Subtitles

Associated Teachers’ TV programme:KS1/2 RE: Storytelling Workshop

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(narrator) Stories are an extremelyrich resource for primary RE,

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both in terms of learning about,and learning from, religion.

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But AREIAC, the Association of REInspectors, Advisors and Consultants

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have suggested that the use of storyis not as effective as it could be.

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Julie Grove,a former head of AREIAC,

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and author of a numberof books on the use of story,

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is one person trying to remedy this.

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Story is important becauseit is the raw material of religion.

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It's the way in whichreligious ideas are communicated.

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Stories have a very richand important function

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in helping childrento look at their own lives,

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as well as learningabout religious traditions

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that they may not be familiar with.

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(narrator) Julie's workshop exploresthe importance of religious stories,

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and looks at how they can developa deeper religious understanding.

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It also offers practicalstorytelling techniques,

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designed to give the confidenceand know-how needed

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to tell better storiesand maximise their effect.

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Taking partare four primary teachers

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from a cross sectionof London schools.

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(Julie) The purpose for today

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is to look at and explore,why do we use religious story?

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What does it do for children?What are the kind of techniques

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that we can developthat will help us to do that?

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Today I was lookingfor opportunities

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to help these teachersto get beneath the surface.

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To understand that religious storiesare more than maybe they appear.

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It's just having the confidenceto leave the script behind

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and enjoy living the story yourself.

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Isabel, I wonder if you'dlike to just have a feel

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of what's underneath this,and say one thing about it.

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There's two pieces at the sides,

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which make me think they're arms.

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It's very importantthat teachers offer

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a broad and a balanced curriculumin religious education.

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And that means going to a wholerange of sources for stories.

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That demands some preparation.

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Sarah, come and have a feel.

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It's hard, but soft on the outside.

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So it's hard,but soft on the outside.

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Mm.

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Go to the most original sourcethat you have access to,

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and explore that story for yourself.

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What issues does it raisefor you as a teacher?

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And what might it raisefor your children?

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(Isabel) It's Ganesha.

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(Julie) It is, it's Ganesha.And Ganesha is a Hindu deity.

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And I'm going to tell you the storyof how he got his elephant head.

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In order to help usdefine the story,

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we're going to lightthe story candle.

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I used the candles as markers

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for coming into

and going out of the story.

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So they effectively were signalsto say you can live this story

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for however longwe live in the story.

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And then, at the end of it,we go away.

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A good way was the use of the candleto end and begin the story,

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just so that they know thatwe're coming into this story setting

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and then we can alsocome away from it.

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(Julie) Shiva was very angry.

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So angry thathe took out his weapon,

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and he cut offthe little boy's head.

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Reading stories is very important,

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and those words will be remembered.

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But they don't havethe power if they're read

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that they have if they are told.

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Shiva was very sorry.

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He promised Parvatithat he would find a new head.

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So he did just that. He killedthe elephant, he cut off its head,

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and he carried it back,and he put it onto Ganesha's body.

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I hope that you learnedsomething about Ganesha there.

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I've got some bits of informationfor you, different for each of you.

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If you read your information

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and decide what arethe two most important points.

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The most productive questionswill not be about the story,

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it will be aboutthe issues that the story raises

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and children's responsesto those issues.

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Even if children are only invitedto think rather than to talk,

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that still is very, very importantand valuable.

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What have you learnt that you didn'tknow before about Ganesha?

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It's quite clever, the ideaof the creator and the created

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through being the human body,

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but the greater animal,the elephant head,

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represents the greater being.

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I didn't know that the ratrepresented evil.

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What about using stories like that?

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If this is a faith story, thenI'm not sure where you go with that.

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Because the people who believe itbelieve it's true, don't they?

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The people who believe in Ganesha,

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who hold Ganesha to be sacred,

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would hold the story to be sacred.

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You need to safeguard children.

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If you're going to encourage themto be intimate with a story,

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then you also needto safeguard their integrity.

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I often find thatthe children are very willing

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to share their own experiences,

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especially fromtheir own faith backgrounds.

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And as soon as onewould start talking about:

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"Oh, yes, we have this at home,"

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others will begin to chip inand share their experiences.

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So you may have a Hindu child

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talking about belonging to Ganesha,

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and that might prompta child from another tradition,

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a Muslim child,for instance, to say:

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"Well, I belong to God,but what I do is to read a book."

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"I read the Koranto show that I belong to God."

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If we're talking abouta story from Islam, for instance,

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you might say, "For Yasin,this is a story of faith."

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But there will be issuescoming out of that story

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which you, as whatever,can respond to.

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I think story's always a good way

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to initiate discussionwith the children,

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and somehow,especially very young children

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seem to be good atbringing it back to themselves,

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and saying, "I do it like this,"or "We do this."

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What we have here is a way,

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which we can legitimatelycall religious education,

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of helping children

to raise and confront

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issues whichmight be quite difficult.

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And they might be PSE-type issues,

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but actually we're usingthe religious material

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and giving it the initiative.

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When there are enormous issuesfor some children to deal with,

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story is a way of exploringsome of those issues

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more safely thantalking directly about them.

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You wouldn't feel the need to haveit in a context and build upon it,

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or as part of something, it couldjust be a story complete in itself?

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(Julie) It could be.

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But you might want to link itwith a learning theme.

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You might have a learning themethat is to do with animals.

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And this would bea legitimate religious story

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about an aspect of what some peoplebelieve God might be like,

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which has those animal aspects.

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Out of that shared experience,

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what would you sayare some of the principles

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of using story with children?

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Let's think about the powerof the story and what it did.

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It took you throughdifferent emotions,

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so you connected with people,

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and then it took you throughthe emotions with them.

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(Julie) So the emotional aspect ofthe story is a very important one.

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What was it that made that come out?

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Partly the way you told it,

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because of the way you pausedand built up suspense.

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So timing is what you're saying.Timing is important.

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Using the word "I wonder",and that sort of language,

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rather than direct questions.You're reflective in that way.

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It gives you time to thinkand put yourself in that position.

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And it also saysI haven't got a prejudged idea

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about what you're going to say.

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You need to know the story.

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(Julie) You need to know the story.

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And you will generate that impact

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through eye contactwith your listeners.

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A differencebetween reading and telling,

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because I thinkwhen you're telling a story,

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you've got more eye contact with thechildren, they're engaged as well,

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anticipating what happens.

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(Julie) Create some prompts.

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This might be a prompt for you.

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It can be helpful for children too.

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Another way is a mind map.

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So this is the waythat I remember stories,

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to map them in this way,

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and to use colourif the colour is appropriate.

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So on there,the watery bits are blue.

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And certainly useevery opportunity to be dramatic,

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to think about your voice,to modulate it,

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to have pauses, and so on.

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If I could have carried it,I might have brought my story hoop.

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Because we're a small group,

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and I might havegiven you a ribbon to hold,

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so that you could physicallybe in touch with the story.

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But would you use thatonly with religious stories?

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(Julie) Yes, I would,

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because I think thatsays something about the story.

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In my experience, children thensometimes have been heard to say:

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"Are we goingto have a candle story?"

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And they know,because the association is made,

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that this is a storyand it's often a story about God.

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This is a story from the Christiantradition to come to us.

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The story of Noah.

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"The Lord saw that the wickedness ofhumankind was great in the earth."

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"'This is a sign of my covenantthat I make between me and you

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and every living creaturethat is with you,

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for all future generations.'"

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Now, then. A task for you.

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In your pairs,decide who's A and who's B.

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A's, you're going to bethe storytellers.

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B's, you're listeners.

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Think about the questions

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that you might askif you were the storytellers.

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So you just need to swap places.

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At the end of the story,it says it will never happen again,

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so I thought we could

connect that with the children,

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when they've been naughtyor something.

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There's quite a lot of content,

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so it'd be quite trickyto do all of it as a whole snapshot.

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(Julie) Now, you haven't hadvery long to prepare this,

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but think about getting intothe story, and... feeling it.

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Feel the story as you share it.

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There was once a man.His name was Noah.

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And he had a special friend.

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I enjoyed retelling the story.

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It is all about beinga part of the story and living it,

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to get the main points across.

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..and that new startwould come from their family.

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(Julie) Well done. How mightyou have told it differently

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from the way that Isabel told it?

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I think you could have told itfrom God's point of view.

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(Julie) You could tell itfrom God's point of view.

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Children can think,

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even very young childrencan begin to think theologically,

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if the story material is sharedwith them in an appropriate way.

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What are you taking away from today?

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I think using questions,

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and thinkingof your questions beforehand,

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just to direct maybe the children'sthinking a little bit,

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and also giving themscope for discussion,

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maybe after the story,with their own thoughts.

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What we're seeking to do is to gobeneath the surface of the story,

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and offer waysof dealing with issues.

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My final word would beit's the most wonderful experience

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when you have listenersin the palm of your hand.

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So go away and enjoy doing it.

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Visiontext Subtitles:Paul Burns

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www.visiontext.co.uk