department for education and skills Storytelling The National Literacy Strategy 1 Relevant objectives Y1T1T3 to notice the difference between spoken and written forms through retelling known stories; to compare oral versions with the written text. Y1T2T4 to retell stories, giving the main points in sequence, and to notice differences between written and spoken forms in retelling, e.g. by comparing oral versions with the written text; to refer to relevant phrases and sentences. Y1T2T5 to identify and record some key features of story language from a range of stories, and to practise reading and using them, e.g. in oral retellings. Y1T3T3 to notice the difference between spoken and written forms through retelling known stories; to compare oral versions with the written text. Y1T3T5 to retell stories, to give the main points in sequence and to pick out significant incidents. Y1T3T6 to prepare to retell stories orally, identifying and using some of the formal features of story language. Y2T1T3 to be aware of the difference between spoken and written language through comparing oral recounts with text; to make use of formal elements in retelling. Y2T2T7 to prepare and retell stories individually and through role-play in groups, using dialogue and narrative from the text. Y2T3T1 to retell the main points of a story in sequence; to compare different stories; to evaluate stories and justify their preferences. Y2T3T3 to notice the difference between spoken and written forms through retelling known stories; to compare oral versions with the written text. Y5T2T3 to explore similarities and differences between oral and written storytelling. Y5T2T14 to make notes of a story outline as preparation for oral storytelling. Writing explanations and principles The roots of story writing are found directly in storytelling. Listening to, and joining in with, storytelling helps to develop a storehouse of story structures, characters, settings, dilemmas and resolutions. The richer the background of telling and retelling, the more young children will be able to tell their own stories, calling directly upon those that they have heard and read. Children who struggle with composing stories often do not have a sufficiently large store of tales to call upon. Initially, the retelling of a few favourites is vital, as this provides a basic store of simple tales. Children should be encouraged to join in with the story, taking part in simple refrains and repetitive lines. If a bank of well-known stories is built up, the children will be able to retell these, thereby setting down the roots of their own creative story writing. Once confident, they will move into innovating on well-known texts. This involves taking a well-known story and altering an aspect changing the setting or a character, for instance. This early story play can be fun and begins to involve creating new possibilities. The larger the storehouse of known tales, the more children will be in a
position to call upon this bank of narrative patterns, settings, characters and events to create their own stories. Ultimately, young writers draw upon this store of stories that they know well, plus their experience of life to weave their own tales. 2 Narrative is central to learning, especially for young children who come to understand so much about their world through making up stories about what has happened and what might happen. It helps children to understand themselves and their world, giving shape and meaning to their experiences, organising their ideas, and structuring their thinking and, ultimately, their writing. Different cultures and communities make different use of stories, but storytelling and thinking through story remain universal human competences. In school, children need the opportunity to retell tales to different audiences and to take part in the oral tradition of storytelling. In doing so, they will be developing their verbal artistry and their ability to shape tales in their own words. Such imitative explorations will creatively revisit the original narrative using the language, feeling and personal stamp of each teller. Storytelling involves all four language modes and provides significant opportunities for learning about language and literature and developing linguistic competence. The most suitable texts for retelling are: traditional tales, originally forged on the tongue and moulded for the ear; short stories found in picture books (see the Traditional Tales section); short story collections. Storytelling encourages children to listen actively, perhaps joining in with repetitive refrains and creating new images in the mind s eye. In telling tales children learn to play with the devices of the oral tradition: metre, rhythm, rhyme and repetition as well as intonation, gesture, pause and pace. The differences and similarities between spoken and written language, the use of dialect, the presence or absence of different language features, and the features of story language can also usefully be worked upon. When children retell a tale (or some parts of it) orally, the later physical act of writing becomes a way of recording, compressing or distilling the essence of their words. Their oral drafts can enrich the writing, particularly when they become more aware of the sequence of events, the language used, the images painted and the tension expressed. Whole-class teaching needs to help make explicit these and other features, exploring them orally and retelling them prior to writing. Retelling tales provides growing writers with structural security in the framework of events, and frees them to work on the characters, the atmosphere, the setting and the language of the story. An oral storytelling focus that profiles retelling and is integrated with written work and shared reading can help children create their own well-structured tales, with figurative language, repetitive refrains, archetypal themes and clear characters. This work can be linked to puppets and drama and may involve taping drafts for children to discuss, with small groups creating their version of a tale. Teachers often comment upon the fact that many children find writing recounts easier than stories. This is because the child already knows what happened. Story writing need not be difficult. Plenty of storytelling provides a bank of tales, so that when the children sit down to write, they already have a tale to tell. The main problem young writers face when composing a story is that too often they have not internalised any patterns to call upon. There is nothing there; no story to be told! Storytelling will provide that rich source.
3 Annotated examples If a storytelling ethos and sustained teaching focus is established, then over time children will both implicitly and explicitly borrow from the oral tradition of storytelling and enrich their written work. Looking at a few examples from children s written work, where storytelling has played a strong part, will indicate this. Opening/endings In a time before our time began there lived a little ant and a very little ant he was to be sure. and you can be sure Max had learnt his lesson and he never touched that paper again! Points to make: Note the traditional pattern of the opening, the repetition, use of to be sure. Note how this is repeated in the ending, as well as the traditional idea of learning a lesson. This is useful as it leads the way into children understanding that endings need to reflect in some way on the tale, indicating what has been learned and how characters have developed. Repetitive language Crack, Crack went the whip1 Crack Crack! Can you hear it? Now this mean king never laughed, never ever ever. He never joked, never ever ever. He never even smiled, no, not once had he ever been seen to smile. He was a very mean king indeed. Points to make: In the first example, the repetition adds power to the sound of the whip. The sentences vary, using exclamation followed by a question that cleverly draws the reader into the story, as if it were happening in front of us. In the second example the repetition is used to emphasise how mean and miserable the king has become. Key teaching ideas Teachers as storytellers Telling tales can be the most exciting activity for a teacher. It is mesmerising for the children and always popular. Begin by telling a simple tale that you know well, e.g. Little Red Riding Hood. Move on to stories that you love. Do not learn a story as if it was lines in a play. Extract the bare-bones of the tale so that you know the sequence of key events this could be on a card as a flow chart, a list of scenes, simple notes, a map showing the journey taken, or a story board showing pictures of the key events. Try to see the story in your head as you tell it. Tell the story as a series of scenes. Practise a number of times (in the car, in the bath, on a walk) before trying the tale out with a class. Watch the children s reactions as you tell the story. Vary the tale in response to their reactions (lightening the tale if they look too scared). The more you retell a story the more the children will join in.
Remember, a one-off telling may be fun but the real power comes through many retellings so that the children can tell the tale for themselves. Finally it is easier than most people imagine, but you need to start with a tale that you know well. If you are trying to remember what happens next as you are telling the tale, this will detract from the telling. 4 The teacher s own tellings can be supplemented by oral story tapes as well as by visiting storytellers(tapes and addresses available from the Society for Storytelling at: www.sfs.org.uk). Retelling Retelling is at the heart of storytelling, so plenty of opportunities need to be provided for children to tell and retell tales (or selected parts of them). These could include: joining in with the teacher; passing a known tale round a storytelling circle; children retelling in pairs taking turns to tell the next part and helping each other; having a story telling chair or hat that can be used as part of children s activities; children telling the class story in pairs to children from another class; children selecting a key moment and retelling it in more detail to a partner; tell a story then ask the children to work with a partner and retell the story as quickly as possible, but not missing out anything essential ( babble-gabble ) as a way of helping them to fix the sequence in their minds; children in pairs telling each other a personal story - for example, the time when I was really scared... and then each partner turning to another partner and telling the story they have just heard as if it had happened to them. Using shared writing to move from telling to writing Use modelling, scribing or pupils paired compositions as part of shared writing sessions to help children to cross the bridge between the oral draft and the written version. This work can be connected to other activities that seek to represent the story prior to telling it (e.g. drawing a story map, drawing a story board showing the main scenes, creating a story skeleton, making notes of key incidents or a simple list of scenes, etc.). All these activities can feed into writing, but are equally valid as oral activities supporting speaking and listening. Brainstorm known traditional tales and retell them in pairs, creating a story quilt of the children s repertoire with a single symbol from each tale on each pentagon. Use story-dice with simple icons to represent known tales can be used to prompt partial retellings from a tale. Following the teacher s storytelling, pairs can work as teller and listener partners, swapping roles as the retelling progresses in response to the beat of a drum. Tell the first part of a tale to the class, who in small groups create a possible ending. Rainbow reorganisation enables each child to retell their group s ending to others in the class. Three numbered groups in the class can be told different parts of the tale (beginning-middle-end). Children then join up in threes to create a corporate story from their individual contributions. Devise a class story map, then with their story map in front of them groups can retell the tale, taking it in turns to unfold the narrative.
Following a telling, the whole class story circle can retell the tale, using a symbolic token to pass around to show who has the telling ground. In independent work, groups can tape their tale, taking parts, adding sound effects, music, a narrator, and so on. The tape recorder is not as demanding as a live performance and can release some children to explore the tale in a more focused manner. 5
department for education and skills Storytelling The National Literacy Strategy 6 Key pointers for young story-tellers 1 Begin by deciding which story you are going to tell. Think about what your audience might enjoy. 2 Begin by retelling a simple tale that you know well, e.g. Little Red Riding Hood. 3 Move on to stories that you love and would really like to tell. 4 Do not learn a story as if it was lines in a play. 5 The only bit you may need to learn is any repetitive lines, songs - and it does help to be very clear about the end! 6 Extract the bare-bones of the tale so that you know the sequence of key events. 7 You could draw this out in a simple flow chart or as a map to remind you of the key events. 8 Try to see the story in your head as you tell it. 9 Tell the story as if it were a series of scenes. 10 Practise a number of times (on the way home From school, in the bath, on a walk). 11 Work with a partner and take it in turns to tell the next part of the story. 12 Work in a storytelling circle, passing the tale round, helping each other if someone forgets. 13 When you are retelling the story, stick to the bare bones - but you can add in extra bits if you like. 14 The more you retell a story the easier it gets.