...^^Don't think that childish story is silly-billy..Sorry for my broken english,mam..

by:Annoymous

Dr. Zue said...

Brilliant commentary and discussion, everyone.Now, I wish to add a bit of literature and background.

Storytelling is an ancient art which started long long ago.It was used for cultural, religous and also educational purposes.Among the earliest surviving records is the Westcar Papyrus of the Egyptians where the sons of Cheops (the pyramid builder) entertained their father with stories.Folk stories are famous in countries like Scotland,China and Malaysia.

Amateur and professional storytellers with animated performance tell enchanting stories to children and adults alike.They use paralinguistic features to enhance the effectiveness of their delivery like: appropriate intonation,modulation of voice,facial expression,hand and body gestures.Some even have props and backdrops.Audience are often entertained by these storytellers. T. S. Eliot has said:
"I incline to come to the alarming conclusion that it is just the literature that we read for 'amusement'or 'purely for pleasure' that may have the greatest and least
suspected infuence on us."T

Positioning this discussion in the current public speaking context,audience will be excited to listen to your speech because it is animated,full of enthusiasm and also intellectually stimulating.The public speaker as a story teller will change the "phobia" that most beginning speakers may have of the stage or the crowd.Enjoy your role as a public speaker,and feel the difference.

Anonymous said...

mam...You're an encylopedia woman!I love that!


-Silent [HILL]++

Anonymous said...

Storytelling.One of the best weapon in form of words.Words can change people especially when they struck one's heart.That's the power of words.Even our prophet said that the sharpest n dangerous weapon is our tongue n our tongue produces words.Although many people didn't realize this fact,it's true.One of the mysteries in the world.Just like in the movie 'V For Vendetta'.Words can change people. (^.^)

Anonymous said...

yerp...i do agree with annette....!!!yeay~
hahahaa....storytelling is better than public speaking because storytelling mks me feel more confident than public speaking which i have to make some research to complete the task given...i have to know the fact, the statistics,n so on....so, why dont we change engf 103 public speaking to storytelling..???? ;p

Anonymous said...

People have often ridiculed story-telling as being "childish". But let us consider this; Star Wars is a wonderful epic by George Lucas and the whole world loved it- be it children as well as adults; so is The lord of The Rings and so on, all of these are indeed stories, told (or rather expressed) by a certain individual. "Childish"?? Just as George Lucas and J.R.R Tolkien, we too are (potential) stoey-tellers, eg,: you tell a bedtime story to your beloved childre- story telling. So please, do try storytelling, you have absolutely nothing to lose and more to gain than you expect.

Anonymous said...

i've been a story telling participator during my primary and secondary schools too. to tell you the truth, this kind of activity is very good as it enables us to have more confident in ourselves. when i compare story telling to public speaking, i know that a lot of people would prefer story telling as it is something that's easier to prepare for. we can practice for days and everything would go fine if we remember the text and use the right expression to attract people to listen.however, in public speaking, it is more challenging because the words that come out from our mouth must be processed quickly from the brain. therefore, this somehow stimulates our brain in a very good way and helps us for better communication and expression of our thoughts in order to make it understandable to other people. it also helps our brain to think and act faster.

ara said...

HAHA! Story telling! never had that guts! I prefer debate(less action and face imitations). I had to take part in a story telling once. i still cant forget how embarassing it was ;p... having to move around the stage like that, and speaking in different intonations. EvenThough i'm not so good at public speaking, i'd rather do that for engf103 assesment. No more story telling!

Amir said...

Wow!story telling huh?well...i loved to listening to it...the way him or her expressed their way to make everybody can imagine what is actually he or she is story about...hmm...does anyone have a STORY??weee~xD"

fLoSS said...

yeah...once..
when i was in primary school..
it was ok but u know..
1st time been on stage and got all eyes were watching over me..
so,the stry was not fully end..
what ashamed..
sometimes i was wondering how can peolpe can be more confident while talking or give a words on stage..
i wish i got the streng like them one day..hehehe
dream on~

Anonymous said...

Storyteling gives people freedom to express their creativity and knowledge in a metaforic way. I adore deciphering metaphores as it is a refreshing way of telling things in a more interesting and usually fascinating way. Roald Dhal; one of my favorite author writes whimsical storyline and applies twists in tales to create a well concocted, and sometimes very peculiar storyline. Writing is alien to me but I enjoy reading all kinds of books but mostly fictional ones.. books that lacks sense and logic. Why read books with logic? you are living in one:)

Ahmad Firdaus said...

There's nothing wrong for non-children to be childish. Even my dad is childish at times and when he is, it's fun. Being childish, for me, means to relive that curiousity and vigour when you are young. Therefore, being childish in this term gives me some benefits.

Firstly, I would regain my motivation. In university life, especially one that is exam-oriented, your life can be quite stereotypical and boring. You wake up early in the morning, go to class, feed your brain with encephalic food, go back and then get ready for the next day. Okay, I'm exaggerating. But, nevertheless, life can be monotonous. Hence, by being childish at certain times, I motivate myself by being (a little bit) carefree and thus, look at my life from a different angle. It's somewhat like " muhasabah diri".

Secondly, by being carefree means that I'm less stressed. It is proven that less stress equates to more healthy. Hence, I'm indirectly making myself healthier.

So, being childish doesn't necessarily mean immature. You just care less about your problems, in a good sense, of course.